8. Chapter 8
Javenia wanted to gouge Miss Weston’s eyes out or maybe pluck every expertly curled blonde hair from her spiteful head. She wouldn’t, but she wanted to.
Miss Weston cast her a triumphant smirk over Algenon’s shoulder before lowering back down and allowing the footman to help her into the carriage.
Lord Falcross followed close behind, blocking Javenia from seeing Miss Weston, but also blocking Miss Weston from seeing Algenon scrub the side of his cheek with his gloved hand.
It was the height of rudeness, but it brought a smile to Javenia’s lips.
Miss Weston may have forced another kiss on him, but Algenon definitely had not desired it. Somehow, that reframed the whole interaction. If Javenia truly wanted to win Algenon over, she could not let Miss Weston ruffle her.
The woman was an underhanded snake, but Javenia knew something she didn’t.
Algenon had never allowed anyone to speak unkindly of her since they were children.
Yes, he picked at her himself, but he had limits.
With the rumors Javenia had recently heard circulating around Maidstone, it seemed Miss Weston was hard at work trying to besmirch her name.
None of it was too damaging. Only criticism about her looks, or the way she carried herself, but it was clear she intended to wage social warfare.
One day, Miss Weston would dig her own grave with her unwanted attention and acidic tongue.
The coach pulled away and Algenon spun to face Javenia at the same time Lord Roberts caught sight of their little group.
After His Lordship’s threat, she’d not intended to accompany her sisters to Blackthorn, but her mother had insisted she chaperone the younger girls when Lord Falcross was in residence.
Everyone knew the viscount was not to be trusted around a pretty face.
With the retreating carriage, Javenia no longer had a good reason to be at Blackthorn.
She stopped, not wanting to follow the group of young women any closer.
“Vee?” Nessa said when she noticed she’d halted. “Are you coming?”
“No, I’ve escorted you here as Mother wished. I should get back to the house to… a… to—”
Lady Roberts turned and smiled, the cheerful expression exposing her slightly crooked teeth. Javenia returned the gesture.
“Miss Harris, how lovely to see you.”
Lady Roberts’s greeting disarmed Lord Roberts’s dark look of warning. His Lordship had never denied his wife anything that might bring her happiness, something she’d struggled to regain after the birth of their twin daughters.
Lady Roberts shortened the distance between them. “I do hope you will stay for tea.” Her gaze flitted over the gathering of younger girls, and her smile became taut. “I have missed your company these last few days.”
Javenia tried to hide her surprise. She and Lady Roberts had made their bows to the queen the same year but had never been close.
Her Ladyship had been Miss Louisa Stanhope back then and two years Javenia’s senior.
Since her marriage to Lord Roberts, they’d seen more of each other, but Javenia had detected no particular affection.
This request must have arisen from desperation.
Was Her Ladyship so fatigued by the young ladies’ chatter?
If so, far be it from Javenia to deny her a sensible conversation. Especially since the request forwarded her plan. She didn’t need to pull out her paper to see number three on her list—ingratiate yourself into Algenon’s family.
She had the love of his sisters already, but his father would be nearly impossible if his warning was any indication. His stepmother, however, was a good first step.
Javenia relaxed her tense shoulders. “I would love to stay, if that is what you wish.”
Lady Roberts let out an audible sigh of relief, her cheeks pinking when Algenon and Nate glanced at her in question. She lowered her voice.
“You know how your sisters can be.”
Algenon didn’t bother hiding his smile as he followed the gaggle of younger girls into the house, Nate close behind.
A pang of disappointment filled Javenia. She’d hoped to speak with Algenon, to inquire what his plans were for the first weeks of the season, but apparently, he and Nate had some business to attend to.
His father’s hovering for the rest of the Harvest Ball and Miss Weston’s extended visit had already kept them apart far more than she wished. How was she ever to institute the other ideas on her list if they were hardly together?
Lady Roberts threaded her arm through Javenia’s and they followed after the others. “Will we see you in Town this season?”
Javenia glanced down at the smaller woman, realizing that she might be a better source of information about their schedule than Algenon himself. “I believe so. That is, if we attend the same functions. What are your family’s plans?”
Lady Roberts listed off a few of the invitations they had received as well as the days they hoped to attend Almack’s and the opera. Javenia stored the information away in her mind, wishing she had a piece of paper to write the dates and events so she would not forget any.
When Her Ladyship finished speaking, Javenia said, “I know my parents have accepted an invitation to the Fortescues’ soiree in a fortnight, so we are bound to meet there, and of course we shall meet at the Duke of Bedford’s dinner.”
Lady Roberts lit up. “Splendid.”
The group of women climbed the stairs to the second floor sitting room.
Down the hall, Nate and Algenon ducked through another door.
She narrowed her eyes to see it more clearly.
Odd that they’d not chosen the billiard room or the library.
It had been quite some time since she’d been in that part of the house, but if she recalled correctly, that door led to half of the family rooms on the next floor.
When Javenia turned to follow the other woman into the sitting room, Lady Roberts pulled her to a stop.
“Please forgive me, but would you mind if we visited the nursery before joining the others?” She ducked her head. “Lord Falcross’s visit pulled me away from my girls more than they are used to.”
“Or you are used to, I’d wager.” Javenia smiled.
Lady Roberts released her arm and gestured in the direction Nate and Algenon had gone. “You have found me out. I miss them terribly. I have no idea how I shall endure London without my girls. It will be unbearably long. What if they do not remember me when I return at Christmastide?”
“That is only a month away. I doubt any baby would forget their mother in such a short amount of time.”
The tension around Lady Roberts’s eyes lessened, smoothing out the little lines there.
“I certainly hope so.” She opened the same door Algenon and Nate had gone through moments before, and Javenia followed, her heart doing a happy dance at having the chance to cross paths with Algenon before she’d be required to escort her sisters back home.
She was not as familiar with the third floor of Blackthorn as the other levels of the house. She and Algenon were twelve the last time she’d entered the third floor.
The memory made her smirk. There were three weeks of every year that they were the same age, their birthdays being exactly eleven months and eleven days apart. So, as children, they had chosen those days to accomplish their most daring larks.
It had been their plan to tie as many sheets together as possible, then anchor them to Algenon’s bed and toss the linen rope out the window.
It was probably good that Paulette and Henrietta’s governess had come upon them for they certainly would have broken their necks trying to escape out the third-floor window like pirates in the night…
except it had been daytime. They hadn’t even had enough sheets to make it past the second level.
A door opened and shut behind her as they made their way down the narrow hall to the nursery.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Nate striding toward the door they’d just come from.
Her brow furrowed as she faced forward. Nate’s visit was awfully short.
Then again, perhaps he was giving Algenon space to change out of his sweaty riding clothes.
Why then had he followed him up to his private rooms?
All her questions fled the moment Lady Roberts opened the door to the nursery and she heard joyous baby giggles.
It was the most beautiful sound she’d heard in days.
The urge to join in the babies’ enjoyment pulled her into the room.
How did a baby’s laughter spread like an unattended fire any time she was near it?
Then her gaze fell on the source of their entertainment. There, on the floor in front of identical chubby cherubs, was Algenon, still in his riding attire, his hands over his eyes, playing peek-a-boo.
Be still her baby yearning heart. Could the man be any more adorable?
He opened his hands, his eyes wide and his mouth open.
Both babies giggled until one of them tipped over from her seated position.
Quick as lightning, Algenon’s hand shot out to keep the little one from hitting her head on the carpeted floor.
The other baby clapped her hands and laughed as if her sister’s tumble was all part of the morning’s entertainment.
When Algenon gently righted the baby girl, Javenia could not resist. “I see all those years playing pirates and dodging my play sword made you good for something.”
His wide hazel eyes landed on her, obviously surprised to see her, but not at all distressed. In fact, they softened in a way that made her want to get down on the floor and cuddle into him, much like the baby who was now crawling into his lap.
Lady Roberts scooped up the other little girl and took her to the rocking chair the nursemaid had just vacated.
The sudden movement reminded Javenia that they were not alone.
She took in a slow breath to calm the fluttering that had taken up residence in her chest. She should try flirting again, but nothing came to mind, so she fell back on her usual mode of discourse with Algenon.
“It is too bad you dislike babies. You might have made a great father one day.”
His eyes sparkled with the challenge. “Ick, nasty little things.” The baby in his lap grabbed his shirt and pulled herself into a standing position, a tiny hand reaching up to grab his nose. “See, this one is trying to malign my good looks.”
“I think you mean maim, unless you are accusing that sweet, innocent girl of having evil intentions.”
He caught the baby’s hand; his other arm wrapped protectively about her back. “Was that your dastardly plan all along, Richarda? To deny me of my nose as recourse for my interference in naming you?”
“Can you blame her?” Lady Roberts said as she rocked Roberta.
Javenia snickered. “My thoughts exactly.” Then she turned back to the baby in Algenon’s arms. “Perhaps you should also go for a few of those long eyelashes, Richarda. They are far too pretty for a grown man.”
As if the baby had understood, her little fingers darted for Algenon’s eye.
He jerked his head back. “Whose side are you on, Richarda? Remember who sneaks you biscuits and stacks blocks for you. Besides, I need those eyes to play peek-a-boo.”
Lady Roberts gasped. “So you are the one souring their appetites.”
Algenon shifted, lifting Richarda into his arms as he rose. “Guilty as charged.”
There was no remorse in his smile, and Javenia found she liked him all the more for it.
He was an imp if she ever met one. A handsome imp, with a gentle side she found so irresistible she wanted to fill his arms with their own babies.
What would Algenon think if he knew how attractive she found this side of him?
The smile she’d worn since entering the room faded. He’d probably strut around like a rooster, proud of his ability to upend her. She could hardly expect him to take it seriously, though. It would just be another victory to add to his list. A conquest.
His gaze locked with hers. The smile slipped from his lips and her breath caught. The intensity in his hazel eyes sent a surge of something delicious through her veins. How could one look undo her so completely?
“You look good with a baby in your arms.” The compliment slipped past her lips before she’d even had time to think about it.
“Good to know,” he said softly.
He’d not jested about her compliment. That was progress.
The fire in the grate crackled, and someone cleared their throat. Javenia glanced at the chair. “Don’t you agree, Lady Roberts?”
The twist of Her Ladyship’s lips and the way she glanced between Algenon and Javenia proved she was not at all fooled by Javenia’s nonchalance. However, she also did not appear opposed. Instead, there was a great deal of curiosity in her scrutiny.
Algenon crossed the room and handed Richarda to her mother, a nervousness to his movements that had not been there before. “I best hurry. I told Nate I’d meet him outside after I checked on the girls.”
A frown marred Lady Roberts’s face, and she glanced at a small clock on the mantel. “I thought you were supposed to meet with your father in an hour.”
“Which is why I am going out.”
The tension in his shoulders and the brusque tone made Javenia inspect him closer. Something was wrong. Even more than the last time they’d spoken. Algenon did not carry himself like a whipped puppy, his tail between his legs, unless someone backed him into a corner.
He nodded to her as he passed, but she grabbed his arm.
“Meet me at the stream,” she whispered.
He gave a tiny shake of his head and mouthed the word, “Can’t.”
The intensity she’d seen moments earlier was gone, and in its place, a haunted hollowness. His eyes held the same glassy expression she’d witness the day his last stepmother had died. Something was definitely wrong, but she could not pry it out of him if he would not meet with her.
Algenon dropped his gaze to the floor and fled the room, the door closing louder than she’d expected. When she turned back to face Lady Roberts, Her Ladyship’s eyes narrowed in concentration.
“Miss Harris,” she said, “I believe my stepson is blue deviled. Perhaps you can help me cheer him up.”
The slow smile that spread across Lady Roberts’s face soon worked its way to Javenia’s as they both grinned at each other.
Number three on Javenia’s list had just gotten a bit easier.