Always leave a lady’s presence with a compliment, a bow, and a smile on your face.
A PROPER GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO WOOING THE PERFECT LADY
SIR VINCENT TYBALT VALENTINE
Loretta looked over at Hawk and smiled.
Taking an afternoon ride in Hyde Park was one of Loretta’s favorite things to do since marrying the duke a few weeks ago. Though there was a slight chill in the air, spring had finally arrived. Some days were gray, many filled with rain, but a few of them were as gloriously beautiful as this day. Sunny, warm, and blue skies as far as the eye could see.
She couldn’t help but think that one of the reasons she enjoyed the park so much was because of all the activity from crowds watching a puppet show, vendors hawking their wares, and couples strolling the grounds oblivious to it all. There had been so few people to see at Mammoth House that the busy streets and parks of London were a delight for her senses.
Loretta enjoyed hearing the noise from carriages, wagons, and milk carts. The clopping of horses’ hooves and wheels on hard-packed ground, or milk cans rattling in the backs of wagons, were not an annoyance to her. She welcomed the sounds. She watched everyone who passed by, be they Polite Society, shopkeeper, servant, tradesman, beggar, or peer. She relished the smells, the sounds, and the sights of people going about their daily lives.
“I hope that smile on your face is for me.” Hawk said, guiding the horses into the park behind a stream of other carriages.
“It is, my dear husband. I’m happy to be back in London, to be planning our first dinner party for next week, to be attending the Season with Lady Adele and Paxton.” She looked back at Hawk. “I’m very happy being back in Society, and I do believe I am the happiest person in all of London, or England—no, make that the whole world.”
Hawk chuckled and clicked the ribbons against the horses’ rumps to move them along as they left the path and headed toward the grassy area near the Serpentine. “I think Adele might take issue with you on who is happiest,” he said. “I didn’t think she was going to stop hugging me when she told me that she and Paxton have decided they will marry on the day before Christmas.”
“Yes. She was very happy about that, wasn’t she?” Loretta answered.
“Just in case she failed to tell you, she still thinks I picked the perfect husband for her, and so do I.”
“Oh, no. She told me. More than once. What’s even better, now that she is happily engaged, there have been no instances of anyone trying to disrupt her Season. And she seems to be enjoying all the parties, balls, and festivities immensely. She hardly misses a dance.”
“You are still trying to keep them apart, aren’t you?” Hawk asked with an amused grin.
“No. No. I am not,” Loretta insisted. “I know that Paxton adores her and really wants to marry Lady Adele. I will admit that, at one point, before he met her, I think he contemplated accepting your offer in order to help me be free of our uncle, but that was only for a short time.”
“Hmm,” Hawk said. “He told me just the opposite.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Hawk grinned again. “He said to me, ‘If my sister is going to marry one of the Rakes of St. James, I’d better be a part of this family in case she ever needs me.’”
Hawk turned his attention back to the horses.
“Did he really say that?”
“Not in those exact words, and in my own way I assured him I’d given up my wicked ways for you and he had no cause to worry about you.”
Loretta’s heart melted and she placed her hand on his knee. “Thank you,” she said sweetly, and then after another thought, added, “You’re making up that conversation with Paxton, aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t do that. I might not have told it exactly as it was said, but rest assured that your brother said he’d call me out if I should ever hurt you.”
Loretta was stunned. “Paxton said that to you? I can’t believe it. He’s such a docile man.”
“I was amazed he had it in him, too.”
“What did you say back to him?”
Hawk ignored her, but he didn’t stop smiling.
“Well, perhaps it’s better I not know. But no matter what you said to him about it,” she added playfully, “he assured me that he is marrying Lady Adele because he adores her. Not for me, not for you, or just to help her avoid trouble during the Season, but because he wants to be her husband. But—”
“But what?” He glanced at her.
“I’m glad they’re waiting until December to marry. It gives them time to be sure this is what they want.”
“Might I remind you,” Hawk said while slowing the horses, “that you didn’t need almost a year to make up your mind about me?”
Loretta pursed her lips and then laughed. “Oh.”
“Yes. Oh.”
Hawk was right, but then Lady Adele and Paxton weren’t professing undying, passionate love for each other as she and Hawk had. However, she truly believed Lady Adele and Paxton enjoyed being together, and maybe that was enough.
“All I could keep thinking about was all the Christmastide dinners I’d have to sit through listening to the two of them trying to outtalk each other.”
Loretta laughed again. “Do you suppose they will ever run out of things to say?”
“No. I’m convinced when they do, they will just come visit us and find more subjects to talk about.”
Hawk stopped the curricle at their favorite spot. He jumped down and reached back for her. She smiled as he swung her off the carriage and set her feet on the ground.
Loretta spread the blanket, and then sat down and opened the food basket while Hawk made sure the carriage was secure. She opened a napkin to cheese, bread, preserved currants, and cold chicken. When she was finished, she looked up to tell Hawk she had everything ready and froze.
She blinked and shook her head. He was still there. She wasn’t imagining Farley.
He was standing no more than twenty feet from her. He still wore the same clothes she’d given him, but now they were dirty, worn. His hair was longer and shaggy-looking again, but he looked fuller, healthier than when she’d last seen him. Maybe even taller.
Loretta slowly rose and stared at him. Hawk came from around the curricle saying, “You know I was about to tell—”
He stopped talking but eased up beside Loretta. He slipped his arm around her waist. Farley slowly came closer, his gaze warily darting from Loretta to Hawk.
“I been following ye since ye left the ’ouse.”
“Why?” Hawk asked and started toward him.
Farley backed up.
Loretta grabbed Hawk’s arm and held him back. “Don’t,” she whispered. “You’ll scare him away.”
Loretta saw faint bruising around the bottom of Farley’s eyes and a fading scar running from his bottom lip. It was good to know he was healing from the beating Hawk had told her about.
Not wanting to mention that incident to him, she asked, “How’s your cough?”
“Gone.”
“That’s good. You’re looking stronger.”
With watchful eyes, Farley slowly lowered a small, dirty brown bag to the ground and let go of it. Loretta hadn’t even noticed that he held it in his hand until he started moving.
“I wanted to give ye this.”
Loretta’s intake of breath skipped, and her chest tightened with hope. “My mother’s jewelry?” she asked, taking a step herself and feeling Hawk hold her back. “You found it?”
He nodded.
She wanted to immediately run to get the bag and look in it, but knew Hawk was right to stop her as she had him. They couldn’t either one do anything to cause Farley to run away, so she forced herself to stay still.
“Not all of it. ’E already sold some of it.”
“You little—” Hawk bit off what he was going to say and finished with, “You told me you didn’t know who he was. You were to let me know if you ever saw the man again.”
“Didn’t need ye.”
“How did you get it back?” Loretta asked.
“Same way I got it the first time. I took it.”
“The man will come looking for you, Farley,” Hawk said.
“’E won’t bother me again. I ’ad ’elp this time. Besides, I won’t ’ave it to give back to ’im. You have it now.”
“I didn’t want that for you. That’s why I told you to come to me and let me handle this.”
Farley shrugged as he did so often.
“Stay here with us, Farley,” Loretta said before she could think about the implications of her words. “You’ll be safe with us. I know Hawk will help me take care of you. Don’t go back to living on the streets. It’s too dangerous for you.”
“’Ere is my ’ome. Not with ye.”
Farley cut his eyes over to Hawk. “’E never liked me anyway.”
“I don’t suppose I ever will,” Hawk said tightly.
“It’s who I am.”
“You can change if you want to,” Hawk argued. “If Loretta wants you to stay I’ll find a place for you, but you’ll have to work and earn your way.”
“Don’t need to. I take care of my ownself. Got me a new friend and a new place to live. ’E’s a nice man and teaching me ’ow to take care of ’is ’orses. Like Arnold did.”
Hope for the lad soared inside Loretta. “Can we know more about your new friend?” she asked.
“Don’t need to tell ye.”
It saddened her that Farley told her so little, but she’d learned she couldn’t help him until he wanted it. “All right.” Swallowing past a tight throat, she said, “Thank you for returning my jewelry. I’m very happy to have it back.”
Farley looked down at the ground for a few seconds and then back to Loretta and said, “I’m sorry I took it.”
Loretta smiled sadly. He’d learned some things from her after all. She’d told him to say he was sorry when he’d done something that was wrong.
“Thank you for letting me know that.”
Farley glanced at Hawk again and then started backing up.
“Wait,” Loretta said. “Before you go.”
Loretta reached down and gathered the cheese, bread, and all the food together and hurriedly wrapped it in a napkin. She slowly walked toward him, holding it out. He waited, took it from her, and then looked up at her and nodded. That was as good as him saying thank you.
“Come winter,” she said, “if you’ve outgrown your coat, will you let me know?”
He shrugged, hugged the napkin to his chest, and continued to back up as if he didn’t trust her not to chase him down and take the food. When there was a safe distance between them, he stopped, glanced at Hawk again, and then suddenly turned and ran away.
Loretta didn’t know why but she felt a sense of peace as she watched him disappear. And it pleased her that in the end, Farley had done the right thing.
It was the same feeling she’d had when she’d recanted her vow. When someone had done all they could to rectify a wrong, there needed to be a peace about it so that one could move on.
Hawk strode over, picked up the small bag that lay not far from her, and handed it to her. “I hope your favorite necklace is in there.”
She opened it, looked inside, and with a smile nodded. “It is. It looks as if most of it is probably in here. I’m surprised whoever had it didn’t sell it all.”
“Most footpads can’t just walk into a shop and hand over a bag of jewelry and sell it all at one time. That would raise too many suspicions. They usually get rid of it a little at a time by saying they found it in the park or on the street. They usually go to different shops, and they don’t go often.”
There was no reason Loretta should suddenly feel like crying, but she did. She wished Hawk could take her in his arms so she could lay her head on his chest, feel his comfort, but there were too many people in the park to be so bold. She could wait until they returned home and were alone to feel the strength of his embrace.
With the back of her hand, she wiped at the corners of her eyes and said, “He’s probably not coming back, is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“I only wanted to help him have a better life.”
Hawk touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “I know that. He knows that. I can’t say for sure what will become of him, Loretta. But he’s young, and he knows his way around. He took the food,” Hawk added. “And he didn’t reject the offer of a new coat for the winter.”
Loretta looked into Hawk’s eyes and suddenly knew why she’d felt a peace about Farley. “Since the day you found him, you’ve been having someone keep an eye on him, haven’t you?” she asked.
Hawk remained silent but his expression pled guilty.
“Though he may not know it, you somehow helped him get the jewelry back, too, didn’t you? I bet you even know who his new friend is.” Loretta laughed. “I should have known immediately you were behind all this.”
“I will do anything for you, Loretta. I love you. And I love you for wanting to help him whether or not he accepts it. I know you wanted him to have a true family and not go back to the streets. But he had to want that, too. You wanting it for him wasn’t enough.”
She tightly squeezed the bag in her hand. “Paxton said something very similar to me recently.”
“He was right. Farley now has a safe place to live with an older man who lost his family. He’ll be good to him. And because of you, I think Farley now knows how to be good in return.”
“How did you find him?” she asked. “How did you work it out so Farley would want to live with him?”
“The man takes care of my stables and several others here in London. He has a good life. With the help of some runners from Bow Street, I made sure the kindly old man was there to help Farley when he approached the thief who had your jewelry. Together they got the best of him and I don’t think he’ll be bothering anyone anytime soon.”
“And Farley wasn’t hurt?”
“No. Though he denied it, I was convinced he knew who had your jewelry. It was only a matter of time until he tried to get it back. The owner of the stables will see to it Farley makes a good life for himself. Farley wasn’t going to accept help from us. He had to believe he’d found this opportunity all by himself.”
“And he does believe that. I love you, Hawk,” she whispered earnestly. “So much it swells my heart. Did I ever thank you for being so patient with me about Farley, my stubbornness, my vow, and then loving me anyway?”
“You know”—he touched her cheek again and seemed to think about what she said as merriment danced in his eyes—“perhaps you told me more than once, but I’m not certain you’ve shown me adequate appreciation for all that I’ve done.”
“Then I promise I will. As soon as we return home.”
“I’ll eagerly await that, my beautiful bride,” he responded. “In fact, I’m thinking that since we no longer have food to eat, we’d best be getting back home. What do you think?”
“I was thinking about something you once said. Do you remember telling me that you are not known for following the rules of Society?”
“I do,” he answered. “And you reminded me that you are not known for following them either.”
“That’s right,” she answered. “So why don’t we break one of them right now and give London another scandal, because I’m not sure I can wait until we get home for a kiss.”
Hawk smiled. “I’ve been waiting to give the gossipmongers something else to talk about.”
With that, Hawk lowered his head and intended to kiss her, but their lips never touched.
“Hawk! Loretta!” came Adele’s voice. “We thought we’d never find you!”
Loretta and Hawk looked up to see Adele and Paxton hurrying toward them.
“I was afraid it would be difficult to hide from those two,” Hawk said with an exasperated breath. “We’ve hardly had a moment to ourselves.”
Loretta sighed. “I fear our bedchamber might be our only haven from them until they marry and have a home of their own.”
“Did she say we had to wait until Christmastide for that happy occasion to arrive?”
“Unfortunately,” Loretta whispered as the beaming couple stopped in front of them.
Greetings were ignored as Adele rushed to say, “Why didn’t you invite us to join you in the park on this lovely day? You knew we’d want to join you.”
“We do like to be alone once in a while, Adele,” Hawk informed her.
“Oh, nonsense,” she argued. “No one wants to be alone. That’s why Minerva has agreed to continue to live with me after Paxton and I marry.”
“Yes,” Paxton added. “We’re delighted she accepted. However, I came over to your house for a special reason today only to find the two of you had left without telling Adele. Luckily Price knew where you were.”
Hawk bent to Loretta’s ear and whispered, “I must have a talk with Price.”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter now,” Adele said. “We forgive you for not asking us. Your wedding gift arrived today. I had it delivered to Paxton’s house so I could surprise you, and when he brought it over, I knew we had to find you.”
Loretta looked at them and saw no gift. Adele held only her parasol and a satin drawstring reticule swinging from her wrist. Paxton held only a picnic basket, which he promptly thrust toward Adele and opened the lid for her. She reached inside, and pulled out Cocoa. The puppy wiggled and made the sweetest little bark Loretta had ever heard.
“Here,” Adele said, extending the dog to Loretta. “She’s yours and Hawk’s.”
Shivers of delight peppered Loretta’s arms and she gasped. “No, no.” She looked at Hawk, who was smiling, too. “Adele, she’s your favorite puppy. We can’t take her from you.”
“Of course you can!” Adele exclaimed happily. “She’s a gift. I want you to have her.”
“Take her, Loretta,” Hawk said.
Loretta then joyously scooped Cocoa out of Adele’s hands and carried the squirming little pup to her neck and nuzzled her warm fur as she laughed. “Oh, Adele, I don’t know what to say.” She glanced at Hawk, her expression letting him know she was too overcome with gratefulness and happiness to speak.
“Thank you, Adele,” he said for her.
“Yes, you couldn’t have given us anything we would love more.” Loretta held the warm puppy close to her breast, looked up at Hawk, and whispered, “I love you.”
Hawk looked down into her eyes and whispered, “You are my heart, my sunshine, and my soul, Loretta.” Hawk then surprised them all by placing a very loving kiss on Loretta’s lips.
Loretta thrilled to her husband’s touch.