Noelle

“I hope that he never becomes mine,” Noelle said, with feeling.

Mrs. Dunn smiled at the very thought. “That’s hardly likely, my dear.”

Andrew arrived back at the house that evening, in a hired carriage with a driver to bring in his two bags and trunk. Noelle’s face lit up like a Christmas candle when she saw him, and she almost jumped out of her chair when he walked into the living room. But it was Mrs. Dunn, not Noelle, that he went to first. Noelle’s face fell. Jared, watching, found her adoration of his stepbrother oddly irritating.

“Grandmother, how wonderful to see you!” Andrew enthused as he embraced her. “I’ve been to Galveston and Victoria and even to Houston. I brought you a Paris hat—green velvet and feathers and fur. You’ll love it! And Noelle, I found a pretty little pearl pin for you—” He stopped as Jared moved into the lamplight. “Jared! Why…how nice to see you.”

“And you, Andrew,” Jared said, with a cool smile. “You look well.”

Indeed he did, in his fashionable suit and tie and hand-tooled lace-up shoes and bowler hat. Andrew was as tall as Jared, but a little less streamlined. He had a curling blond mustache that matched his shock of blond hair, with even features and dark eyes that twinkled. He was the epitome of a dashing ex-soldier, and women loved him. Noelle was no exception. Her face was flushed and eyes were bright with excitement as she greeted him.

“It’s lovely to have you back again, Andrew,” Noelle said breathlessly.

“It’s nice to be back.” He chuckled, reaching down to grasp her small hand and kiss it lazily. Her flush delighted him.

Jared could only imagine how he measured up against the younger man, with his gimpy leg and his lined face. But he wasn’t jealous of Andrew, who had the nature of a friendly puppy coupled with the shrewd craftiness of a coyote. He did know never to turn his back on the younger man, or trust him very far. Those were lessons that Noelle very obviously hadn’t learned yet. She looked like a ripe little peach hanging over a hungry boy’s head, and that continental bit of hand-kissing had flustered her visibly.

“How long are you staying, Jared?” Andrew asked, moving away from Noelle.

“For a long time. I’m moving my law practice down here from New York,” Jared replied, smiling at the shocked response. “This is my house, Andrew,” he added pointedly—in a tone that brooked no protests.

“Yes, of course it is. And you’re always welcome here,” Andrew said quickly. He laughed. The sound was nervous and too high. “I shall have to look to my laurels with such a famous trial lawyer around, drawing the attention of the ladies!”

Jared leaned heavily on the cane. “I have no interest in such attention, I assure you,” he said coldly, and his eyes flashed. “My prime interest is the practice of law.”

“I say, Jared, what happened to your leg?” he asked suddenly when his stepbrother moved forward and sank down into a wing chair by the empty fireplace.

“An accident,” Jared said firmly.

“I’m sorry. Will it heal?”

“Andrew, what a thoughtless question,” Mrs. Dunn chided. “Do sit down, dear boy, and tell us about your trip.”

“Oh, yes, do!” Noelle enthused.

He dropped elegantly to the sofa beside Mrs. Dunn and patted her hand affectionately. “I had a successful tour,” he said. “I met with some representatives of our sister company in Houston and I sold tons of bricks to businesses in Victoria. Perhaps soon there will be a market in Galveston. Progress on the seawall is moving along quite rapidly. Once finished, it certainly should forestall any further invasions of the sea. Forgive me, Noelle,” he added quickly.

She nodded and smiled. “It’s all right, Andrew,” she said in a husky, soft tone. And surprisingly, it was. Talking her grief out to Jared had made it bearable.

Andrew smiled his relief and plunged into the subject of the new construction, with the two women giving him their full attention. Jared just sat and listened. Andrew was smug and far too arrogant, but that didn’t seem to bother Noelle, who hung on his every word as if he were dispensing holy law. It made him irritable, and after a short time, he excused himself and went to bed.

“How long has he been here?” Andrew asked Mrs. Dunn when Jared was safely upstairs.

“For two days,” she replied. “He was tired of life in the big city and wanted to come home. He’s feeling his age, I think.”

“The poor old thing,” Noelle said, with genuine sympathy. “It must have been very difficult for him to get around in a big city like New York with such a handicap. Perhaps he will find a quieter life here.”

“I hope that he doesn’t interfere too much with our own lives,” Andrew muttered.

“You’re ungrateful, my boy,” Mrs. Dunn told him bluntly. “Jared paid for this house and everything in it, lest you forget.”

“I’m grateful for his gifts,” Andrew returned. “But he’s hardly a welcome addition to our household. I remember his earlier visits. He was always glowering, watching, somber. He’s a cold and intimidating presence.”

“He’s an attorney,” Mrs. Dunn replied. “It wouldn’t benefit him to be frivolous, Andrew.”

“Yes, well, when he establishes his practice, perhaps he won’t be around so much and things can go on as before.” He looked pointedly at Noelle and smiled warmly. “Because I have hardly had time to get to know my cousin Noelle. Now that I am excused from further travels out of town for a while, we can spend some time together.”

Noelle’s heart leapt into her throat and she beamed at him. “That would be lovely, Andrew.”

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, covertly drinking in the fullness of her figure, the pretty lines of her face. She wasn’t the sort of woman he would marry, because she was much too countrified and simple for his taste, and she had no social background to speak of. But she would make a sweet little mistress. There was the minor complication of his stepbrother, but Jared would present no real problem. He was confident that he could seduce Noelle without difficulty. Afterward, well, he’d worry about that when the time came.

The soft mewling at the back door caught Noelle’s attention even above the rumble of thunder and the patter of hard rain when she was cleaning out the pantry a few days later. She wiped her hands on her white ruffled apron, grimacing at the smudges she left there, and went down the long, wide hall to the back door.

Outside there was a tiny marmalade kitten with big blue eyes. She picked it up and laughed as it curled under her chin and began to purr.

As she started back down the hall, Andrew passed her on his way to the study. He paused, scowling. “Noelle, put that filthy thing out. We can’t have a cat in here. They’re nasty.”

She gaped at him. “But it’s a kitten. And it’s pouring outside.”

“I don’t care. I won’t have a cat in the house. I hate cats. I can’t stand the sight of them.” He kept walking.

She glared at his back. “Well, you don’t have to look at it, do you?” she asked under her breath.

She dried it on a soft cloth and tucked it against her bosom before she peered out the door to make sure Andrew wasn’t nearby, then made a dash for the kitchen.

In her mad rush to avoid detection, she cannoned straight into Jared and almost knocked him down.

He cursed sharply, leaning heavily on his cane as he grabbed the door for support, and the eyes he turned on Noelle made her stop short and hold her breath. She’d never seen such an expression on a man’s face. It made her think of guns…

A minute later she wondered if she’d imagined the look in his eyes. He snapped the door shut and looked at her, unblinking. “What have you got there?”

“It’s a kitten,” she said, holding it protectively as she recovered from the cold, merciless anger, now gone, in his blue eyes. But they were only a little less intimidating now. “Andrew told me to put it out. I won’t. It’s raining again, and this poor wretched little creature is thin and starved and homeless. If it goes, I go with it!” she said, with bravado.

He got his balance back with the cane and straightened. His cold blue eyes slid over the cat and lingered on the firm fullness of her bosom. She was just a girl, he reminded himself, and he was no stranger to a woman’s bed. But the pleasure he felt when he looked at her disturbed him.

His gaze lifted to collide with hers. “It will have to live in the kitchen,” he said. “Mrs. Pate can keep an eye on it for you.”

“I can keep it?” she asked, relieved.

“Yes.”

“But Andrew…”

“For God’s sake, it’s my house. If I say the cat can stay, it can stay.”

“There’s no need to be so unpleasant,” she pointed out. “It’s your leg, isn’t it?” she added then. “I expect the rain makes it ache more. You should sit down and rest it, Mr. Dunn. It can’t be doing you any good to walk around.”

His thin lips became even thinner and his eyes narrowed, too. “I’m not infirm.”