LITMIR.BIZ

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The only thing she could not do was return to Belfast with this matter unresolved. To never know the truth. Never feel safe again so long as Mr. Henley roamed the earth.

      The toes of two highly polished Wellingtons appeared before her. “Chilly, Miss O’Rourke?”

      She looked up to find James Hunter standing before her. The familiar uneasy heat rose in her but she controlled it with a deep breath before she spoke. “A bit, Mr. Hunter. I should not have come out without my shawl.”

      “Shall I fetch it?”

      She shook her head. She did not intend to stay a moment longer than necessary.

      He sat beside her, close enough for her to feel his heat, but not close enough to touch. “I gather your mother’s announcement was a surprise to you?”

      “Completely. I had no idea she wanted to leave so soon.”

      “And you do not? “

      “Yes. No! I mean, I want to go home, but this is so sudden, and there were things that I still wanted to do.”

      “Things, Miss O’Rourke? For instance?”

      “I…I have not been much out in society due to…well, circumstances. I would like to experience a bit of the excitement of London.”

      He gave a chortle that made her shiver. “I would think you’d have had enough excitement to last for one season.”

      She looked sideways at him. There was nothing sarcastic in his countenance, and nothing chiding. Just a simple statement of fact. “A different sort of excitement than being abducted, Mr. Hunter.”

      His eyes caught hers and held them. “I understand. I shall be sorry to see you go. I would have liked to waltz just once with you. Have you been to Vauxhall, or the museums?”

      She shook her head. “Cora was killed not long after we arrived. And everything since then has conspired to keep us otherwise occupied.”

      He laughed outright this time. “That would be a bit of an understatement, Miss O’Rourke. Your family has been the talk of the town. I must say, the O’Rourkes have collided with London in a most forceful manner.”

      “And yet your sister has offered to sponsor me. At great risk to her reputation, I surmise.”

      “Has she?” He looked surprised, and Gina realized he was thinking such a sponsorship was risky. “Well, Sarah knows best. She is an excellent judge of character. With her as your sponsor, your success is assured.”

      She didn’t care a whit for social success. She only wanted to meet the people who could lead her to Mr. Henley, but given the conversation she’d overheard earlier in the library, she imagined all the brothers would forbid such a thing. Thank heavens they would be too busy with their own business to meddle in hers.

      She shivered again and Mr. Hunter shrugged out of his jacket to drape it over her shoulders. Still warm from his body, it smelled of lime shaving soap and something clean. Starch? Very comforting, yet provocative. And once again, it conjured memories of that night. “Thank you,” she managed, suspecting she should have refused and gone inside.

      “My pleasure, Miss O’Rourke.” He stretched his legs out and crossed his ankles. “One never knows how to dress for the weather this time of year.”

      “Is…is there a reason you followed me, Mr. Hunter?”

      “I wanted to thank you for not running the moment you saw me, as is your custom. Indeed, I think our truce will work admirably well.”

      “My dislike of you has been nothing personal, Mr. Hunter.”

      “You dislike me? “

      Mortified by her gaucherie, Gina winced. “Oh, forgive me. I did not mean that the way it sounded. What I meant to say is that you make me uncomfortable…I mean—”

      “Please do not explain further, Miss O’Rourke. I do not think my tender ego is up to it.” He grinned and her stomach did an odd little flip-flop.

      The sound of laughter preceded the arrival of others, and Gina slipped James’s jacket off her shoulders and shivered in the sudden chill. She gave it back and watched as he stood and shrugged it on moments before Bella and Charles appeared around the hedge. Why did she feel as if they had done something wrong?

      Charles bowed to Gina before he turned to his brother. “Here you are, Jamie. We’re late for our appointment, and we ought to leave these good people to their evening.”

      Bella shook her head in feigned disbelief. “I tried to persuade him that they were welcome to stay for dinner, but Charles would not hear of it.”

      “Quite right. We are expected elsewhere,” James confirmed as he stepped away from the bench.

      The men bowed, but before they departed, James looked at her, something unreadable in his eyes before he turned and disappeared along the garden path. A vague feeling of disappointment filled Gina at their departure.

      Bella led her through the library doors and went to the console table to pour sherry into a glass and bring it to her. “I had no idea!”

      Gina accepted the glass and took a healthy gulp. “Of what?”

      “That you were in love with James.”

      She choked, the sherry burning her throat. Love? Oh, to the contrary. She could barely endure his company. “You are mistaken, Bella. I am not in love with Mr. Hunter. If I am awkward in his presence, it is because I do not like to keep his company. He…he…saw me.” Indeed, he was a reminder of all she had endured. Of all she had lost. And that was what she’d been at a loss to explain to him mere moments ago.

      Bella gave her a wise older-sister smile. “Perhaps that is why he is so drawn to you. ‘Tis almost painful to watch him when you are in the same room. He cannot tear his eyes from you.”

      “Because he imagines me naked! It…it is lasciviousness, Bella, and nothing more.”

      “Truly?” But Bella looked doubtful. “He looked genuinely distraught when Mama announced she was taking you home to Ireland.”

      Because he would have liked to waltz with her? She caught her breath at the sudden pain in her chest at the realization that, had things been different, had that night never occurred, she would have liked to waltz with him, too.

      That night at the Crown and Bear tavern, Jamie Hunter rolled his eyes in disgust. “Good Lord, Charlie, you haven’t had that much to drink. Focus, man!”

      Charlie grinned, a canny look on his face. “I’m not far gone, Jamie. I’m thinking of something else.”

      “Someone else, more likely. Who is it this time?”

      “The sweet little thing you just cast off. Suzette.”

      “That was two months ago.” Jamie leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. “But Suzette can make the blood boil, can she not? Alas, what will she do when you move on to another demirep? She’s damned near made a career of the Hunter brothers. You’re the lone holdout, Charlie.”

      “Well, I am not holding out any longer. Suzette was saving the best for last. She is fond of the tall, dark and handsome sort.” He waggled his eyebrows at Jamie and chuckled. “I’ve seen the congé she has acquired from Lockwood, Drew and you. I’d be willing to wager she could retire if she sold those jewels.”

      “Why would she retire when she has yet another Hunter brother to fleece? “

      “I daresay you all got your money’s worth. I know I shall.”

      Jamie shrugged. He couldn’t say why he’d tired of Suzette Lamont, only that he had. Though, when he thought about it, he’d reached that decision very soon after his family had become involved with the O’Rourkes.

      He suppressed a shiver and came back to

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