Wild Lily (Those Notorious Americans Book 1)(10)

“No, madame.” Lily had other ideas. “Thank you, for your kindness. If you wish to return home, certainly, do go with the kind man.”

“Et vous?” she asked her young American charge. Julian suppressed a grin because he had witnessed on many previous occasions Chaumont’s desire to spend long hours in the company of the fabled artist Remy. “You also need assistance, oui?”

“Madame, please. We can proceed with our selection of fabrics and styles. Our carriage is scheduled to return for us in two hours. In the meantime, we would be very reassured that you are on the road to recovery if you were in your own home resting.”

Julian fought a smile. He could detect from Chaumont’s dreamy expression that the wily widow hoped to return to Remy’s home to engage in a particular type of recovery. Injured ankle, be damned.

“Please do not trouble yourself,” Mrs. Roland assured Chaumont with a pat of her hand. “We can finish ourselves.”

“If you think it possible.” Chaumont postured with a pretty moue.

“I do,” Mrs. Roland said.

“I insist,” said Lily.

The vendeuse strode in. Her attention focused on Julian. “Pardon.”

“Well?” asked Julian.

She bit her lips. “I have found the lady you seek, my lord.”

“Who is it?” Julian asked her.

“The Grand Duchess of Volenska.”

Remy frowned at Julian. “Anna Drobova.”

“Trouble?”

Remy rolled his eyes. “No angel.”

“It matters not.” Julian inclined his head to Chaumont, Mrs. Roland and finally to Miss Hanniford. “I will leave you and discuss certain financial matters with the grand duchess. It was my pleasure to see you again, Madame le Comtesse. And a pleasure to meet both of you, Mrs. Roland and Miss Hanniford. Remy, I leave you to assist madame. When your carriage arrives, I’ll have the doorman summon you to come down. Good day.”

Both ladies bid him goodbye, but the one whose words lingered in his ears were those of the alluring Miss Hanniford. As he turned on his heel and followed Gerard down the hall toward another private room where Volenska waited, Julian experienced a distinct feeling of loss that he had not learned much about the American girl with the bewitching blue eyes. Nor had he any idea when he might see her again.

It shouldn’t matter. He didn’t like the odd experience of being entranced by a woman. It unsettled him, set his teeth on edge. Such feelings were rare. Once. Twice, perhaps he’d succumbed to a pretty face as an adult. He preferred the physical compulsion. The urge to mate. The erotic indulgence. The draining satisfaction. Resulting in freedom.

He could forget the American. Easily.

Minutes later, having dealt with the not-so-grand duchess, he waited in Remy’s carriage at the entrance to the House of Worth. His irritation at the Russian woman, fierce as it had been, was gone. And in his ennui, his desire to gaze into Miss Hanniford’s superb blue eyes loomed. He could find a woman comparable. Readily.

After all, she was American. Her diction, odd. Her self-confidence, prominent. Her spontaneity, genuine. She was rich, too. Obviously. Else what would she be doing employing the countess and attending fittings at the House of Worth? More than that, she was lovely. Charming Lily. Tall, graceful, elegant. But strong enough to deal with a tragedy in the streets and bodily danger to her friend. A flower who did not wilt. And in the bargain, luscious. With that pile of midnight hair and a ripe mouth that begged for plundering. A voice that echoed low in his brain with murmurs of whispery summer nights and silken sheets.

Worst of all, delicious Lily was that bastard’s daughter, Black Killian Hanniford. Of all the women in the world, he had to become enchanted with the beautiful blue-eyed child of the devil. No good would come of his desire to lose himself in her gaze. Her father had already attempted to get what he wanted and get it cheap. Their share in the shipping company for a pittance was enough of an insult. But to buy their country home in Kent for a song? Julian would not give away his dignity, his home or his family name in trade for a sales agreement. He hoped to God his father didn’t.

As if lack of funds and the need to sell the family jewels weren’t enough degradation to the ancestral line of the dukedom of Seton. He could not, would not become enchanted with a woman who came encumbered with such a rogue in her family.

He rubbed his eyes.

The coachman pulled open Remy’s door and in climbed Madame le Comtesse. And as the conveyance rumbled across town and the three of them made polite conversation, Julian refused to ask about the creature who had so captivated him with one look. But Chaumont was a witch, uncanny in her perception that though he voiced not a word, not a question, he cared to know details about the lovely dark American.

By the time he stepped down from Remy’s coach and his butler opened the door to his townhouse, he’d learned more about Miss Lily Hanniford. She was abroad husband hunting, and her father was providing a handsome dowry for his oldest daughter. Perhaps even for her companion, her cousin, the war widow, Mrs. Roland.

He must not care.

He was exhausted. He needed sleep. A sharp mind.

He’d seen blue eyes before. Beautiful ones. And what lay behind them was not always attractive.

Miss Hanniford was not different.

Therefore, she was not irresistible.