Page 45

A Fledgling Relationship is Discussed

M eanwhile, at the end of the walkway

“Well, that was rather odd,” Barbara said, suddenly halting her climb to the second floor. She carried a hat box in one hand while a reticule dangled from the other. Her attention was directed down the carpeted walkway leading to the rooms they had let.

“What was odd?” Will asked from behind her, his gaze darting about as if he was on alert for a footpad.

“Lady Helen,” she whispered, before resuming the climb until she was beyond the top stair. She stepped aside to allow Will to join her. “She’s gone down the other set of stairs, but I am quite sure I saw her come out of one of our rooms.”

Encumbered with a number of boxes under his arms, Will rushed ahead of his wife to their room, using an elbow to push down on the door handle. “Do you suppose she was merely waiting for someone to answer the door?” he asked, dropping the boxes on their bed so he could take the hat box from her.

“She was most definitely in a room,” Barbara whispered.

He glanced around. “But not ours?”

She shook her head and poked her head out of the room. “Two doors down.”

“Tom’s room,” Will said. He hurried to stand before the door and knocked. He waited a moment but finally opened it and glanced around. Not seeing anything out of place, he carefully closed the door and rejoined his wife. “Well, she was probably just looking for him,” he said.

Pulling her gloves from her hands, Barbara gave him a curious glance. “I think there’s something going on with those two,” she said, after he had shut the door.

“Going on?” he repeated.

“Surely you’ve noticed.”

Will screwed up his face in a grimace. “Maybe.”

Barbara scoffed and turned to regard him with disbelief. “I thought he liked her.”

“Oh, he does,” Will said. “He loves her.”

She blinked, obviously not expecting such a definitive answer. “You seem terribly sure of his regard,” she accused.

“Well, I’m his uncle, and...” Here he shrugged. “I may have paid witness to something... before we left London,” he stammered.

“Paid witness to what ?” she asked in alarm.

Will held out a hand, intending to lead her to one of the room’s settees. “You’re probably exhausted from our long day. Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll see to having some drinks delivered,” he suggested.

She wasn’t to be deterred, though, one fist going to a hip. “Paid witness to what ?” she repeated, obviously annoyed by his attempt to avoid the conversation.

Inhaling deeply upon realizing she wasn’t to be distracted, he let out the breath in a whoosh . “He kissed her. Or she kissed him. It was dark. Rather difficult to tell who started it, actually. But they were both willing participants, I believe.”

“Where?”

“In the Morganfield gardens. During that ball we attended the night before we left London.”

After a moment, Barbara began tittering, a brilliant smile replacing the look of suspicion she had displayed only the moment before. “Oh, this is interesting,” she murmured, her face displaying a look of awe. She suddenly sobered. “So... why is Tom avoiding her?”

Will winced. “You noticed that, too?”

She scoffed again. “I’m not blind, Will. We’ve both seen him watching her. I’ve seen her watching him. And then, when they look as if they’re actually going to look at one another at the same time?—”

“They both turn red,” Will finished for her.

“Indeed,” she agreed. “So.. why does he offer his arm one day and then go out of his way to stay so far away from her the next?”

Will lifted a shoulder. “Maybe he doesn’t like Bradley. She had her brother with her at the temple this morning,” he remarked.

“I was rather surprised they didn’t leave him with Mahmood’s daughter for the entire day,” Barbara said thoughtfully.

“Me as well, but Lady Helen does seem rather fond of him.”

“She probably wants one or two of her own by now,” Barbara commented.

“If she wasn’t here in Egypt, she would be about to start her third Season.

Poor girl,” she added in a whisper. Finally taking a seat in one of the settees, she sighed and then suddenly gasped as she watched Will sit next to her. “What is it?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I thought the timing of our two arrivals was coincidental, but perhaps...” Here she stopped and sighed.

“What are you thinking?” he prompted.

“Do you suppose Everly planned this trip so they would arrive in Egypt at the same time as we did?” she asked.

Will chuckled. “No,” he replied. “I don’t know how he could.

Besides, it’s a good time to be here in Egypt.

There are apparently a number of Englishmen on their way to or from India at any given time.

The weather is not too hot. The rainy season is about over,” he reasoned.

“But I could ask him if you’d like. Except. .. what exactly would I be asking?”

Barbara gave him a quelling glance. “Did you time your trip so your daughter and my nephew could secretly court one another?”

Once again chuckling, Will said, “Did you hear how ridiculous that sounded? I rather doubt Everly is even aware of his daughter’s regard for Tom. Or visa-versa,” he argued.

“His attentions are rather concentrated on plants and such,” she agreed. “I don’t know how Stella puts up with him.”

About to defend the earl—he had paid witness to Everly’s regard for his countess while the two were examining a row of columns, the man stepping in front of her to kiss her forehead when he thought no one was looking—Will instead said, “So what are we going to do about our nephew?”

Barbara’s eyes widened as she considered the query. “Nothing, I suppose,” she whispered.

“I can have a talk with him,” he suggested. “Discover if he’s changed his mind or is merely hiding his regard for Lady Helen.”

Nodding, Barbara rested her head against the back of the settee. “You do that, darling. But before you do, could you see about those drinks you mentioned? I am parched.”

Chuckling, he stood and made his way to the door. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

As he headed down the walkway to the stairs, he paused before Tom’s door. Glancing around to be sure no one was about, he once again entered the room. Not sure what he was looking for, he slowly made his way inside, looking for any sign of something that didn’t belong. Something out of place.

He realized why he had missed the letter resting against the pillow on the bed the first time he had been in the room—the netting surrounding the bed had hid it from view.

He didn’t touch it, but he could read the feminine writing from where he stood.

Expecting the envelope to be addressed with simply the word, ‘Tom’ or ‘Thomas’, he was surprised to see it was more formally addressed.

The Honorable Thomas Forster.

Not a love note, then.

He displayed a grimace at the thought Lady Helen was breaking off whatever relationship they might have had.

He reached out and plucked the note from the pillow and held it up in front of the light from the window.

Although he couldn’t make out many words, what with the way the parchment had been folded, the ink had nearly bled through in one spot.

The backwards script of a time.

Eleven o’clock .

Not about to unfold and read the missive, Will quickly returned the note to the pillow and left the room, gently closing the door behind him.

Something was going to happen at eleven o’clock.

Either Helen Tennison was meeting Tom or he was to meet her, or she was planning to break off whatever the two had in the way of a relationship.

Perhaps he did need to have a discussion with someone.