Heiress in Regency Society: The Defiant Debutante

Alex moved closer, looking down into the sensitive face before him, but, unable to meet his gaze, she lowered her head.

‘And you?’ he asked, placing a finger gently under her chin and tipping her face up to his, his eyes searching, probing, seeing something flicker in those dark, appealing depths: a secret grief, perhaps.

‘As you can see, I was more fortunate. I am alive and I’m grateful.’

Alex saw her eyes register an anguish and horror he couldn’t begin to comprehend, and observed the gallant struggle she made to bring herself under control.

There was silence, inhabited by the living presence of the fire. In spite of herself Angelina found her eyes captured and held by Lord Montgomery’s silver gaze. Then, aware of Lord Montgomery’s finger still poised beneath her chin, she suddenly recollected herself and recoiled with an instinctive fear that he might get too close.

‘Lord Montgomery,’ she said, her voice tight, ‘I have known you long enough to realise that you didn’t consider your manner towards me earlier as warranting an apology. Will you please come to the point and tell me the real reason for coming to my room? I am not so dim-witted as to believe it was your interest in my dog or my life before coming to England. I may have accepted your apology, but it doesn’t change anything, does it? You still don’t approve of me and think I’m out to hurt your uncle in some way.’

His eyes became as hard as granite. ‘Contrary to what you may think, I sought you out because I could see that some form of atonement for my earlier behaviour was in order. However, since you are determined to harp on about it, I will remind you I am concerned about Uncle Henry’s happiness and well being. As you will know, having spent the past few weeks in his company, he does not always enjoy the best of health.’

‘That I do know, having seen how he is often plagued with rheumatic pains.’

‘Correct. So naturally I was concerned when I returned to London after an absence of several weeks in the country and discovered he’d taken off for America without discussing the matter with me first.’

‘I cannot for the life of me see why he should. Your uncle is of an age to act without your permission.’

As he rested his hands on his hips and looking down into her stormy eyes, Alex’s own were so cold that Angelina was sure they could annihilate a man.

‘My uncle is the finest, most generous man I have ever known, Miss Hamilton. What my opinions are concerning you has no bearing on the case, but because he and your mother were once close, and, as you correctly pointed out earlier, he is your next of kin, he will take his responsibilities where you are concerned seriously. If you hurt him in any way, I will personally make your life hell. Do you understand me?’

The look that passed between them crackled with hidden fire. Just for a moment Alex saw something savage and raw stir in the depths of Angelina’s eyes, before they blazed with outrage.

‘Perfectly,’ she replied. With her fists clenched and her chin raised, she faced Alex like a raging hurricane, while he took a step back before the onslaught of her fury. ‘Allow me to tell you a little about my background, Lord Montgomery. In Boston I was living with my mother in a two-roomed shack. Everything I owned I sold to pay for the doctor and her medicine. We had no money and the food we ate I provided. I do all manner of things a young lady ought not to do. I shoot, I fish, and I skin and gut whatever I kill. I dare say the properly reared young ladies of your acquaintance would be horrified and fall into a swoon at such behaviour and liken me to the savage you obviously think I am. I may seem gauche to you and lacking in social graces, but I am not ashamed of the way we lived.

‘When your uncle came to Boston he was courtesy and kindness itself—and I give you my word that I shall not abuse his kindness. When my mother died it was a great comfort to me having him there. In the short time we have been together I have come to love him dearly and would sooner end my life than cause him pain. Despite what you believe, I haven’t asked him for anything and I do not expect anything. I am simply grateful for a roof over my head wherever that happens to be. For this and his support at a time when I had nothing, I owe him much—much more than I can repay. Your uncle knows this and now you know it too, so if it’s not a problem for him it needn’t be a problem for you.’

Alex stared at the proud, tempestuous young woman in silent, icy composure. Her words reverberated round the room, ricocheting off the walls and hitting him with all the brutal impact of a battering ram, but it failed to pierce the armour of his wrath and not a flicker of emotion registered on his impassive features.

‘That, Miss Hamilton, was quite an outburst. Have you finished?’

Pausing to take an infuriated breath, Angelina finally said, ‘Far from it. You may have been born with blue blood in your veins and all the advantages that come with it, but you have a lot to learn. It isn’t where a person comes from that matters. It’s what a person is that counts. You are being vindictive without just cause, but if you want to carry on hating me then please do so. It does not matter one jot to me.’

Their minds and their eyes clashed in a battle of wills.

‘I do not hate you.’

‘No? Well, I hate you,’ she told him, glaring at him wrathfully.

‘I know you do,’ he replied quietly. Not only had he heard, but also he sensed it. Cool and remote, Alex studied her for a moment, as though trying to discern something, and then crossed towards the door and went out.

Angelina stood looking blindly at the closed door for a long time, her heart palpitating with a raging fury. A whole array of confusing emotions washed over her—anger, humiliation, and a piercing, agonizing loneliness she had not felt since she was fifteen years old in Ohio.

Chapter Three (#u4f4b3af5-c814-58a9-b5c7-f0c4623d68c3)

Henry and Alex were partaking of a glass of wine while they waited for Angelina to join them. Whenever Henry looked at his nephew, he was overwhelmed with pride.

At best, Alex was a fiercely private man, guarded and solitary, accountable to no one. At worst, he was a man with a wide streak of ruthlessness and an iron control that was almost chilling. To those who knew him he was clever, with an almost mystical ability to see what motivated others. To his business partners it was a gift beyond value, because it provided insight into the guarded ambitions of his adversaries. He could be cold, calculating and unemotional, which was how his rivals saw him.

‘Angelina’s a lovely young thing, don’t you agree, Alex?’

Alex’s look darkened. ‘Lovely? She’s certainly out of the ordinary. The girl’s a hoyden. Good Lord, Uncle, what can you be thinking of? I’ve never seen you so taken with anyone as you are with this American girl.’

‘You’re quite right, but then I’ve never had a ward before, and so far I’m thoroughly enjoying the experience. Angelina’s a delight. She’s a thoroughly charming and engaging young woman with a remarkable intelligence. In the short time I’ve known her, I vow she’s lopped ten years off my life.’

Alex’s reply was a sardonic lift of his dark brows. ‘You may find her charming, Uncle, but it is not the kind that passes for charm in the ladies of my acquaintance. Miss Hamilton’s charm is more sinister and elusive than that. It is the kind that weaves spells and puts curses on people.’

An inexplicable smile traced its way across Henry’s face. ‘If that be the case, then take care she doesn’t put a spell on you, dear boy.’

‘I’m immune,’ Alex said, bestowing the kind of lazy smile on his uncle that turned female hearts to water. ‘Whatever she is, you’re going to have your hands full.’

‘Try and be more understanding towards her, Alex. Until she marries I am committed to her—and, as you know, I am not a man to shirk my duty. I’ve told you everything that I know of what happened to her in America—and the reasons why her grandmother’s existence must be kept from her, so you will bear with her, won’t you? I know how difficult you can be.’

Alex gave him a narrow look, deflecting his uncle’s question by answering it with another. ‘Did you tell her about me—listing all my transgressions?’

Henry chuckled, encouraged by his nephew’s lack of argument. ‘I did. I considered it wise to have her well prepared in every aspect of what her life would be like in England.’

‘And?’

‘When I told her I had all but despaired of seeing you suitably married, she asked me—with all the candid innocence of her youth—what was wrong with you.’

‘Really.’ Alex gave his uncle a mildly sardonic look. ‘Evidently she regarded me as being way past the age of eligibility for marriage at twenty-eight.’

‘No. I think she probably thought you were some fire-breathing monster with two horns and a tail. And when I told her you dealt with practically all my business affairs—’

‘Let me guess,’ Alex interrupted drolly. ‘Did she by any chance ask if you trusted me?’

‘She did.’

‘I see,’ he said drily, swearing that he’d not be bested by the dark-eyed witch.

‘So you will try to curb your temper when you are together and be gentle with her, won’t you?’ Henry asked, casting his nephew an anxious look of appeal.

Alex hesitated for an endless moment and then nodded, a reluctant smile lurking at the corners of his mouth. ‘Since I have no intention of laying a finger on her or being in her company for longer than I have to, I assure you, Uncle, that she will be perfectly safe from me. However, I feel I should warn you that I have already had a run-in with your ward; if that encounter is anything to go by, I cannot promise to be charm and graciousness personified where she is concerned. We may very well need a referee to keep us from murdering each other—which is where you will come in.’

Angelina swept into the dining room, intending to make a determined effort to be pleasant and agreeable to Lord Montgomery for Uncle Henry’s sake. A chandelier suspended above the table filled the room with flickering light, reflecting on the large, ornate silver pieces set on the mahogany sideboard, next to where the two gentlemen stood drinking wine.

Breaking off his discussion with Alex, Henry placed his glass on the sideboard and came to meet her, his eyes twinkling in admiration. ‘You look lovely, Angelina,’ he said, taking her hand and drawing her towards his nephew. ‘Alex tells me the two of you have already met.’

‘Yes—and as you can see, Uncle…’ she smiled with a hint of mischief dancing in her eyes ‘…I have survived the encounter without coming to grief.’

Henry lifted a brow to Angelina in a silent salute and smiled.

Angelina met Lord Montgomery’s sardonically mocking gaze. With his eyes as intense as a hunting falcon’s locked on hers, he moved forward, bowing his head with a studied degree of politeness, which to Angelina was a masterpiece of gracious arrogance.

Alex looked down at the tempestuous young woman in her lilac gown. Her face, which arrested and compelled his eyes, was both delicate and vibrant, and her large amethyst eyes still stormy.