Chapter Twenty
July 26, 1817
Jane stared at her visage in the dressing table mirror and sighed. Slight purple smudges marred the skin beneath her eyes, a testament to her sleepless nights since she’d rescued Finn from the Serpentine. Though there was color in her cheeks, her lips were pale. She bit them to encourage a pink hue, but the lines of exhaustion and worry on her face had no such easy fix.
She glanced again at the brief note the butler had handed her three hours ago. It was from Finn’s mother. If you were to call on my son today, I’m quite certain it would be worth your time.
That was all it said. Heat infused her cheeks, giving them more of a healthy color. Did she dare to hope what the outcome of such a meeting might be? Though Finn had opened his heart and told her the secret haunting him, he hadn’t declared himself nor had he uttered those three little words she was desperate to hear from him.
There was nothing for it. The answer she sought would never be found in the dressing table mirror. She hadn’t seen the major for two days, nor had she any word from him. How had he fared since she’d left him that evening? Had his mental state improved?
Her maid bustled in with a freshly pressed gown over her arm. “This royal blue will make certain you’re noticed, my lady.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.” Jane stood, stifling the want to groan from the soreness of her muscles. That unexpected plunge into the Serpentine had taken more of a toll on her body than she’d assumed. With a tiny tug at her upswept coif, she encouraged a tendril to curl at each temple, as well as a tiny becoming curl over her forehead. “However, I rather think sleeping for a few days sounds like just the thing.”
The younger woman snorted. “Not now. Not when you might come home engaged.” She helped Jane to don the gown and then made quick work of the line of tiny pearl buttons along the back. “Speaking of which, your father is looking for you.”
“I imagine he is.” Jane’s smile was a grim affair. “However, he can bloody well wait. It’s about time I saw to my own fate instead of anyone else’s.” Her father hadn’t been best pleased to discover she’d refused Ballantrae’s suit. He’d lectured her for close to two hours the afternoon following the ball, while she’d sat humbly in his study and let him rail.
It wouldn’t be the last time she’d disappoint him, for if she did become engaged to the major this afternoon, she be certain to appraise him of that fact as well as her intent to continue working at the clinic alongside her brothers and Finn.
“Father needs to understand that times are changing, as are the people who are living through them.” She fastened her grandmother’s heart pendant around her neck and studied the effect in the mirror. It would do.
“You’re a braver woman than me, my lady.” The maid handed Jane a pair of ivory kid gloves and a shawl of the softest ivory silk.
“Mmm, I don’t know about that.” She slipped her stocking-covered feet into a pair of matching royal blue slippers. “Father will bluster at anything, I think. He needs a hobby, perhaps.” Or a new wife. Someone to bully him and challenge him.
“Well, you’re a vision today. I wish you luck.”
“Thank you.” She scratched at her head where one of the silver combs dug into her scalp. “I hope to have news to announce by dinner.”
“Shall I call for a carriage, my lady?”
“No, I’ll walk. It’s not far, and it’s not raining. I intend to enjoy every moment of it.” With that, Jane left her bedchamber and minutes later began the walk through Mayfair. With every step, her heart beat faster and flutters filled her stomach. What if she’d misinterpreted the dowager’s note?
By the time she arrived at the Hadleigh townhouse and rapped on the green-painted door, her nerves felt strung too tight.
When the door swung open and the butler stared at her from down the length of his long nose, she trembled. “I’m here to see Major Storme.”
“Follow me.” This time he admitted her without argument. Instead of being shown to a parlor or even the drawing room as she’d expected when they’d mounted the stairs, she trailed after him to the next level. When she asked their destination, the butler remained silent. Then, as they approached the door she recognized from the other night as Finn’s bedchamber, the butler paused. “Although Major Storme doesn’t feel up to receiving guests and is resting from his ordeal, he wanted to see you. Ring if you have need of anything.”
How extremely odd. Worry flooded her being. Had he further damaged himself? Lifting a shaking hand, Jane knocked softly on the wooden panel. When bid to enter, she did so.
“Hullo, Jane. Please close the door.”
She frowned but did as bid. When she turned, she studied him with a critical eye. Finn sat upright on his bed. A flowing linen shirt covered his upper half while his lower half was hidden beneath the bed’s coverlet. His midnight hair stuck up at all angles, whether by accident or design she couldn’t hazard a guess. “What’s wrong?” She didn’t move from the door, for something about the situation made the baby-fine hairs on her nape prickle.
“Nothing.”
Jane didn’t quite trust the wicked twinkle in his sapphire eyes. “Then why was I shown in here instead of a more proper location?” She’d never been one to adhere to societal rules and neither was she a prude, but this smacked of something personal and quite intimate.
His shrug was a thing of beauty. In fact, the dratted man acted as if nothing out of sorts had happened. “I don’t feel like getting out of bed.” A decidedly roguish grin curved his lips. “Why didn’t you call on me yesterday?”
“I thought perhaps you’d need more time after… everything.” She propped her hands on her hips. “Besides, you could have called on me.”
He rolled his eyes heavenward. “I’m lazy.”
“Arse.” After everything she’d done for him, he couldn’t manage to dress and leave the house?