“You idiot!” Benedict glared at Jimmy the moment he saw how pale Chloe had become as she swayed unsteadily on her feet. He stepped forward with the intention of assisting her if she fell, but Chloe roused herself and neatly avoided his touch by moving deftly away from him.
As if, Benedict realized with an inward groan, his very touch now repulsed her.
“I’m the idiot?” Jimmy scorned incredulously. “It seems to me that you’re the one who has a wife hidden away but is leading another young lady on by bringing her here and decking her out in beautiful dresses and jewelry.”
“I am not leading anyone on,” Benedict thundered.
Jimmy snorted. “I’ve seen the way you look at Chloe and the way she looks back at you. You should be ashamed of yourself, behaving that way when you ain’t free to do so.”
“I’m not so young, nor am I that impressionable,” Chloe rallied, indignant color returning to her cheeks.
“And I am free to do exactly as I please,” Benedict stated firmly.
“As I said earlier, you’re an arrogant bastard,” Jimmy muttered.
Benedict drew in a deep and steadying breath. “Could we all just calm down, and try to resolve this situation in a way there is at least some modicum of politeness left between the three of us at the end of it?”
“Fine with me,” Jimmy muttered as he dropped onto the chaise in front of the window, the ankle of one leg resting on the knee of the other as he looked up at Benedict expectantly.
“Of course.” Chloe kept her gaze lowered as she crossed the room to sit perched on the edge of the chaise beside Jimmy.
Leaving Benedict, as he loomed over the two of them, feeling as if he were a stern father, or possibly a headmaster, addressing recalcitrant children.
The last thing he felt toward Chloe was fatherly!
He could only hope that, after he had given his explanation, Chloe could forgive him for not having been honest with her. “The lady who resides in the east wing is indeed Lady Beatrix Winter.” His steely gaze remained on Jimmy. “She is my sister.”
Chloe was so relieved at hearing this that she fell back against the chaise, lightheaded for the second time today.
The very thought of Benedict having a wife had been enough to cause her to feel ill. Not just because of the intimacies the two of them had previously shared, but also because it would mean Benedict wasn’t the man she had previously thought him to be: a man of moral strength and kindness.
Which begged the question, why would a man of moral strength and kindness hide his sister away at his country estate?
The three of them had arrived in Surrey four days ago, and not once had there been any mention of a Lady Beatrix also being in residence. Nor had Benedict’s sister joined them for any of their meals.
Chloe looked up at him searchingly. “Why are you hiding her in the east wing?”
“For the love of—!” Benedict broke off to draw in a long and calming breath. “I will say this only once more—I am not hiding Beatrix. Do not say it again,” he warned Jimmy icily as the younger man seemed about to speak. “It is Beatrix’s own wish that she live quietly and in solitude here and in that wing of the house. She… Nine years ago, when Beatrix was aged only seventeen, there was a carriage accident in which my parents were killed and my sister grievously injured.” He sighed heavily. “Beatrix has preferred to remain in seclusion in the east wing here ever since.”
Chloe’s brow creased into a puzzled frown. “I do not understand. Why, once her time of mourning was at an end, would such a young lady choose to hide herself away from all society?”
“Exactly the question I put to him,” Jimmy interceded.
Benedict’s nostrils flared. “Having spent time with Beatrix, you are well aware of why she prefers to live in seclusion.”
Jimmy rose restlessly to his feet. “No, I really am not. If you are referring to the scar down her left cheek—which I presume occurred during the accident—then yes, I can see how that might make her feel self-conscious in society. But it does not detract from her beauty and the warmth of her personality, nor is it reason for her to shut herself away from others.”
Benedict agreed with him wholeheartedly; unfortunately, Beatrix did not.
His gaze narrowed on the younger man. “Whatever thoughts you might have of duping my sister into falling in love with you, then let me assure you that—” Benedict’s words were cut off abruptly as Jimmy lashed out and his fist connected with Benedict’s jaw, causing him to reel backward before he was able to regain his footing.
He surged forward as his own fist struck out and knocked the other man back into the bookcase along one wall, causing the books to shake on the shelves.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” He loomed over the younger man. “But that is an interesting question in itself, is it not?” he taunted. “Who you are and why you choose to hide behind the persona of Jimmy Brown. Because your speech now indicates you are James, not Jimmy, and I seriously doubt that Brown has ever been your name.”
Chloe was sure Benedict didn’t even see Jimmy’s second punch coming. A blow struck so hard against Benedict’s jaw, it caused him to stagger back before sprawling across the chaise.
Jimmy glared his distaste. “Whatever my name or circumstances in life, I know enough of manners to realize that you have just insulted your sister as much as me.” He gave Chloe a terse nod before striding across the room to open and then slam the door behind him.
Leaving the study bathed in an eerie silence.
Chloe’s first instinct was to go to Benedict’s side and see if there was anything she could do in regard to the bruise quickly forming on his jaw. The icy hauteur in his expression as he once again rose to his feet warned her against approaching him in any way.
Instead, she spent several seconds picking up things from the floor and returning them to the desktop before speaking again. “Do you think I might also meet your sister?” she prompted. “I might welcome the female company as much as she.”
Whatever Benedict had expected Chloe’s next words to be, it hadn’t been that.
But when he considered the request, he realized that of course Chloe would enjoy some female company rather than spending so much time on her own. She’d had enough of loneliness within Lord Gordon’s household.
He forced the tension to ease from his shoulders. “I will ask Beatrix, but I feel sure, after seeing her with Jimmy today, that she is more receptive to meeting new people than she has been. Also, she has previously expressed curiosity regarding both yourself and Jimmy,” he admitted with a smile. “She is resting for now, but I will ask her permission to introduce you when I visit her before dinner.”
Chloe nodded. “Thank you.” Her gaze became rueful as she looked at his jaw. “Do you have something you might apply to help ease your discomfort? A bruise is already forming, and it looks painful.”
He gave a wince after gingerly touching that abused flesh. “My other guest has a powerful right hook.”
She eyed him teasingly. “How do you know this guest doesn’t too?”
“Would you like to put it to the test?” he drawled ruefully. “Where you are concerned, I feel I should give you license to take at least one free hit,” he acknowledged softly.
Chloe’s cheeks became suffused with color. “I could never physically harm you.”
“Is that because I am so kind and honorable?” he bit out self-disgustedly.
She raised her chin. “I know of no other gentleman who would have taken me in when I collapsed on your doorstep, and who has also continued to protect and care for me since then.”
He flinched after tightening his bruised jaw. “I have also made love to you—twice!—when I have absolutely no right to do so.”
The color deepened in her cheeks. “As I recall, you did so with my full and enthusiastic cooperation.”
“After which, the second time, at least, I rejected you in a harsh and insulting manner.” That knowledge sickened him every time he thought of it, and yet at the time, he had thought he had no choice but to try to put Chloe at a distance.
But perhaps now that Beatrix appeared to be becoming more social, he did have a choice, after all.
Chloe’s gaze became searching. “Do you push people away from you because of your deep love for and the responsibility you feel to care for your sister?”
Benedict drew in a sharp breath at her astuteness. “Most in Society believe Beatrix perished in the accident with my parents, and those who do not are very close friends of mine and feel as protective of Beatrix as I do. I could never—will never—force her to show herself in Society when she has no wish to do so. Nor will I willingly subject her to how hurtful others can be, by even the possibility of exposing her to their thoughtless cruelty.”
Chloe looked troubled. “Do you believe I am capable of being cruel to her?”
“No, of course not,” he dismissed impatiently.
“I believe Jimmy—James, as I am now inclined to agree with you in regard to his having lied about his having originated from the slums of London. I believe his consideration toward your sister to be genuine rather than contrived for any nefarious reason.” There was a gentle rebuke in her tone.
Benedict felt a wave of shame, similar to the one he’d had earlier, in having even voiced such an accusation to the younger man. It was, as Jimmy so rightly said, as insulting to Beatrix as it was to him.
He looked down at his feet. “I believe so too.”
“Then you owe both James and your sister an apology.”
Benedict glanced up at her. “There are not many women—anyone at all, in fact,” he corrected dryly, “who would dare upbraid me in the straightforward manner you do not hesitate to do.”
She looked at him from beneath her lashes. “I do not mean to overstep.”
“And I was not criticizing you.” He sighed. “I know I am guilty of sometimes forgetting to be considerate of other people’s feelings.”
“And I believe most are intelligent enough to realize it is a defensive action rather than deliberate cruelty on your part.”
Benedict eyed her admiringly. “You really are one of the nicest and kindest young ladies I have ever met.”
Chloe chuckled. “I am both nice and kind?”
“Very much so.” He nodded, knowing he had never liked any woman as much as he did Chloe.
Although, perhaps like was too lukewarm a word for how he felt whenever he was with or even thought about Chloe. The hardening of his cock from just being alone with her again was evidence of that.
She smiled at him warmly. “It is very pleasant to be conversing with you like this again, Benedict. Not that we have not met at dinner every evening and talked politely together then,” she continued hastily. “But—”
“But we were never alone and so could not be completely ourselves,” Benedict murmured huskily as he stepped closer.
She looked at him shyly. “I have missed you, Benedict.”
“And I you.”
“Do you—” Chloe broke off with a frown as someone knocked on the door.
“Yes?” Benedict prompted tersely at the interruption.
The study door swung open. “Now, is that any way to greet one of your oldest friends?”
Chloe stared curiously at the gentleman standing in the doorway.
He wore no hat, gloves, or overcoat, having presumably left them with Carlton when he arrived. He was very tall, with fair hair brushed back from his harshly etched features, and eyes of the deepest blue Chloe had ever seen. He had large but graceful hands. His black superfine was tailored to the muscular width of his shoulders and chest, with a dark blue waistcoat buttoned over a flat stomach, and pale gray pantaloons fitted to muscular long legs. His black Hessians were splotched with mud. Evidence he had arrived here on horseback?
He looked every inch the gentleman, from his stylishly overlong hair to his soft leather boots, as Chloe would have expected of a close friend of Benedict’s.
He turned that dark-blue gaze toward her. “Am I right in thinking you are Miss Chloe Gordon?”
She eyed him warily, not sure how he even knew of her existence, let alone her name. “I am, yes,” she confirmed slowly.
He nodded. “My name is Julius Soames, and I am pleased to meet you.”
“He is Lord Julius Soames and the Earl of Andover,” Benedict put in dryly.
“And I am still very pleased to meet you,” the earl said, mocking Benedict’s formality.
“Your Lordship.” Chloe affected a curtsey.
Benedict wasn’t sure he altogether cared for the way in which Julius was looking at Chloe. Almost as if she were a tasty morsel he was contemplating eating for his next meal.
Chloe was his, damn it. The woman he would protect with his life.
Not just because she was some random female he felt an obligation to protect, but because he had fallen in love with her?
Benedict believed that to be the case, yes.
After years of dismissing any thought of love, he had only to look at Chloe to know happiness. A happiness that, without him having realized it, told him Chloe had taken up residence inside his heart. She was his heart.
“So.” Julius straightened. “Shall we discuss my findings now, or will I wait until Mr. James Metford is able to join us?”
Benedict’s eyes narrowed. “That’s who Jimmy is, then?”
“Oh, indubitably.”
“Then why—”
“We should wait until we are all together to discuss either of the matters you requested me to look into further,” Julius agreed. “In the meantime, with your permission, I should like to go and pay my respects to Beatrix.”
“Of course.”
Chloe waited until the two men had bowed formally to one another and the Earl of Andover had left the study before speaking again. “How did the earl know my name? And what did he mean by discuss either of these matters?” She eyed him suspiciously. “Matters you apparently requested he look into on your behalf. One of the two was obviously Jimmy’s identity, but did the other one concern me?” Her voice rose in her agitation.
“Chloe—”
“No.” She stepped back as Benedict would have reached out to grasp her arm. “You asked a complete stranger—he is a complete stranger to me,” she insisted when Benedict would have protested, “to poke about in my private affairs. If you had wished to know more of my situation, then you should have asked me first. Instead, you chose to ask one of your friends to do so without my knowledge.”
“Chloe—”
“I said no!” She took another step away as he reached for her again, tears balanced precariously on her lower lashes. “You had no right to do that. None at all!” she choked out before turning on her heel and running from the room.
All Benedict could do was let her go.
And know that, because he had not been completely honest, he had once again pushed a wedge between himself and the woman he now knew he had fallen in love with.