He shook his head again and refuted. “You’re wrong, Laura. You are an inquisitive child encased in a woman’s ravishing body. I witnessed how smart and skilled and brave you are, but you clearly lack the experience to deal with what could happen between us … What almostdidhappen. Be content I didn’t seduce you in that alley, or abduct you to a better place for it. Be glad I’m a gentleman; most men aren’t,” he disclosed with a cocky grin.
Even as she denied his claims, she had the sinking feeling he was telling the truth about himself and her. Embarrassed and dismayed, she reasoned, “If I’m so naive and you’re such a gentleman, you shouldn’t have kissed me like that! What did you expect me to do? Stand quiet and still like a statue?”
At his amused chuckles, she blushed. “I only meant … I was going to say …” she stammered before his intense stare and provocative grin. “Oh, you devilish rake! You know what I mean.”
“You definitely mean you enjoy my kisses,” he explained for her.
Flustered and enchanted, she blurted out, “What woman wouldn’t? But you’re being mean and rude. I don’t deserve that. After all, considering what I just endured, my wits aren’t clear yet.”
“Forgive me for teasing you, Laura, but you’re an absolute breath of invigorating air. I suppose I worded my caution wrong. The world can be a jungle and men can be beasts. Be careful of predators like those who attacked you and of cunning ones like me. In fact, if a carriage doesn’t come along soon, I might change my mind about remaining a gentleman and making my appointment.” He smiled, but they both realized he was only half joking. “If your parents are deceased, who were you to meet at that restaurant tonight? Perhaps a sweetheart, fiancé, or husband?”
After her brazen behavior, she couldn’t allow him to think she was wed or even betrothed. “No, Lord Chadwick Hamilton and friends,” she answered, feeling it unnecessary to further explain herself to a quicksilver stranger on a deserted street in a strange city.
The man was wary and intrigued. Her accent was American. If she was traveling with relatives, they should be with her tonight. His instincts warned him there was something strange about this incident. What was she doing in London, and with a notorious seducer like Chad Hamilton? That connection disturbed him. Nor did he need another beautiful and reckless woman getting him into further trouble! “I’m very late,” he said. “Let’s see if we can find you a carriage in a busier place.” He seized her arm in a firm—but painless—grip and led her down the street, through another long and dim alley, to the next street. They saw a carriage dropping someone off not far away.
Her rescuer yelled to the driver and signaled him. over to them. He assisted her into the seat and gave the driver the name and address of her hotel and paid him. He warned Leigh solemnly, “Don’t ever let me catch you in a secluded area like this again. Next time, Sir Lancelot might not be around to save you.”
He vanished into the shadows before she gathered her scattered wits and stolen speech. She was tempted to order the driver to wait for her, to leap from the carriage, pursue the stranger, and question him. She didn’t even know her champion’s name or where he lived. But he disappeared as mysteriously and suddenly as he had appeared.
The carriage was moving; it was too late to learn his identity and location or to make certain she had thanked him properly for saving her chastity and life. A sigh left her lips as she mused,Just wait until tomorrow, Sir Lancelot; you can’t escape me this easily.
Chapter Two
Despite her dreamy vow, disappointment and emptiness plagued Leigh on the ride back to her hotel. She might never find “Sir Lancelot” again. She wished he had been willing to escort her home—the ride would have given them more time to talk. At least she might have learned his name.
Leigh straightened her cloak to conceal her torn gown. She combed her hair but did not re-pin it into its neat chignon. She realized the blue aigrette was gone. It was no doubt ruined, so she didn’t need to return to the alley to look for it. She would purchase another when she carried her gown to the seamstress to see if it could be repaired.
The carriage halted at the hotel and she was assisted down by a polite doorman. Leigh was surprised to find there was no message from her step-uncle. She was long overdue to meet him. Perhaps Chad assumed she had decided not to come to dinner or believed his late invitation hadn’t reached her. No matter, she wasn’t in any mood to track him down. She hurried to her room to change clothes.
Leigh summoned the ladies’ maid to help her unfasten the gown. She explained the episode to the older woman, who showed genuine concern over her disheveled condition and frightening experience. After the waiting woman left, Leigh washed the dirt from her face, arms, and hands, and soothed the scratches with a healing balm. Nothing could be done for the bruises, which would be darker by morning. She noted several ragged fingernails and fetched a rubbing board to repair them, glad they had not been torn to the painful quicks.
As she worked on her toilette, Leigh’s mind wandered. How amazing it was that she was here now in England, an heiress about to embark on a grand adventure. How magical it all seemed, especially after Sir Lancelot’s daring rescue.
Of course, this was not her first trip abroad. Before Leigh was sixteen, her family had made several voyages to England, where she had gotten to know her grand-parents through more than an exchange of letters and her father’s stories. She had loved her grandfather but had not known him well. The only blood relative she had left when her parents died was her mother’s sister.
Leigh’s aunt in Texas had never tried to rule her life. Jenna had allowed her to make most of her own decisions. But Jenna’s new husband hadn’t felt the same; he had wanted her to marry and leave.
Annoyance filled Leigh as she reflected on her last few years in Texas. Whatifshe were still single at twenty? She wasn’t a spinster or a disgrace. She had her own income from her grandfather, she could more than support herself. When news arrived of her enormous inheritance, Jenna’s husband Carl had wanted to sail with her to “protect and chaperone” her. Leigh had turned him down as politely as possible for her aunt’s sake. She didn’t want Carl intruding on her new life. Nor did she want that obsessive ranch foreman pursuing her. She found it hard to trust a man who was too handsome and charming, too smooth. Maybe that was why she had trouble fully trusting her guardian.
She had met Lord Chadwick Hamilton—with his inherited title of earl—on the last trip in ‘90, shortly after Chad had gone to work for William Webster. The two men had become good friends, and her grandfather—after training him—had allowed Chad authority over most of his business affairs. Perhaps, the blonde decided, because his only son was far away and Chad was filling an emotional emptiness.
Following her parents’ deaths in ‘91 and her grandmother’s in ‘92, William had married Chad’s mother—Lady Fiona Hamilton. Knowing how the loss of her parents had affected her, Leigh understood why her grandfather had sought happiness with a new wife and stepson.
Leigh wanted love and happiness and marriage—but only with a special man, a strong and honest one, a man who accepted her with or without beauty, elite status, and wealth. Perhaps she would meet the perfect mate here, as she hadn’t in America.
Leigh knew that special man was not her handsome guardian. Even if he hadn’t already been spoken for, she was hesitant about Chad. She couldn’t put a finger on anything particular, but…But what?
During her last visit, her grandfather had revealed affection and admiration for Chad, and faith in him. Her father had also liked and trusted Chad, and was glad the young man took the heaviest business burdens off his aging father’s shoulders. Chad had charmed her mother, too, and had taken both women on pleasant outings. For a time, Leigh was smitten by the handsome twenty-six-year-old earl whom her family so liked and enjoyed. But that was six years ago, and people did change.
It worried Leigh that Chad wasn’t angry with her grandfather for leaving her almost everything. Most men would be in his place.
Chad had worked hard for Webster International. William had left his stepson and widow financially and socially comfortable. William had gifted Chad with a townhouse years ago, and he had left his London home to Fiona. From the will, both had been given sufficient—but not overly generous—money for support. Too, Chad possessed a well-paying position as manager of the firm, and Fiona had the beauty and charms to earn another advantageous marriage. Yet, to have so much within his grasp and to watch it go to someone else had to hurt and embitter.Shouldn’t it?she mused. And what of his mother, Lady Fiona Hamilton Webster?
Leigh wished she knew if Fiona had purposely sailed to British India on January eighteenth to avoid the young woman who was arriving soon to inherit most of her second husband’s wealth and possessions. And, she wondered, too, if the widowed countess had wed William Webster out of love. It seemed odd to Leigh that such a stunning, youthful, titled woman would marry an untitled, rather plain man who was so much older and less socially involved than herself—especially one so recently widowed.
Her grandmother had invited Leigh to spend the summer of ‘92 in England, but Sarah had died before plans were finalized. Leigh had been informed of her grandmother’s death, but not invited to the funeral. She had been informed of William’s remarriage but not invited to the wedding. Nor had she received any letters or invitations from Fiona since the woman joined her family. It was as if Fiona wanted William all to herself. If this was so, then her grandfather had obviously complied, for his letters to Leigh had become fewer and farther between and were always about Chad and Fiona. Yet he had invited Leigh to spend her twenty-first birthday with him, and he had left the bulk of his estate to her. Chad had told Leigh that his mother planned to be gone for six months. The blonde was eager to learn if Fiona bore resentment against her. Only time could answer those plaguing questions.
Leigh slipped into a simple day dress that buttoned up the front. She brushed and arranged her tawny locks. She was fine, only slightly injured and very vexed. But she was stimulated by the excitement of the evening, by her unknown champion. And, she was hungry and thirsty. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to have something sent to her room.