The Solemn Bell(34)

“I’m not under duress. I came willingly. You’re the one who is stuck with me.”

He smiled. Brody was stuck with her, but happily so. She’d been a marvel last night, making love to him like no other woman had ever done. Taking him, and driving him to pleasure until he thought he would die. She was good. He’d be a fool to cast such a lover aside.

Jealousy’s forked tongue licked at the back of his mind, but Brody fought to push it away. Although he loved what she’d done, he hated that another man taught her to do it. That another man had first known the feeling of her hips rising up to meet his. But, if Angelica could look past the fact that he too had been careless and cavalier with his body in the past, then Brody could offer her the same respect.

“You’re my guest for the week. Sleep late, loaf about, and please yourself. All I ask is that, when we’re together, you make an effort to get on with my family.” He kissed her forehead, which seemed to surprise her. “Now I have to go downstairs and be asked a hundred uncomfortable questions about us. I thought I’d spare you that, at least.”

“Thank you.”

He kissed her again, for good measure. She couldn’t be flinching at his touch in front of the others. They’d sniff out her deception in an instant. “If I’m not back before then, I’ll send a maid up to help you dress for dinner. You’ll hear the gong.”





***





As soon as he stepped through the drawing room doorway, Mary Rose pounced. “Brody, you have got to let me in on the joke. Did you lose a bet or something?”

She clung to him, eyes bright with childish malice. He resisted the urge to shake her off. “I would have lost my life if it wasn’t for Angelica. She rescued me after my crash, and kept me safe until I could go for help.” His sister blinked up at him, blankly. She didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. “My car crash—surely you remember. I was in hospital…the Bentley ruined…”

She shrugged, and he rolled his eyes.

“Never mind. Just know that I owe her my life.”

Mother frowned, picking at Clarence’s fur from where Angelica had mussed it. “Surely, you can’t owe her that much. I don’t see how a blind girl could save anyone, when she cannot even cross the room by herself.”

“She’s quite capable, I assure you.”

Brody looked to Marcus, waiting for him to toss his opinion into the ring. His brother was the only one who knew the truth. The only one to visit him in that grim hospital, to watch him sweat and shake as the morphine ripped its way out of his system. He had told him about her—when he was well enough to speak. Marcus was the only one who understood how much Angelica meant to him.

His brother shrugged, a whiskey glass poised at his mouth. “If Brody likes her…”

“Oh, what does Brody know about anything?” Mary Rose asked, laughing. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with a girl.”

“Exactly!” Brody argued. “If I like her enough to bring her here, she’s obviously very important to me. And I’d appreciate it if you made an effort to make her feel welcome. She’s nervous enough as it is without you lot bearing down on her!”

Mother looked up from the dog. “Your temper, Broderick. Please! I don’t know why you suddenly seem to care so much about everything. I thought we were well past your days of angry outbursts and tantrums. Have you been seeing your doctor? God knows we pay enough for him…”

Now that he’d actually begun to feel things again, he could no longer stagger around in a morphiated euphoria, happy to ignore the world around him. The old Brody wouldn’t have stirred if the house fell in on top of him, but, clear-headed, he sat up and took notice. Sadly, he did not always like what he saw.

“I’m not going back to that damned doctor,” he argued. “I’m better now.”

Mother eyed him. He did look better—no longer sallow and sunken. His hair had thickened, and his skin glowed. He ate, slept, and showered regularly. No one could deny that he’d made a remarkable turnaround these last few months. Couldn’t she be happy for him?

Couldn’t she, of all people, understand why?





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE





She fidgeted as the maid fussed with her skirts. Brody had barged his way into her room, not caring that the maid would be shocked, and the entire household scandalized. He sat on her bed in his own evening clothes, chatting happily to distract Angelica from the process of being washed, dressed, and styled.

The maid, of course, was happy to do it. She would earn a little extra for her troubles, and perhaps even the opportunity to advance her situation. Angelica would need a lady’s maid. She’d never be able to manage the elaborate frocks, jewels, and hairstyles necessary to fit in with his world. Having someone see her turned out properly would benefit everyone involved.

Tonight, she’d selected a dinner gown of shiny black satin. He was fast learning that black was her color of choice. It suited her, with her inky hair and pale skin, making her sea glass eyes shine even more blue. He’d never seen her in evening dress. Brody wanted to drop to his knees and worship her.

Instead, he dismissed the maid.

Angelica pulled at the sash of her dress, which hung low on her hips. “Did you send her to watch me in my bath? I don’t fall every time, you know. Just because I can’t see someone in the room with me, doesn’t mean I don’t value my privacy.”