The Legend of the Earl (Heirs of High Society) (A Regency Romance Book)(14)
“Your father didn’t know you existed,” he said.
Alex gave him a new expression. Her eyes seemed to open to him. Fascinating. “How do you know?”
“Because I know the man he was, and I’ll share that man with you if you let me.”
She looked away just as a knock came to the door.
“Rose? Alex?” a man shouted from the other side.
“We’re in here,” Alex responded quickly.
Justin moved as the door opened and the man he’d seen shouting at the back of the alley emerged. He glanced around the room, took one look at Justin and Gerard, and said, “Who are you?”
He was followed into the room by two other men.
Justin recognized the guard, and the guard recognized him as well.
“Lord Chantenny,” the man with the dark green eyes said.
“Is he bothering you?” a man with brown-reddish hair and light blue eyes asked. He gazed at Justin in a way that made it clear the man was calculating who would win in a fight.
And then he thought better of that look. Not a fight. This man would simply go for the kill.
Justin would probably have feared him if the fear of losing Alexandra wasn’t so great, surpassing everything else. He turned to her with nothing more to say and waited for her response.
* * *
Alex thought about what Justin had said about her father. Though she truly wished to believe him, she knew better. She’d grown up in Best Home, had watched children come and go, coming much more than they went. More than that though, she knew the Beau Monde.
She knew them quite well.
They lived life in a dream state of endless pleasure. They knew nothing about heartache or despair. They didn’t know what it was like to go to bed hungry after a meal of nothing more than broth and bread or to have cold snapping at their limbs when the orphanage was out of blankets, bodies huddled together the only way to make life bearable.
She couldn’t imagine who she’d have become had Chris not accepted her into his fold with Reuben and Nash. Then later, Rose had been born and had completed their circle.
She was a Smith, and she wanted nothing to do with the man who’d fathered and then abandoned her.
“Yes,” she told Nash, to answer the question of whether or not she was being bothered.
Justin moved toward her, but Reuben blocked him from getting more than a step closer. Still, he spoke around him. “Ms. Alexandra, you must hear what I have to say. Your father was a great man.”
Alex turned away, not wanting to hear any more and trying hard not to react to her name on his lips.
This did not stop Justin from speaking. “He’s a part of you. You can’t deny it.” She could hear feet shuffling as the men began to take him away. “You look just like him. I could show you.”
Alex turned at that, realizing that there was a small part of her that did wonder. She shook her head and looked up as Justin was pushed through the door by Reuben, Justin’s eyes on her as he attempted to stay.
“Let me show you,” he said again.
She knew she’d regret it but said, “Wait.”
All motion stopped.
Chris and Nash, who’d moved to stand by Rose and were glaring at Obenshire, turned to her just as Reuben did.
Alex’s eyes remained on Justin as she calculated the risk of going anywhere with this man.
Well, the one thing she could count on was that he wouldn’t touch her since she was unbefitting to his touch and probably even his notice had these circumstances not arrived. It made him far safer to be around than many of the other men who’d approached her over the years, which should have made Alex happy.
So why didn’t it?
“Show me,” she said.
Reuben released him and Justin nearly fell to the ground, but he righted himself before approaching her, still keeping nearly two feet of distance between them.
He was smiling down at her, and Alex wondered why she’d let him stay. Did she truly want to know about her father or did she simply want to know more about the man before her?
She was being foolish by wishing to continue on in his presence. She decided then and there that she’d hear what he had to say and then they’d part ways.
“You won’t regret this,” he promised.
She was sure she would, but he wouldn’t be her first regret.
* * *
6
CHAPTER
SIX
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“The ton says he’s haughty, but I didn’t get that impression in the least.”
Alex turned to Rose and glared at her bright, upturned face.
They were in Rose’s room at Chris’ townhouse. The walls, as one could imagine, had been done with pale rose wallpaper. Softer pinks flowed throughout the room, matching not only Rose’s name but also her nature. She was sweet and dainty, which were two words no one associated with Alexandra.
But what truly set them apart was Rose’s unwavering optimism. If one had only just met her, it was easy to assume that Rose had grown up not in an orphanage, but in a lovely cottage in the country where her parents were happy and in love and every day had been sunny and bright.