My Lord Beaumont Read online

  She would do well for herself. And if she wasn't particularly happy about it at the moment, she would come to see that he was doing what was best for her.

  Nothing would have made him happier than to keep her for himself. He could not marry her, however, and although he had considered, briefly, setting her up in some establishment in Charles Town as his mistress, he couldn't do it. She deserved better. She deserved a home and family of her own.

  It was a sacrifice he was determined to make for her sake, but it was a sacrifice all the same.

  She came up on deck just then, hesitated as she looked around the deck and saw him, and finally moved towards him. He suffered another qualm at sight of her. She looked achingly fragile, so fragile that it was beginning to disturb his nights. No matter how much he tried to dismiss it as overactive imagination, he feared that their trials had seriously damaged her health.

  "I see we arrive, my lord," she said by way of greeting, staring out as he had before at the port they approached.

  "As you say, infant, we arrive," he responded, studying her lingeringly. The gown she wore was simple, too simple, too ill-fitting. He frowned. He would have to see that she was more becomingly dressed. Perhaps, he thought hopefully, new clothes would bring some animation back to her. She'd been listless since they'd left Fort Frederica, so lacking in her usual vivacity. That plagued him nearly as much as her health.

  "Will there be someone to greet you, do you suppose?"

  He smiled wryly. "I would be amazed if there were. More so if they haven't given me up for dead, since I was expected more than a month since. I only hope they haven't learned of the Lady Dorinda's sinking, counted upon my demise, and settled my estate in this length of time. I will be severely put out if I arrive at my banker's and find the cupboards bare. I confess, however, to a vast relief that we won't be met. It could not add to our consequence to arrive in nothing more than what we stand up in, particularly when what we stand up in is of such poor quality. We'll need time, you and I, to make ourselves presentable before we show ourselves at Sweetbriar. It wouldn't do to give them the notion we're penniless adventurers."

  Danielle managed a smile. "You mean to make a grand entrance then?" she teased.

  Adrian felt his spirits lighten immediately. Without thought, he reached to tousle her coppery curls. He stopped himself just in time. "I mean to do my humble best, infant."

  Their arrival at Sweetbriar, the Kent Plantation, was anything but humble. They'd lingered in Charles Town for nearly a fortnight of frantic preparation while Adrian visited with his banker and man of business. He encouraged the latter to step up construction on the manse that was being built on the plantation Adrian had acquired before leaving England, harrying the local tailors and seamstresses to produce a suitable wardrobe for each of them, and arranged for the purchase of a carriage and pair, which Adrian called 'adequate' and Danielle considered 'grand,' to aid this endeavor. Frantic as their preparations were, however, Adrian did not neglect to apprise his prospective in-laws of his impending arrival. He delayed sending it off only until he could pinpoint a day when they might reasonably expect to arrive at their destination.

  It was a necessary courtesy, but neither of them was particularly happy with its effect. They couldn't have caused a greater commotion with their arrival if Adrian had been the Duke himself, rather than his third son. It seemed the entire plantation turned out to greet them.

  When they turned upon the long drive that led up to the main plantation house, winding between two huge cotton fields, the Negroes came up to the edge of the road to wave them onward. And when they arrived at the house proper, they found that all the house servants, and the family, had assembled on the steps to greet them.

  Danielle shrank back against the seats when she saw the formidable group, wishing she could disappear. From the look on Adrian's face, he wasn't exactly ecstatic about their greeting, either. However, he got down at once when the carriage came to a halt and let down the steps himself, directing the coachman to see to the unloading of their luggage. Danielle stared at him in dismay for several moments as he reached up to take her hand to help her alight, but finally placed her cold hand in his and allowed him to help her down.

  There was a virtual sea of curious black faces behind the family that stood on the wide, railed porch, a sea that spilled down either side of the broad, curving steps that led up to the three story, red brick Manse. It was the family, however, that caused most of Danielle's qualms. There were five of them; an older couple that looked almost like matched bookends; both stout, both stout, gray, and handsome for their years; and three young Kents, two versions of the father and one of the mother. She hadn't been half so frightened when the sailors chased her around the ship as she was just now. She did her best to hide it, determinedly squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin as Adrian led her up the stairs to meet the Kent family.

  Still, for all her fear, a peculiar sense almost of detachment seemed to settle upon her. She had almost the sensation of being outside herself, looking down upon the scene. She supposed it must be the unreality of the situation itself that brought it on, for it had the unreality of being part dream, part nightmare about it, being introduced to a family of society as if she was an equal--being introduced to Adrian's betrothed.

  The master of the plantation, Mr. Aaron Kent, swam into her vision, his face a curious mixture of welcome, reticence, and curiosity as he extended his hand. "Lord Beaumont?"

  Adrian offered his own hand, smiling faintly. "And you are Cousin Aaron Kent?"

  Kent's face relaxed immediately into warm amusement. "As to that," he said wryly, "I wouldn't have thought to claim so close a connection as that. But I'm pleased to consider it so if it pleases you, my lord."

  Adrian's smile became rueful. "If you mean to claim me, you can not call me 'my lord' every breath."

  Kent blinked at him then chuckled, unbending completely. "You may have to endure it regardless. Mrs. Kent's been drumming it into my head these past three months and more, and I ain't certain she'd allow me to drop it now that I've finally got the hang of it, my lord."

  Adrian laughed, turning to Claudia Kent and taking her hand to his lips in a brief salute. "Surely you'll allow, my dear Madam?"

  Claudia, who was no more proof against Adrian's charms than many a female before her, blushed, stammered, and sent her husband an indignant look. "Well, I never, I didn't--it's the grossest falsehood! I only said that he would think it very odd if you went about calling him Adrian, as if you'd known him from the cradle--which you know very well you haven't!"

  "I never like to dispute a lady, particularly not one so lovely and gracious as yourself, but I must tell you I have it from my father that Cousin Aaron did know me from the cradle. As far as I am aware, that is the only time he set eyes upon me before now. So you must allow it's late to become formal now, surely?"

  "Indeed I did," Kent agreed. "And a strapping fine son you were too! Proud as a peacock, you father was!"

  "Aaron!" his lady exclaimed, shocked. "For heavens sake! The Duke . . . !" she said faintly.

  Adrian laughed, shaking his head. "I fear you've confused me with either Basil or Gilbert now, sir. For my father, who has a great fondness for the sport of fishing, as you might know, tells me I was such a poor specimen that he kept insisting I should be thrown back."

  Kent laughed loudly at that, clapping Adrian on the shoulder fondly.

  Claudia looked a little faint. "Oh dear . . . dear me!"

  Adrian pulled Danielle forward then. "I'd like, if I may, to present my ward, Miss Danielle Cooper. Danielle, my cousins, Aaron and Claudia Kent."

  She saw, without any surprise, their startled looks, however quickly they recovered, and felt a blush mount her cheeks as she sent Adrian a frightened look. He squeezed her hand surreptitiously, and she summoned a hesitant smile. "H-hello . . . ," she stammered.

  Kent recovered first, reaching for her hand and saluting it gall
antly. "I'm most pleased to welcome you to Sweetbriar, Miss Cooper."

  "Oh my! Well, What a pleasant surprise! How do you do?"

  Danielle felt her blush deepen and sent Adrian an agonized look. She'd forgotten, in her nervousness, the correct greeting. He was frowning, she saw, and she hastened to recover her slip. "Very well, thank you, Madam. And you?"

  "My father did tell you that I would be bringing my ward?" Adrian asked, knowing the best defense was offense.

  "Well, uh . . . ," Claudia looked at her husband for help. "I don't--did he? I declare, I can't recall."

  Kent was frowning thoughtfully, but after a moment his brow cleared. "Can't say that he did, but I expect he had other matters on his mind. Not that it matters. We'll have a room fixed up for her in a trice. And I don't doubt our Sophia will be glad of the company. With both her sisters married and gone off now, she's been missing the company of females near her own age." He turned then. "Come, pumpkin. Let me make you known to your cousin, Lord Beaumont, and his pretty little ward."

  "Papa, please!" Sophia chuckled, coming forward. "I am four and twenty! Surely I've outgrown that now."

  “Pumpkin”, Danielle saw with a feeling of doom, couldn't have looked less like her father's fond sobriquet. She was, perhaps, a little tall for a woman, only a few inches shorter than Adrian, but she was far too beautiful for the circumstance to be considered a disadvantage. Her hair was titian, but more gold than brown, and gloriously thick, her eyes were a warm, friendly pansy blue and her figure was the stuff of Danielle's worst nightmares.

  Her expression was slightly guarded, but she gave Adrian her hand without hesitation, smiling in an unaffected way. "You may not call me pumpkin, cousin," she said laughingly.

  Adrian smiled easily, though he was excruciatingly aware of Danielle. He had not, he thought wryly, adequately considered how very uncomfortable he would feel at this moment. "You forestall me. I was on the very verge of requesting that boon, cousin."

  Her eyes twinkled with merriment. "I thought as much." She turned then to Danielle, taking both her hands and then leaning forward to give her an impulsive hug. "What a pretty little thing you are! You must call me Sophie, all my very best friends do, and I'll warn you now, I mean to call you Danny, unless you object?"

  Adrian felt himself relax slightly. He'd feared Danielle would be subtly snubbed or coolly received at the least, by his betrothed if not her family. He smiled faintly at Danielle's look of uncertainty. "You must certainly allow, poppet. You will not like to stand on ceremony. Particularly when you and she are bound to be much in each other's company--until we see you properly settled."

  Sophia sent him a look of inquiry. "Settled? She is to have her come out?" she asked, surprised.

  Adrian nodded, though he began to have a distinctly unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  "Surely not?" Sophia objected, turning to look Danielle over once more. "Dear me! You will be wroth with me, Danny! I thought sure you were not above fifteen or sixteen! And here you are quite grown up!"

  Adrian's eyes snapped to Danielle, moving over her sharply. She avoided his gaze, and quite suddenly he felt as if his cravat was strangling him. It took an effort to restrain himself from prying it from his throat. But no amount of effort served to keep his color from changing three times in as many moments, and he only prayed his complexion did not make it as obvious to all as it felt to him.

  When Danielle finally met his gaze, he gave her a look that promised dire retribution before he ignored her pointedly, forcing a smile he sincerely hoped didn't look as sick as it felt. "It is deceptive, is it not? Difficult though it is to believe, I have it on the most reliable authority that she is very nearly eighteen," he managed through gritted teeth.

  Kent chuckled. "Well! You could knock me over with a feather! Here was I thinking the little miss couldn't be more than fourteen!"

  "Good God!" Adrian exclaimed, whirling to look at Danielle in horror as the blood drained from his face. "Surely not!"

  Danielle shook her head infinitesimally, but Adrian found he couldn't relax. Anger brought the color rushing back into his face with a vengeance.

  Claudia, who was dimly aware of the sudden tension, laughed a little nervously. "Indeed, and so did I, dear Danielle. But you mustn't be upset with us. When you reach our age you'll see it's very difficult to judge the young people. Why, if I were asked, I'd be willing to swear your guardian wasn't a day above thirty!"

  "You are too kind," Adrian said with admirable restraint.

  Sophia bit her lip, choking back a giggle. "Perhaps that's because he isn't a day over twenty-eight, mama."

  "Oh! Dear me! Well, you see what I mean. Robin, William, do come and make yourselves known to your cousin!" she said a little desperately.

  They were quite as handsome a pair as their sister. Robin, the eldest, being near Adrian in age, towered over the assemblage, taller by several inches even than his father. He was not stout by any stretch of the imagination but rather massively built. His hair a golden brown, slightly darker than his sister's and lighter than William's medium brown. His eyes, Danielle discovered when she withdrew her hand from William's grasp and extended it to him, only to have it disappear between his two large hands, were the loveliest shade of green she'd ever seen, a deep, jewel green. They twinkled with amusement as he looked down at her. "May I add my very heart felt welcome?" he said in a deep, rumbling voice that exactly suited him. He grinned then, a very pleasant, slow smile that Danielle was dimly aware contained considerable charm. Dimly because she was far too aware of Adrian's anger at the moment to really consider much else. "I shall be awaiting your presentation with baited breath."

  Danielle smiled back at him a little nervously, surreptitiously trying to retrieve her hand, which he showed no disposition to give back to her. "Thank you. I mean . . . ." She felt her face go crimson when he chuckled and looked around desperately.

  Sophia elbowed him aside in sisterly fashion. "Leave off, Robin, you dunderhead!" she hissed. "Can't you see you're frightening the child, you big oaf? From the look of her, she's nigh ill from the trip already, and I doubt she's in the mood for one of your practiced flirtations!"

  Robin flushed with discomfort, glared at his younger sister, and finally grinned a little sheepishly but stepped back, releasing her hand at last. William stepped forward at once, taking her hand again. "May I say, I share my brother's sentiments?"

  "No, you may not!" Sophia said crossly, elbowing him aside as well and placing her arm around Danielle's waist in a protective gesture. "You mustn't pay them any mind, Danny," she said as she urged Danielle towards the door. "Truly, they have seen females before. It's only that they aren't accustomed to seeing any as pretty as you. You really don't mind if I call you Danny, do you? I shan't if it makes you uncomfortable."

  "No . . . no," Danielle assured her, feeling more than a little overwhelmed by her reception.

  "And may I call you Danny as well?" Robin asked, bending slightly so that he asked the question almost at her ear.

  She gaped at him. "Well, ah . . . ."

  "You may call her Miss Cooper," Sophia stuck in, giving her elder brother a look that was part admonishing, part fond, and part amusement. "And you must feel free to box his ears if he becomes impertinent with you, Danny, or I'll do it for you if you find you can't reach so far," she added laughingly.

  "Ignore her," Robin said in a conspiratorial voice, "and perhaps she'll go away. Regardless, you'll have to forgive her for being so rag mannered. She can't help it. Mother dropped her on her head when she was an infant."

  That surprised a husky chuckle out of Danielle. Sophia chuckled as well but stuck her tongue out at her brother.

  "Is that so?" William asked on her other side. "Here, all this time, I was thinking it was you."

  "William, please!" his fond mother exclaimed in horrified accents. "Robin, Sophia. What an odd notion you'll give your cousin! I did no such thing! Truly, my lord
, I did not. Why, you can see for yourself Sophia's a most sensible girl!"

  Kent patted his wife's hand fondly. "Don't distress yourself, my dear. Adrian has brothers and sisters of his own. I feel certain he's accustomed to just such. Is that not so, my lord?"

  Not only was he not, but he wasn't, at present, in the mood to appreciate it amongst the Kents, though he admitted to a slight pang of regret that he had not hailed from such a family. All the same, he could not like the way Robin and William were hovering about Danielle, and it took an effort to agree, smilingly, that, yes, he was quite used to it.

  Claudia became aware that Sophia was urging Danielle inside and recalled herself. "Lud! What will you think of our manners, my lord? Here we have kept you standing outside. Do come in! We will be much more comfortable in the parlor. But you'll want to freshen up from your trip first, I'm sure, and perhaps rest a bit?"

  She didn't wait for an answer but looked around a little distractedly. "Levi? Levi? Oh! There you are," she said as a thin, gray-haired, black man stepped forward at once and bowed. "Show Lord Beaumont to his room and see that his luggage . . . . Oh! I see you've done that. Well, send someone to help him. He did not bring his man." She turned back to Adrian. "It must have been monstrous uncomfortable, traveling without even your manservant. But the Duke, your father, did say he was far too old to make the trip. Such a shame you didn't have time to make other arrangements. Sophie, dear . . . ? Oh! I see you've taken Miss Cooper in hand. You will see that she's settled comfortably?"

  She turned back to Adrian to see if he'd noticed how kind her daughter was being to his ward and was pleased to see that he apparently had. "Such a good hearted girl, my Sophie."

  Sophie threw her mother an indulgent look. "You needn't make it sound so virtuous, Mama. The truth is, my motives are entirely selfish. I've been monstrous bored since Thea left us. I'm ever so grateful Lord Beaumont brought his ward. Though, of course, that's just as it should be, for he could scarcely have left her behind. But I knew the moment I set eyes on her that I would like Danny immensely."