Suddenly You(75)

“How happy you’ve made me, Amanda. We are perfectly matched, are we not?”

“We are,” she said with a little laugh.

He took her gloved hands and squeezed them. “Allow me to fetch you some punch. We’ll share a few moments of privacy out here—it’s so much more peaceful than the crush inside. Will you wait for me?”

“Of course I will, dear.” Amanda returned the squeeze of his hands, sighing as the disquieting feeling left. “Hurry, Charles—I shall miss you if you are gone for long.”

“I will indeed hurry,” he replied with an affectionate laugh. “I would not be fool enough to leave the most attractive woman at the party unaccompanied for more than a few minutes.” He opened the glass-paned doors that led to the drawing room. A burst of music and conversation accompanied his exit, the sounds quickly muffled as the doors were closed once more.

Moodily Jack surveyed the elegant throng of guests in the drawing room of Thaddeus Talbot’s red brick home, hunting for a glimpse of Amanda. Music drifted from the paneled copse at one end of the room, an exuberant rendition of a Croatian folk tune that lent a vivacious mood to the gathering.

A fine night for a betrothal announcement, he thought bleakly. Amanda was nowhere to be seen, but Charles Hartley’s tall form was visible at the refreshment table.

Every particle of his being rebelled at the idea of talking civilly with the man. Yet somehow it seemed necessary. He would make himself accept the situation like a gentleman, no matter how foreign that behavior was to his nature.

Forcing his face into an expressionless mask, Jack approached Hartley, who was directing a servant to fill two cups with fruit-colored punch.

“Good evening, Hartley,” he murmured. The man turned toward him, his wide, square features seeming untroubled, his smile gentle amid the trim thatch of his beard. “It seems that congratulations are in order.”

“Thank you,” Hartley said carefully. In tacit agreement, they both withdrew from the refreshment table and found an unoccupied corner of the room where they would not be overheard. “Amanda told me that she visited you this morning,” Hartley commented. “I had thought that after she broke the news you might have…” He paused, giving Jack an assessing glance. “But it seems that you have no objections to the marriage.”

“Why would I? Naturally I want the best for Miss Briars.”

“And the circumstances do not trouble you?”

Thinking that Hartley was referring to the affair with Amanda, Jack shook his head. “No,” he said with a hard smile. “If you can overlook the circumstances, then so can I.”

Looking perplexed, Hartley spoke in a guarded murmur. “I would like you to know something, Devlin. I will do my best to make Amanda happy, and I will be an excellent father to her child. Perhaps it is easier this way, with your lack of involvement—”

“Child,” Jack said softly, his gaze arrowing to the other man’s face. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Hartley was very still, appearing to devote unusual concentration to a distant point on the floor. When he glanced upward, his brown eyes were crinkled with dismay. “You don’t know, do you? Amanda assured me that she had told you this morning.”

“Told me what? That she—” Jack broke off in utter confusion, wondering what in God’s name Hartley had meant. Then he understood. A child, a child…

Dear God.

The news was like an explosion in his brain, setting every cell and nerve afire. “My God,” he whispered. “She’s pregnant, isn’t she? With my child. And she would have married you without telling me.”

Hartley’s silence was reply enough.

At first Jack was too stunned to feel anything. Then fury kindled, and dark color washed over his face.

“It seems that Amanda could not bring herself to discuss it with you after all.” Hartley’s quiet murmur filtered through the angry buzzing in his brain.

“She will damn well have to,” Jack muttered. “You had better delay your betrothal announcement, Hartley.”

“Perhaps that is best,” he heard Hartley say.

“Tell me where she is.”

Hartley complied, and Jack went in search of Amanda, his mind seething with unwelcome recollections. He had too many memories of helpless little boys struggling to survive in a merciless world. He had tried to protect them—he even bore the marks of that effort on his own body. But ever since then, he had wanted to be responsible only for himself. His life had been his own, to be dealt with on his own terms. For a man who did not want to have a family, avoiding such a fate had been a simple enough matter.

Until now.

That Amanda had tried to cut him so neatly out of the situation was maddening. She knew full well that he had not wanted to take the risk of marriage and all that went with it. Perhaps he should even be grateful that she had completely absolved him of responsibility. But gratitude was the last thing he felt. He was filled with outrage and possessiveness, and a primitive need to claim her once and for all.

Chapter 14

A gentle breeze rustled through the leaves, bringing with it the scent of fresh-turned earth and lavender blossoms. Amanda drew to the side of the balcony, where she was completely concealed from view. As she leaned against the wall of the house, the rough texture of the red brick gently abraded her bare shoulders.