“You are very brave. Courage is a quality I supremely admire.”
“Thank you, Mr. Savage. Lord Lamb has suffered such a deep loss, however, he is still withdrawn. Twins are bonded closer than other siblings, and it will be a long time before Anthony is back to normal, I’m afraid. He asks not to be disturbed today.”
“Lady Randolph, it sounds like he is already disturbed. I am most anxious to meet him, now more than ever.”
“Do you think that wise, Mr. Savage?” Roz asked, hoping to keep him from pressing the point. She hoped in vain.
“I do think it wise. He has been without the strong guidance of a father for too many years, in my opinion. It is wrong to leave him alone in his grief. This place is so isolated, he may never shake off the melancholy. Something or someone must fill the void. I believe I can help do that. He should be kept busy, don’t you agree?”
How could she honestly argue with such logic? She wanted to protect Antonia, but at the same time she knew instinctively that Adam Savage was a positive force who would not be denied. Moreover, he had a strength that they could all draw upon.
“With your permission I shall go up and have a quiet word with him.” It was not a question. His gaze was so direct, it had a mesmerizing effect upon her. He was a man whom Roz found impossible to deny.
When Antonia heard a knock upon the door she assumed it was Mr. Burke come to tell her the coast was clear. “Come in,” she called, then her eyes opened wide in disbelief at the swarthy man who entered the chamber. All her preconceived ideas of her guardian were washed away in an instant. In all her life she had never seen a being who looked like this one. First, he was larger than other men, filling the door frame with his powerful body and wide shoulders. His hair was the blue-black color of a raven’s wing and he had an abundance of it, clubbed back and falling below his shoulders. His face was tanned a deep mahogany and in startling contrast his eyes were a light, piercing blue.
A scar cut into his face from one nostril down through his top lip, but it did not detract in any way from his appearance. Instead it bestowed upon him a fatal attraction. He looked as if he came from another world, which indeed he had, but he looked more alien than that. He looked like a god who had just stepped down from Olympus.
Adam Savage’s preconceived ideas of Anthony Lamb were instantly erased. The tall, slim boy who jumped up in alarm looked so unmanly, so much younger than his near seventeen years, Adam felt deep disappointment.
“Tony? I’m Adam—Adam Savage. I’m so very sorry for your loss.” He saw the boy’s dreamy eyes fill with tears and knew it was a time for strengthening words. “I know how close you were to your twin, but if your sister could see you now, she would vigorously protest your falling into a decline over her. I am a blunt man, so I shall be plain with you. I have learned that Death is a part of life and must be accepted. In my experience the sooner the better. There are many ways to deal with your situation, some of them healthy, some of them decidedly unhealthy. My advice is to put up a brave front. When you think of your twin, think of the happy times you shared. And from now on be determined to live life to the fullest. It is incumbent upon you now to live for two, don’t you think?”
Antonia was furious. How dare he walk in uninvited and issue his orders? It was all so cut and dried to him. Her twin was dead and so she must get on with life. Tears clung to her long, dark lashes, clumping them into spikes as she looked deeply into his ice-blue eyes. She thought him the coldest, most cutting human being she had ever met. Well, if he liked plain speech, she would accommodate him.
“I was prepared to hate you,” Tony said bluntly, “but hatred is such an alien emotion to me, I find I cannot do it.” Tony stuffed her hands into her trouser pockets. “I shall have to settle for detesting you instead.”
“Oh, do try to hate me. It is such a strong, manly emotion, it will give you a little backbone,” Savage said cuttingly.Christ, he’s too pretty to piss,Adam thought angrily. Tony Lamb was a prime example of the unfairness of life. The spoiled youth had not only been born to privilege and a title, but the gods had seen fit to gift him with exceptional beauty. Adam felt a stab of remorse at his unworthy thoughts. Because his own face was ruined didn’t give him the right to resent this lad simply because he had perfect features. He sighed. “Let’s try to endure each other.”
“It will take a considerable effort on my part. I think you totally insensitive to my pain,” Tony said.
“You think I’m a stranger to pain?” Savage mocked lightly.
“I don’t know what you expect of me,” Tony said.
“I expect you to bear it with the strength of a man rather than the grief of a child.”
His words made Tony ashamed of her tears, and since she was masquerading as Anthony, she blushed to think she had let this guardian see Lord Lamb weep.
Adam saw the down upon the pretty face and was secretly appalled at how effeminate he was. For the first time he felt anger toward his late friend Russell. Why couldn’t he have taken his son with him to the Indies? He had been left with only a grandmother and a sister for companions. He had been totally deprived of male role models. Savage’s resolve hardened. By Christ, he would make a man of him!
“Your father was my dear friend, but I fault him for not giving you the opportunity of experiencing the Indies. You’ll have to be strong, you know, for your mother’s sake. She may go to pieces when she hears about Antonia.”
Tony had not written to her mother. She kept hoping Anthony would turn up, and neither she nor Roz wanted to put the deception they had concocted down on paper.
Adam Savage took a chair and stretched his long legs out before him. Tony perched on a corner of the desk and swung a booted foot. She studied the toe of her boot for a moment, then lifted her eyes to his. “I haven’t told mother and I don’t intend to.” Implicit in the words was the message that Tony didn’t want Savage to tell her either. “She is half a world away. Why break her heart?”
“That’s a very noble sentiment, but you cannot shield her from the truth indefinitely. Eve will find out sooner or later.”
“In this case I’d prefer it to be later rather than sooner,” Tony said bluntly, needing to impose her will on this point at least.
Savage spread his powerful hands. “The decision is yours. I shall respect it.”
“Thank you, Mr. Savage.”
“Please, call me Adam.” He picked up the book that had fallen to the rug when he came in. “What are you reading?” He saw that it was a novel by Samuel Richardson entitledPamela: or Virtue Rewarded.
Tony flushed slightly. “It’s the story of a servant girl who resists the improper advances of her mistress’s son and so he marries her.”
Savage gave a sharp bark of laughter. “Try Henry Fielding’sAdventures of Joseph Andrews.’tis a parody on this very book, about a virtuous footman who resists the improper advances of his mistress. It’s a rollicking adventure among the alehouses and chamber pots!”