Hellion at Heart: League of Unweddable Gentlemen, Book 2 Read online

“He is, and he’s been staring at you for the past five minutes.” Willow threw her a curious glance. “Whatever happened between the two of you? He seems fond of you, but you’re very cold and distant. It makes no sense. A marriage to such a great man would enable you to do whatever you pleased for the remainder of your life.”

  “Except it would not,” Hallie retorted hotly. The Duncannons were renowned to marry well. Ava had mentioned it when she’d first returned from Egypt that the Duncannons placed wealth and position above all else. She was a mother to a young boy, an illegitimate one at that. She doubted Lord Duncannon would be so very favorable to her should he know her secret. “I’m too low on the social sphere to be anything but a plaything for his lordship.” As she’d already found out. “Nor do I wish to become anyone’s brood mare or hostess.”

  “Not necessarily. Take Ava for instance, she is still a successful businesswoman. Marrying the duke has not stopped her from running her racing estate.”

  “The duke is an exception to the rule.” There were few men within this society who would allow such freedom for their wives. Ava had been lucky in her choice. Hallie would be lucky in her own way. She had her boy, and he was her future. She did not need a husband so long as she was able to continue to work and source an income.

  Willow reached out, touching her arm. “I hope you do not wallow away from life simply because you’ve loved and lost, Hallie. I know you loved Omar but he’s gone now, and there is a possibility that you’ll find that kind of love again. Please do not keep running away to archaeological digs so you do not have to have a life. We want you to be happy. To marry and be loved.”

  Hallie sighed. How to tell your friends that that is not what she wanted. Not really. She would be perfectly content if she did not marry at all, so long as she could keep up her work and make her son happy and safe. England was littered with historical sites, Roman one’s mostly, and they were just waiting to be explored. Having a husband would only intrude on finding them and she doubted there would be many men who would want an illegitimate child about their coattails. That is why she’d taken an advance to dig up an old Roman fort that was supposably located at Baron Bankes Estate near Dinnington Somerset.

  It was the next best thing to being in Egypt and Roman sites often turned up coins, pottery, tiles and even weaponry. Plenty of interesting things to catalogue and hand over to the British museum once the dig was completed.

  “If I could find a husband who would be content to travel, spend all day digging up dirt and had an open mind I would be well pleased. But you know as well as I that isn’t a possibility. All the gentleman here are too busy with their many estates. I grant you there may be a few who would enjoy a little adventure, but they would soon tire of it.”

  “Lord Duncannon does not seem to have ever tired of you. He speaks of you all the time, so Ava has said. She did not push him on the subject of his interest of course, but it was definitely marked. You may have an admirer there.”

  Nerves fluttered in her stomach at the idea that his lordship had spoken about her to her friend. When they had been thrown together three years before during the fire at Ava’s estate, she had just about swallowed her tongue in shock at seeing him again. After the night he spent at her cottage in Felday she had assumed never to see the gentleman again.

  She had been so angry with him, had not been able to put their past behind them and move on as friends. During the time they were thrown together just prior to Ava and the duke’s wedding, she’d barely spoken two words to him. He deserved less than that as it was.

  So many things had changed since the night they first met.

  She had met and fallen in love with Omar, had borne his child. When she’d found out that he had died it was only a few weeks later that she’d come to realize she was with child. Luckily by then, the professor was wrapping up his expedition and they were soon to return home. Hallie had traveled with them as far as France and then she had made her own way home to Berkshire to her cousin’s where she’d given birth and kept the notice of her child’s birth secret from everyone she knew.

  Shame washed through her that she had not married Omar like he’d wanted, regardless of what his family had thought. A mistake she would never be able to repair. She took a sip of her drink to quell the churning in her stomach.

  “I do not care for his interest, as he well knows.”

  “Does he though, Hallie?” Willow asked as she looked out at the dancers before them. “He doesn’t seem to.”

  Hallie wasn’t sure if he knew exactly, but she’d certainly not shown interest in his lordship the last time they saw each other. An overwhelming urge to stomp her foot assailed her. If only he were not friends with the duke. If only she’d left him to freeze on the road in Surrey all those years ago she would not be suffering this introspection from her friend now, or the marked attention from the viscount across the room.

  “I will remind him should he ask,” she said. “I’m surprised he’s not married in any case. Has he been linked to anyone romantically, do you know?” Why she asked she could not say, only that a man as handsome as the viscount was, left one to presume he would’ve been married off to a diamond of the ton years ago. It was certainly his family way of doing things after all.

  Her friend watched her closely. Hallie fought to remain unaffected that one of the most sought-after men in London was staring at her. “Why do I get the feeling that you know his lordship better than you’re telling me? Come, Hallie, we’re best friends. You can trust me.”

  She smiled, forcing herself to remain indifferent. “I do not know him well at all, I promise,” she said. One night in a cottage together did not give her any more insight than anyone else spending an evening with him in company such as this.

  It was silly to imagine otherwise.

  Arthur stood at the opposite side of the room and drank in the vision that was Miss Hallie Evans. Damn, he’d not thought he could miss a woman as much as he’d missed her. Their one night in Surrey had left a permanent imprint in his mind and he would not stop until she was as carefree and sweet to him again, just as she was that cold winter’s eve.

  The following morning, after his one night in her arms, their farewell should have been bittersweet, with promises of seeing each other again. He’d woken early and had walked to the inn, wanting to order a carriage for both himself and Hallie to London. Hoping to be able to spend some time with her before she left England.

  That his rascal friends had been at the inn, looking for him, had forced him into their carriage and taken him back to town without his approval or without him having given Miss Evans the money he promised her, still irked. He’d not run with them since that night, and he knew it was the reason she’d frozen him out whenever their paths crossed since. She’d ignored all his attempts of explanation and apologies.

  He’d not heard or seen her again, not until the night that the Dowager Duchess of Whitstone had hosted a ball. Whitstone had been furious Ava had been excluded from the ball, and he remembered glancing up to see the one woman he’d thought forever lost to him, storming toward them like a warrior.

  His legs had threatened to give out at the sight of her and it took some time before he could mumble anything coherent. Not that she’d wanted to hear a word from him, unless it was in response to her friend who had been treated unfairly by the duke’s mother and as it happened, was in need of their help.

  Arthur started toward her now, moving through the crush of bodies, all the while keeping a visual on her. Hallie. Even her name made his heart race. Tonight he would explain to her what happened, why he’d left and not returned. She had not wanted to hear anything from him when he’d seen her last, three years ago now, but no longer would he allow her to think the worst of him. She would know the truth and then she could decide if she wanted to continue to ignore his presence or at least be on congenial terms.

  He bowed before her and smiled as her friend wished him good evening before she excused herself.
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  “Miss Evans, how lovely to see you here this evening. I did not know you would be in attendance.”

  She raised her brow, staring at him with a dismissing air. A little of his hope dissipated at her cold welcome. “I believe you knew I was back in London, Lord Duncannon. Of course I would attend my friend’s ball.”

  He came to stand beside her and the scent of jasmine wafted from her skin and just like that he was transported back to Surrey and her little cottage. Did she still taste as sweet as the flower? He fisted his hands at his sides, knowing to think of her in such a way would not help his cause to make amends. To be friends at the very least.

  “I hoped you would be here. I’ve wanted to speak to you for some time.”

  “Really? Do speak then, Mr. Howard…oh, please do excuse my mistake, Lord Duncannon,” she amended.

  He glanced at her, supposing he deserved that. Arthur noted the lovely golden hue to her skin, the light sheen of freckles across her nose that was not there when they had first met. She was a well-traveled, independent woman now, more so than when they’d first met. He marvelled at her ability to put him to shame. He’d done very little in the few years they had been apart, except try to escape the many marriage proposals his grandmother hounded him to make to women she thought appropriate. He could only imagine what life the woman before him had experienced abroad. Sadly, he had not traveled past the Scottish border, while she had seen part of the world people only ever dreamed about.

  “I wanted to explain why I disappeared that morning in Surrey. It has been playing on my mind these many years.”

  She waved his concerns away, but refused to look at him. “That was a long time ago, my lord. Best I think that we leave it in the past where it belongs.”

  “Please let me explain, Miss Evans. I do want us to be friends since we share mutual ones and there will be many occasions that we shall be thrown together.” All true of course, but it was not the only reason why he wanted her to like him. He enjoyed her, more than anyone he’d ever met before and he hated that she thought the worst of him, not when in truth, his leaving had not been his fault.

  She did look at him then and the slight slumping of her shoulders told him she had succumbed to his plea. “Very well, tell me what happened to you that morning.”

  Relief poured through him that he had the opportunity to tell her the truth. “I went to the inn to order a carriage for London. I had every intention of returning to you, but my friends, the very ones that had left me on the road the night before had arrived and were looking for me. They bundled me into the carriage before I could explain and refused to stop until we reached London.

  “I do not need to go into detail of how very in their cups they all were, but needless to say, upon arriving back in town I tried to track you down at the docks knowing you were heading there. I watched the Ariande push off from its moorings. I was late and I missed saying goodbye.”

  She watched him a moment and some of the fire burning in her eyes dimmed a little at his explanation. “Thank you for telling me, my lord. I’m pleased to hear you’re not so fickle and rude as I had assumed.”

  “I am not, Miss Evans.” He willed her to believe him. “I often thought of you. What you were doing and how you were acclimatizing to the warmer country. Her Grace said that you’re home now having finished working for Mr. Shelly. Do you have any plans for your future?”

  A small smile played about her lips, lips he’d dreamed about kissing again for years now. No matter how many women he’d taken to his bed, he wasn’t fool enough not to notice that all of them were of similar coloring to Miss Evans. All had the same almond-shaped eyes, and pouty, full lips.

  Not that it ever helped as none of them had her mind. None of them were her.

  Hallie.

  How could one night be so altering to one’s life? It made no sense. He’d fought to move on from his little infatuation, but he’d failed at every turn. His grandmother despaired that he’d never marry, but he could not help but feel that Miss Evans was the other half to his soul. The one whom he should throw all family duty aside for and marry.

  If only she would toss him a little crumb, a little bit of hope that she didn’t loathe and distrust him as much as he feared.

  “I’m going to be doing an excavation in Somerset. I leave tomorrow in fact. Baron Bankes is the gentleman who’s hired me and I must admit I’m a little unsure of who he is, although the Duke of Whitstone has vouched for his character so I’m sure it’ll be safe.”

  “I’m sure it will be,” he said, knowing the baron well. “I find it fascinating that you had a dream, you worked hard and set out to achieve it. Not many women do what you’ve done, Miss Evans. You ought to write a book on it. I’m sure it would be very beneficial to young women who wish to follow in your footsteps.”

  She chuckled and the breath in his lungs seized having drawn one from her. “No, I shall continue to do what I love, for as long as I can and be content with that. But I suppose I’m fortunate to have had a father who allowed me to first educate myself and then travel abroad. Mr. Shelly was also liberally minded, so that helped as well.”

  Arthur smiled, warmth in his veins at her thawing toward him. “I should imagine so.”

  The musicians held up their instruments, the sounds of a minuet on their strings. Arthur held out his arm. “Will you do me the honor, Miss Evans?”

  She stared at his arm a moment and he wasn’t at all certain she would agree to his request. Relief poured through him when she placed her hand atop his arm. “Of course, thank you, my lord.”

  He led her out onto the floor as the music started. They took their places in the dance, others lining up beside them. At least this was a start, a new beginning to a history that had plagued him for years. He hated the fact she thought ill of him, especially when it was his friends who had played him that morning and severed his contact with Miss Evans before he’d made good on his promise and said his goodbyes.

  Hallie, as he’d always think of her, was the one woman who had gotten away. She would not escape so easily a third time. He promised himself that.

  Mr. Robert Stewart stood at the side of the ballroom and watched as Miss Hallie Evans circulated about the room with her friends, one of whom was the Duchess of Whitstone. The bitch who had killed his cousin some years ago.

  The duchess was almost impossible to get near these days, but her friend and the other woman who had been part of that tragic event were a lot easier to circulate near. If he could not gain his revenge on the duchess, he would hurt her friend Miss Evans just as the duchess had killed his cousin. He would be content with something similar.

  Already tonight Miss Evans had walked past him numerous times. So close in fact that he had been able to reach out and touch her gown. She had not noticed of course, he was particularly good at being unnoticeable. Even so, having Lord Oakes as his cousin enabled him to circulate within this sphere, even after all that his cousin had done to so many people of rank.

  The ton were fools. The lot of them he doubted could form one intelligent person between them. Apart from Miss Evans, who he understood to be a very clever, well-educated woman.

  But not clever enough for her to hide all that she was.

  A mother…

  Not only that, but a mother to a bastard child of mixed race.

  He took a sip of wine, watching her over the rim of his glass. The man whom she’d borne the child to was long dead, but his family was one of influence and power in Egypt, Cairo to be precise and he knew they would pay quite handsomely if they knew their eldest son had fathered a boy child.

  In or out of wedlock.

  His only question was, what was Miss Hallie Evans willing to pay to ensure he kept his mouth shut? He smirked at the thought of all the things he could make her do. Oh yes, this season would be pleasurable indeed.

  For him at least.

  Chapter 4

  Hallie looked about the room that she had been allocated. She had asked th
e maid who had directed her to the guest wing if maybe they had made a mistake. That she was certain being at the estate under the employment of Baron Bankes would mean he would wish her to be housed in the servants’ quarters.

  The maid had been adamant that wasn’t the case, and had deposited her trunk, unpacked it quickly and efficiently and told her that should she require assistance to ring the bellpull and she would come immediately.

  “Oh, and before I forget, Miss Evans. Dinner is at seven sharp if you wish to dine downstairs. However, you are welcome to eat in your room if you prefer.” The servant bobbed a quick curtsy and was gone.

  Hallie glanced about the bedchamber, the large, imposing double bed stood central in the room, and yet it was the only masculine piece of furniture she could see. Everything else was white, the cushions blue and pink, extremely feminine and pretty.

  Not at all similar to how Hallie was in life, but she still loved it. It reminded her of her mother’s room from Felday House before they lost it.

  She had been told upon arrival that the baron was not due to arrive for several days, but from tomorrow she had the help of two stable hands who would do any heavy lifting or digging she may require up at the Roman fort site.

  Hallie untied her bonnet, laying it over a nearby chair, before walking to the window and looking out over the grounds. There were several hills that she could make out. From her correspondence with the baron, she knew one of the hills had once housed a Roman fort and there were reports that it too had a Roman family living there at the outpost at that time. The possibility that she may discover footings to old living dwellings, pottery, coins, or military equipment made the blood in her veins pump fast. The funds she would earn would also help in her plan for a secure future with her son.

  The little cottage her father left her in Felday would be their home. The village people would believe her story that her husband had died, and her son would be accepted there. Her father had been a well-respected gentleman and she had always helped out at church or for anyone in need. They would support and protect her, she was sure. This position at the Baron’s estate was another step toward a life she had to procure for her son. The next few weeks here in Somerset were going to be busy and exciting and she could not wait to get started.