Almost a Countess by Jenna Jaxon
Chapter 12
“Please tell Mrs. McComber these bannocks are a delight.” Finn finished the last of his second one, amazed at the light, airy texture. The bannocks he had at home were much denser, made of oatmeal by Mrs. MacNiven, who’d been his family’s cook since before he was born. Maybe he could ask Mrs. McComber for the recipe to take back to Aberfoyle. Not that he thought his cook would use it, but it would be good to have, just in case.
“I’ll be sure to pass that along.” Sitting across from him, Dora, in her brightly embroidered gown, smiled and sipped her coffee.
A sight he could get used to each morning.
“Sae we think Lieutenant Scarlet was sae afraid o’ the smallpox he dinna look hard enough at my arm tae notice it wisna an old man’s?”
Dora laughed, and the sound made him smile. “I think he heard your coughing, took one look at all the red spots on your arm, and didn’t care to look any further.” She industriously buttered a piece of toast. “How on earth did Larkin manage to fill your arm with them so quickly?” She bit into the toast with relish.
“Genius, I’d call it.” Finn began on the poached eggs, which he’d laid lovingly on two pieces of toast. “She took one o’ yer hair combs and dipped the teeth in yer rouge pot then applied it t’ my arm. She’d just started tae put some on my face when ye knocked on the door.” The eggs were soft and creamy, so delicious he couldn’t eat them slowly. He supposed he was making up for the past week when he’d been nearly starving. At the thought of those hungry, uncomfortable days, he took a huge forkful of ham and devoured it.
“My heart was in my throat the whole time.”
“I couldna tell that a’tall. Ye sounded sae natural when ye asked the lieutenant if he’d had the…”
“Variolation.” They said the word together, and Finn chuckled.
“I only wish you could have seen his face.” Dora shook her head, her eyes sparkling. “It must have turned two shades whiter. He looked like someone had put leeches on him.”
“Ugh.” Finn shuddered. “I’d no’ wish those nasty wee beasties on anyone.” He caught Dora’s gaze. “Well, perhaps, I’d make an exception for the lieutenant.”
“I don’t think I’d blame you for that.” Dora’s gaze rested directly on his face. Perhaps even lingering on his lips? “Lieutenant Scarlet deserves whatever he might get for his foul treatment of you.” Slowly, almost deliberately, she put her cup back into its saucer. “But now we have run that gauntlet successfully, what are your plans?”
“The same as they have always been. I must go tae London, find my uncle, and ask him tae help me have these charges dismissed.” Another meal or two like this one and he’d actually be ready to leave. Ready but not eager.
“Will you have Lieutenant Scarlet cashiered for his persecution of you?” Her voice was completely even, making it impossible to ascertain if she favored that idea or not.
“Honestly, I have no’ thought about that.” Finn sat back and sipped his tea. He truly had been so involved in escaping Scarlet he’d had no time to think about what, if any, retribution he would seek when he was no longer a wanted man. “Even if I understand his motives, he’d nae right tae beat me, nor threaten me with dire bodily harm, just because I wore the kilt. I am a peer o’ the realm and should no’ have been treated this way. I ken he should pay for that misdeed, but I have nae idea what might be appropriate.” Finn shrugged. The last thing he wished to think about, when sitting across the table from a lovely lady, was Lieutenant Scarlet. “I will consult with my uncle when I get tae London. He may have an idea o’ what punishment the lieutenant deserves for that indignity.”
“You are a man of restraint, my lord.” Dora smiled at him, sending warmth through him. “That speaks well of your character. Perhaps your uncle would have a better knowledge of possible disciplinary actions that could be brought against Lieutenant Scarlet.” To his consternation, she met his gaze and held it. “With regards to your uncle, I was wondering if it might be easier and more prudent to write to him from here and explain your predicament. You could ask him to either come and transport you to London, or to undertake to resolve the issue in London and send word to you when it has been settled.”
Finn set his teacup down, suddenly uncertain what she was suggesting. “It would certainly be a boon no’ tae have t’ travel t’ London with an injured ankle, but I willna ken if my uncle needs me there until he tells me sae.”
“But that could be via correspondence as well as in his presence, couldn’t it?” Her eyes beseeched him. “Then you could remain at Bromley and continue to convalesce here until you hear from your uncle. Wouldn’t that be the better plan, Finn?”
“’Tis a very generous offer, Dora.” It had, in fact, caught Finn completely by surprise.
He’d have thought she’d wish to be rid of him immediately and try to forget all the trouble he’d caused her. Instead, she wished him to remain here with her. A few reasons she might have done this came to mind immediately. One was simple Christian charity, but Dora had shown no overt religious tendencies around him so far. The other, which he quite wished to believe, was that she was coming to enjoy his company. Perhaps even be fond of him.
His throat dried when he considered that possibility. The woman was self-assured, quick-witted, and a damn fine strategist. She’d put together the campaign against Lieutenant Scarlet quickly and efficiently and executed it without flaw. And she was very comely into the bargain. If he took her up on her proposal, he’d be much safer than if he were back out on the road, subject to the elements and Scarlet’s men. True, harboring him could bring down the considerable wrath of Scarlet, but the lieutenant had no reason to search the house again. And if he stayed, he’d have the opportunity to become better acquainted with Dora, something he longed to do. What he’d already learned about her had him fascinated. Just think what else he might uncover? Still, he should be cautious. “Sae generous I have tae wonder why ye’re making it.”
She blinked, her eyes widening. “What…what do you mean?”
“Ye’ve been more than kind tae rescue me from the burn. Ye’ve taken me intae yer home, fed and clothed me even though I have nae claim on ye. Why would ye wish tae extend that hospitality tae a total stranger?”
Her cheeks turned a most becoming shade of red, and she tossed her napkin on the table and rose, bringing him to his feet. “I was always taught to be charitable to those in need. When I discovered you, Finn, you were just that—in need of rescue. You are in somewhat better circumstances now, however, I believe you still require succor.” She made a little gesture with her hands, part shrug, part entreaty. “I simply wish to help you.” Her gaze met his with an intense longing that struck him to his soul. “You have kind eyes.”
“Kind eyes?”
She nodded then disappeared through the doorway in a blur of bright fabric.
Dropping back down into his chair, Finn stared at the empty seat across from him, still seeing Dora’s beautiful face as it had been only moments ago. The world had just tilted on its axis. The longing he’d seen in her eyes—had it been for him?
****
With hands shaking so hard she had to grip her skirts to still them, Dora ran down the corridor, not knowing where she was going, just that she must get away from Finn. She’d revealed too much in those final moments before she’d escaped the room. She needed to find a quiet place to calm herself and decide how much Finn might have guessed about her.
The library was always deserted. She darted in and closed the door, panting with exertion and fear.
Why had she looked at him like that?
She paced the perimeter of the library, past the neat shelves of dusty books in an attempt to soothe herself and contemplate what to do next. She likely couldn’t do either. The excitement of the morning, of deceiving Lieutenant Scarlet, and laughing about it afterward, had created a bond of sorts between her and Finn, the kind shared when one goes through an ordeal and comes out the other side unscathed.
That was how she and Judith had become friends. Violet as well. Those acquaintanceships had blossomed into true friendships. And while the encounter with the lieutenant seemed to have brought her closer to Finn, what she wanted from him, she’d realized at breakfast, was something more.
After visiting Violet and Tris, she’d come to the reluctant realization that she was more than ready for the kind of intimacy her friends shared. Seeing their perfect happiness had made her wish with all her heart for a husband and children. A family of her own. The camaraderie that had developed between her and Finn in the brief time they’d shared made her long to deepen it.
Dora’s pacing slowed, and she dropped into the tall leather chair behind the library table.
She hadn’t had any intention of liking the rough-looking Scotsman she’d fished out of the stream day before yesterday. He’d been rude and more than a bit of trouble for her. Just look at his actions yesterday, disobeying her orders, riding out where she’d told him not to go, and then running into the soldiers and almost being caught again. Or shot. Dora gripped the chair arms, thinking how close he’d come to being killed. A wilder and more undisciplined man she’d never met. She should have turned him out of the house for his insolence.
But she could no more have done that than she could swim to China. When he’d told her about the cruelty he’d suffered because of his arrest, even when she didn’t quite believe it all, something about him had tugged at her heart. His gallant gesture of offering to help her up onto Gretchen and escape while he stayed behind, possibly to face the soldiers alone, spoke more eloquently about him than anything he’d said. Surprisingly, he’d offered her solace when she’d told him about her situation with Tris and her reputation when many would simply have shunned her.
And he did have very kind eyes.
These might not be the qualities a young woman was supposed to look for when selecting a husband, but they were enough for her. She was so tired of being alone. She wanted someone to love—someone who would love her. And she’d thought, if only for a moment at breakfast, that he could love her. If only her qualities could be enough for him.
It was foolish, given her circumstances, to think Finn, or any gentleman, would look on her with affection or desire, yet the hope for this wouldn’t die. Of course, Tris had never thought of her that way. After he married Violet, he acted toward Dora as an elder brother would: protective. Never as a lover. Now, strange as it might seem given they butted heads so often, she wished with all her might that Finn would see her as pleasing, a woman who could be an eligible match for him. The question was, would he see only her sullied reputation and not who she really was? She’d known well the consequences of breaking her betrothal, and yet she could have done nothing different.
Dora laid her head down on the polished teak table, its smooth surface cool beneath her cheek. What must she do? She’d offered Finn sanctuary here at Bromley both to give him succor and respite from Lieutenant Scarlet’s pursuit, but also to gain time for them to get to know each other better. They were not in the usual social circumstances where they could meet at entertainments and balls and pursue a courtship the normal way. But if he stayed here, they could talk and dine together for a few days at least. Out of that, something substantial might grow.
With Violet and Tris here in Yorkshire, she could, perhaps, meet other eligible gentlemen who might suit her. Could have done, that was, had Finn not appeared in her life.
Now what she really wished to do was wait and see if Finn’s regard for her deepened. Something inside her, a voice she yearned to listen to, said she should give her budding friendship with Finn the opportunity to grow into more. Especially as she had developed this sudden tendre for the Scotsman. One could not force the heart where it did not wish to go. If his wished to go elsewhere, however, then she would have to accept that and move on as well.
That he’d not immediately agreed to stay had somewhat dashed her hopes, but there was still a chance he would choose to remain simply to continue recuperating until he was well enough to go to his uncle. Until then, with him close to her, she had a chance to win his affection, didn’t she? If only she knew what to do next. Why had her older sisters or her mother never explained how to encourage a man’s attentions?
Ask Violet.
The words popped into her head as if spoken by a kind angel.
The one person who could tell her how to make herself attractive to a man. If Violet had been able to make Tris the besotted and devoted husband he was, she would certainly have advice on how Dora could make herself more appealing to Finn.
Automatically, she reached for ink, paper, and pens, all close at hand on the library table. She’d write to her friend immediately and ask to call on her regarding a very important matter. Violet wouldn’t fail her. Dora would have her happy ever after, just like in the fairy tales.
With a smile, she mended the pen, dipped it in the silver ink well, and began to write.