Hammering rain beat upon the roof of the landau and slashed against the small glass panes in the door. It was as if the heavens had opened up to empty buckets of water upon London. Strong gusts rocked and shuddered the lightweight carriage.
Adeline had made it out of her solicitor’s office and inside the compartment before the worst of the early spring storm hit, but not until after a fierce whip of wind had turned her umbrella inside out and rendered it completely useless. Her cape was wet but not completely drenched; her thin silk dress and satin shoes were damp and cold. She could warm herself quickly enough when she made it home, but she didn’t know how long that might be.
The heavy downpour had traffic moving at a crawl.
No matter. She would weather the storm in stride. All the minor details of the school that had been left unresolved for one reason or another had now been settled and money to ensure the financial soundness of the school for the next five years was set aside in the proper accounts. She, Julia, and Brina had left Mr. Clements’ office, where they’d signed the last of the documents concerning the organizational structure and security of The Seafarer’s School for Girls.
Adeline leaned her head against the soft velvet cushions and smiled as the carriage rumbled along. Sounds of the pelting storm should be disturbing, but as she listened to the rage outside, she realized she was peaceful inside and had been for quite some time now. Occasionally a memory from the past would haunt her, but she was learning to busy herself with other things when they wanted to invade her thoughts.
Now there were children in her future. Not any she would be a mother to, but ones who would grow up to have a better life because of her. It was fitting that she was helping children with the money Wake had left at her disposal. She had to appreciate him for that. Some widows weren’t taken care of as well as she had been.
She was at peace.
Yet, something was missing in her life. The Earl of Lyonwood had made her aware of what it was. What she had dreamed of having from her marriage but never received. Someone to hold her possessively. To touch her with passion. To love and desire her.
Lyon had awakened those dormant, now-unwelcomed longings to be romanced the way she’d dreamed she would be when she’d married. The fascinating earl next door was the culprit. It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen, met, or chatted with strong, handsome men since her husband’s death. She had. None of them had come close to making her feel the powerful, sensuous sensations that Lyon had. It seemed unfair that the irascible man should be the one to catch her attention.
A sudden jolt of the carriage threw Adeline forward. She steadied herself with her feet and glanced out the window. Visibility was so poor she couldn’t see anything but gray. Over the squalling wind and pounding deluge on the roof, she heard her driver shouting and then distant, muffled replies.
After a few more annoying bellows, the carriage started moving but only for a few seconds before the conveyance halted once more. Further words were exchanged between her driver and someone else.
Adeline looked out the window for a second time. She rubbed the pane with her gloved hand. They’d stopped on her street but not in front of her house.
“Not again,” she whispered to herself, impatience gathering quickly in her chest.
More shouts were heard and moments later, her driver, covered in an oilcloth and a dripping, wide-brimmed hat, yanked open the door. “I’m afraid we can’t go any farther, my lady,” he said disgustedly. “I’ve tried. Appears your neighbor has the street completely blocked with the coaches of his visitors again. We’ll have to wait.”
Adeline drummed her fingers on her damp lap in irritation. Sitting in a cold carriage wearing damp clothing in the midst of a storm when her house was right down the street was quite disconcerting. She probably wouldn’t be as uncomfortable had she donned a woolen dress and her walking boots, but she thought the lightweight fabric and dainty shoes more fitting for the occasion. But truthfully, it wasn’t really the wait in the icy compartment that bothered her.
It was the earl.
His habits were becoming a routine and a nuisance she would rather avoid. It was the third time the entrance to her house had been obstructed since Lord Lyonwood had returned to the neighborhood. The two previous times there had been no problem. Adeline had simply gotten out of the carriage and strolled the short distance home. That was fine. It wasn’t that she’d minded either time. Today was different. It was pouring buckets. Her umbrella was broken, she was already wet, and her feet were going numb.
How dare this man ruin her happiness about how well the day had gone at her solicitor’s office with inconsiderate behavior. She’d been feeling absolutely serene and now she was quite annoyed. Why would the earl be so thoughtless as to allow the stack-up of carriages to happen at the end of the cul-de-sac in front of her home on a regular basis?
That had to be stopped.
What was he doing anyway? Holding court like the Prince for his friends and acquaintances every other day? Surely he knew he was inconveniencing his neighbors.
“Do you know what the reason is for the waiting carriages this time?” she asked the driver, resisting the urge to tap her foot in unguarded frustration.
The man nodded, seeming not to mind the drops pelting his face. “It’s a card game today, my lady. I was told the earl has one every week when he’s in Town.”
“A card game?” Adeline almost choked on the words as she slipped the corded handle of her meticulously knitted reticule over her wrist. The devil himself couldn’t bother her more than Lyon.
“I asked one of the drivers to move his coach forward and let me pass. He said there were too many carriages in front of him and he had nowhere to go. The other bloke told me he didn’t budge the Duke of Middlecastle’s carriage for anyone.”
“How rude!” she exclaimed.
“I’d consider it an honor if you’d allow me to call out the duke’s man for his disrespect of you, my lady,” her driver offered.
“No, of course not,” she said emphatically. “Heavens, please don’t even think about doing such an uncalled-for action. I don’t want you in a squabble about this with anyone, but it does make me wonder what kind of friends the earl has.”
“Sounds like they’re important ones, my lady.”
Adeline smiled at the driver. She wasn’t really expecting an answer from her statement.
So, it appeared she now had two choices. She either had to walk in the slashing rain to her house where she could change into dry clothing and sit before a hot fire with a warm cup of chocolate, or stay in the cold carriage wearing damp shoes that weren’t going to dry out anytime soon while twiddling her thumbs for only heaven knew how long.
No one had to tell her that rain and card games could go on all night long.
What nerve the earl and his friends had to place anyone in this situation, she thought as she searched around the cushions and floor for an extra umbrella. Lord Lyonwood had barged into her house and the schoolyard thinking to tell her how she could use her home and then assumed he could do whatever he pleased around his own—with no concern whatsoever as to how it upset the lives of his neighbors.
Her search for an umbrella came up empty. Not even a fancy parasol had been left inside. Exasperated, she looked over at her driver and asked, “Do you have an extra umbrella?”
“Don’t have one at all, my lady. But the rain should let up soon.”
“Not soon enough for me,” she mumbled to herself; and then louder, she said, “I’m sure the rain won’t harm me and it might possibly cool my temper. I’ll walk. Help me down and then you can get the horses and yourself out of this weather.”
“It’s not for me to tell you what to do, but I suggest you wait out the downpour right where you are. It’s not fit for you out in this. The wind is fierce and the rain is cold.”
That would be the civil thing for her to do, but she wasn’t feeling civil. She was feeling quite fierce herself. Adeline reached to pull her hood over her head and realized the cape she was wearing didn’t have one. Oh, what rotten luck. And it was all Lyon’s fault. She’d have to rely on her short-brimmed bonnet to keep the rain out of her face, but a freezing walk was preferable to spending another minute trapped in the carriage.
“I appreciate your concern and it’s kind of you to offer advice, but it’s not that far to my house from here, and I’ll probably run most of the way. Help me step down, please, and I’ll be on my way and you can be, too.”
Adeline’s foot hit the ground in an ankle-deep puddle. Inhaling deeply from the unexpected water, for an instant she rethought her assertion that she could hurry home. Wet feet had always chilled her to the bone, and for a moment she couldn’t have felt more vulnerable if she’d been wandering the dark moors alone at midnight. Wincing from the weakness of the feeling, she fought it down and shook if off. Lifting her shoulders, she thanked the driver.
A gust threatened to take off her bonnet. She held it on her head, dashed across the street, and started toward her house at a fast pace.
Without benefit of a hood, a trickling stream quickly seeped around her neckline and down the back of her dress. Wind blew open her cape and within seconds the front of her dress was soaked. She took her hand off the bonnet to close the flapping wrap. Her bonnet flew off and whipped madly at the back of her shoulders.
She ducked her head lower, worrying with bonnet and cape at the same time, when from the corner of her eye she saw a glimmer of light and lifted her head for a glance. It was the earl’s house she was passing. Her steps slowed. His stately home looked like a beacon of warmth, rest, and hope in the blinding torrent. It was brightly lit with what appeared to be a welcoming lamp glowing in every window.
Anger churned inside her.
Adeline took a few more steps past his residence and then abruptly stopped. What was she doing letting Lyon get by with such abominable behavior? She hadn’t been afraid to start a charity school for unfortunate girls even when her late husband’s brother refused to help her in any way. And by heavens, she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind now to this earl.
She turned around and marched back toward Lyon’s house. Wanting to be neighborly after the incident with the girls playing outside last week, she’d allowed the inconvenience of not being dropped off at her door the two previous times without saying a word. Perhaps she could understand the earl congesting the cul-de-sac with carriages for an important political meeting with members of parliament. He was a powerful man after all. But a card game! That was unacceptable.
That sort of pastime could be held at a club or the drivers of the coaches could take turns exercising the horses around the block. That was the polite, neighborly thing to do.
Flinging wide the tall iron gate that led up to his home, Adeline splattered through the puddles, not caring that the gate slammed shut behind her. After stepping onto the entranceway, she clanked the door knocker three times. Moments later a tall stout-looking butler opened the door.
Before she could think better of it, she swished past him without a word and headed down the corridor dripping water as she went. She heard the man calling behind her to wait. To stop.
Adeline did neither.
She followed the sound of male talking and laughter. Her feet squished in her shoes with every purposeful step she took. Entering the lion’s den and facing his pride of debauched peers was easier than she thought it would be—until she rounded the corner of the doorway and stepped into the drawing room.
Pausing, she took it all in.
There were two white linen-draped tables with four men at each, holding cards in their hands, drinks sitting by their lace-covered wrists. A fire blazed soothing warmth into the room. From somewhere in the distance, she caught the inviting scent of bread baking in an oven. The entitled gentlemen fell silent. All of them were staring at her. Some with astonished expressions and others clearly annoyed that anyone, especially a woman, would be so bold as to charge in the earl’s home and disrupt their gaming.
And then she spotted Lyon. Their gazes met across the room. Adeline felt as if her stomach rolled over and her chest swelled. His silvery gray eyes were curious and questioning her.
Questioning?
She had no doubt she looked like a kitten that had been fished out of the Thames, but that was of no consequence. Society dictated one rule she wouldn’t ignore. Delicately grabbing the sides of her wet, clinging dress, she curtsied. “My lord, and gentlemen.”
The earl tossed his cards on top of the table, rose, and bowed. “Countess Wake,” he said, taking time to assess her from head to toe.
At the sound of her title every chair scraped across the fine wood floor. The men laid their cards on the tables, too, rose, and bowed.
The earl stood tall, handsome and powerful-looking among all the men. Without a doubt, without wanting it to happen, she was reminded how immensely attracted she was to him. That angered her even more. Suddenly she felt every frigid bead of drizzle running down her body, every strand of rain-soaked hair curling around her face. She shivered all the way down to her toes.
“Has something happened?” he asked, his expression suddenly changing to concern.
Stubbornly ignoring the worry that appeared in his features, Adeline gathered her courage and ire around her as if they were her soggy cape. Taking further steps into the room, she gripped her wringing wet reticule tightly and plopped it down on the gaming table beside the earl’s cards and then quickly wrenched off her ruined gloves and threw them beside it.
“How dare you gentlemen sit here snug, warm, and may I say dry, sipping your fine cognac, without a care in the world while your coaches clog the street causing others to slog through a slashing storm to reach the same amenities awaiting them in their homes.” Adeline’s gaze swept around the room meeting every face as she spoke. When she settled her attention on Lyon again, she added, “The street in front of my house is not your private parking area.”
Some of the gentlemen continued to be astonished, staring at her with eyes wide and mouths open. One gentleman abruptly cleared his throat and looked away. A couple of them coughed inconspicuously, while still another peered at her over his spectacles with great interest.
She felt no intimidation from any of them.
“I will thank you gentlemen to be more considerate in the future of blocking access to my home with your carriages and horses while you visit with the earl.”
From seemingly out of nowhere the butler appeared beside her with an umbrella in his hands and said, “Perhaps, my lord, since you have guests, I could see that the lady reaches her home.”
Before anyone could speak, and with hot eyes, Adeline shot another blistering look toward Lyon and then took the umbrella from the butler’s hand. “Thank you,” she said, “but that’s not necessary. Since I managed to find my way this far in a slashing rainstorm, I think I can get along home just fine.”
Confident in her inner strength, Adeline snatched her knitted purse off the table and without further ado whirled and strode out of the room like a queen, reaching the vestibule the same time as the butler. She paused and opened the umbrella while he opened the door.
As determined as she entered, she walked back into the driving rain.