Chapter 15 #2
“Miles Winthrop, Lord Cross. Good God, Hawke, has it been so long you no longer recognize me?”
“Cross?” Adrian stared at the man, incredulous.
He’d seen Cross a time or two at the beginning of the season, so it hadn’t been long at all, but Cross looked like an entirely different man tonight.
He’d always been a brusque sort of fellow, rather dark and cynical, but now he wore a wide smile that took at least a dozen years off his face.
“Cross, by God. How do you do? You look very well.”
“I suppose I must, given that shocked look on your face. May I present Lady Cross?” Cross gestured proudly to the tall, slender lady on his arm. “My wife, the Countess of Cross. This is Lord Hawke, Juliet.”
“Lady Cross. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Lady Cross was a stunning, dark-haired creature, and strangely familiar, somehow, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on—
“Lord Hawke, at last,” Lady Cross said as Adrian bowed over her hand. “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
“Everyone here has heard a great deal about me, I’m afraid.
” Adrian gave her a wry smile. “I don’t believe any of the St. Mary’s Ladies’ Benevolent Society fetes have ever attracted quite so many guests in the past. It looks as if all of Oxfordshire is here, and all of them gawking shamelessly at me. ”
Lady Cross laughed. “Indeed, but shame on you, my lord, for implying I listen to gossip. Having been the subject of it often enough myself, I assure you that I don’t. No, I know of you from my sister, of course.”
“Your sister?” Who the devil was her sister?
He must not have hidden his bafflement as well as he hoped, because Lady Cross’s brow furrowed. “Why yes, of course. Your governess, Lord Hawke? Helena Templeton is my sister.”
“Helena!” My God, he must have misheard her, mustn’t he?
Except…a dozen small hints and offhand comments started to come back to him then. Cross’s recent marriage, and Helena’s weekly visits to Steeple Cross…
God above, how could he have been so dense? Helena’s sister wasn’t the housekeeper or Lady Cross’s lady’s maid, she was the Countess of Cross herself! “I, er…forgive me, my lady, I wasn’t aware—”
“Oh, dear. I see Helena hasn’t been quite as forthcoming as she should have been. I daresay you thought I was the housekeeper, or some such thing, didn’t you?”
“The housekeeper!” Lord Cross laughed. “No, indeed. You’d make a perfectly wretched housekeeper, Juliet. You’re far too accustomed to having everything your own way.”
“Nonsense, my lord. I’m the most accommodating person imaginable.”
Lord Cross snorted, and his wife tapped his arm smartly with her fan, smiling up at him. “Hush, you awful man.”
Adrian watched them tease each other, amused and mystified at once. Despite their sparring, anyone could see they were utterly besotted with each other. Lord Cross had, by all appearances, found himself the perfect lady.
“I do beg your pardon for taking you so off guard, my lord. I’m afraid Helena can be quite reticent when she wishes to be.” Lady Cross hesitated. “I daresay you’ve heard of the Templeton sisters, Lord Hawke?”
The Templeton sisters…
Juliet Templeton! That was the name that had been eluding him since that day he’d fished Helena out of the tree and she’d told him her name.
There was another sister too, wasn’t there?
Emily, or…no, it was Emmeline. Emmeline Templeton.
Yes, he’d heard that name before, and hadn’t Lady Cross just made a comment about being the object of ton gossip?
“My God, I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner. You’re the matchmaking sisters!” That was why Lady Cross looked so familiar to him! She resembled her sister Helena, though Lady Cross had dark blue eyes, rather than Helena’s blue-gray.
“Oh, dear.” Lady Cross turned to her husband. “He’s found us out.”
He had, indeed, though God knew it had taken him bloody long enough to put it together, given everyone in London was gossiping about the Templeton sisters.
Emmeline Templeton had recently married the Earl of Melrose, the most sought-after gentleman of the ton.
Lady Pamela had bored him to tears one evening going on about how Lord Melrose had thrown over Lady Christine Dingley for Emmeline Templeton, because Miss Templeton had beguiled him with some kind of magical perfume, or something equally ridiculous.
He only ever listened to Lady Pamela with half an ear, if that.
But good Lord, the Templeton sisters were even more notorious than he was.
There’d been something about the mother, too, some scandal a few years ago, well before the matchmaking scandal this season, but it was the loss of two of London’s most eligible earls to the Templeton sisters that had the ton up in arms.
“Judging by your expression, Lord Hawke, may I assume Helena has not been forthcoming about our family, either?”
“Er, no. That is, she didn’t hide it, but…” She hadn’t divulged it, either.
Lady Cross laid a hand on his arm. “I beg you won’t hold it against her, Lord Hawke. There’s been so much gossip, you see, and all of it dreadful, and Helena is a bit more sensitive than—”
“Please, Lady Cross. You needn’t worry. I would never…I think the world of Helena. I’m in lo…that is, nothing could ever make me think badly of her,” he finished lamely, his face heating.
“I understand perfectly, Lord Hawke.” Lady Cross bit her lip. “Forgive me, my lord, but has Helena mentioned to you that she’ll soon be obliged to leave Hawke’s Run?”
He stared at her. “Leave Hawke’s Run?”
“I’m afraid so, yes.”
Helena was leaving Hawke’s Run? Leaving him? “When?”
Lady Cross and her husband exchanged uncertain glances. “As soon as the Christmas holidays are over. My elder sister needs her in Herefordshire, and—”
“Forgive me, Lady Cross, and Lord Cross. I must…” He didn’t stay to finish the sentence, but turned on his heel.
“She’s in the stable, my lord!” Lady Cross called after him.
Adrian strode from the ballroom, ignoring the guests who tried to get his attention.
Did Helena truly believe she could just walk out the door without a single word of explanation, and leave him and his sons heartbroken? Did she truly think he was going to let that happen? Maddening, impossible woman!
He’d made a mess of this, and it was time to put it right once and for all.
Helena wasn’t going anywhere.