Autumn's Wild Heart (Seasons #4) - Laura Landon Page 0,25

and was helping her friends dismount.

“Oh, Patricia,” Nella said, wrapping her arms around her friend. “Rosamonde,” she said, greeting her second friend. “I’ve missed you heaps and heaps!”

“It’s been nearly two months since I’ve seen you,” Patricia said, giving Nella another hug.

“Has it been that long?” Nella questioned. “I’ve been so busy I didn’t realize it was that long.”

Patricia turned Nella to face the carriage where a very lovely older woman was just descending.

“Nella, darling, I’m eager for you to meet Mrs. Merilee Applebaum, my aunt.”

It was a complete joy to welcome the woman whose rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes hinted that she would be a most delightful addition to their party, even if she was the girls’ chaperone.

“Mrs. Applebaum! Welcome!”

“Petronella?”

Nella turned to see her husband approach her, followed by two men she knew only by sight. She’d been introduced to them just once, yet she’d seen them often in her husband’s company at balls and formal events.

She caught a strange look in her husband’s eye that suddenly flustered her. Had his time in London been so satisfying that it had left that gleam in place through the entire ride home?

“Allow me to present my friends, Lord Candleton and Viscount Pomeroy.”

“Lord Candleton,” Nella greeted with a polite curtsy. “Lord Pomeroy.”

“Lady Danvers,” they both greeted. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again. Thank you for your invitation. We’ve been looking forward to visiting you and your husband.”

“Thank you, my lords. Please, come in.”

James placed a proprietary arm around her waist and led her inside the house. Lords Candleton and Pomeroy extended their arms to lead Patricia and Rosamonde. When they entered, Covey took their cloaks and hats and handed them to the two footmen waiting in the foyer.

“Come,” Nella said. “I imagine you’re quite exhausted from your journey. Follow me to the drawing room.”

Nella and her husband led the way, and when they reached the drawing room, James poured a glass of brandy or wine for each of the party. Covey followed with a tea tray and pastries.

When all had been served, Nella looked at her friends and smiled. “How was the journey?” she asked.

“We were both surprised, Nella,” Rosamonde said. She was always the first to jump into any conversation. “Colworth Abbey is not all that far from London.”

“No,” Patricia added. “It took us barely two hours to get here.”

“And I can’t wait to show you the estate. It’s very beautiful.”

“So have you found areas to put on canvas?” Rosamonde asked.

“My wife has already painted several landscapes,” James jumped in. “I will take you to see them later.”

“You paint, Lady Danvers?”

Nella felt her cheeks warm. “I dabble in it.”

“She does more than dabble, Pomeroy. She’s an amazing artist.”

“Have you heard her play the piano?” Patricia asked.

“Enough,” Nella said. She was desperate to change the topic from herself.

“I force her to entertain me every evening,” her husband said, gracing her with a warm smile.

“Then we can’t wait to hear you,” the Earl of Candleton said. “You can be our evening’s entertainment.

Nella turned her gaze to where James sat. There was a hint of pride on his face, but there was something wrong. Something in the hooded darkness in his eyes said something was not as it should be. That’s when she noticed it. The fading bruises on his knuckles. A faint bruise on his cheekbone beneath his left eye. As if he’d been in a fistfight.

A knot clenched in her midsection. James was not a man prone to fisticuffs. He seldom raised his voice let alone became angry enough to raise his fists.

What could possibly have happened to make him so angry that he fought someone?

Nella cringed. In the back of her mind, in a place where she wanted to keep her fears locked away and hidden, she knew that whatever it was, it had something to do with her.

She decided not to mention it now, but would ask James about it later. When they were alone. Right now there was too much to talk about.

Patricia and Rosamonde filled her in on all the latest gossip, the talk of the haute ton that she was grateful to hear had replaced the scandal she had caused.

They filled her in on who was rumored to be in love with whom. Even the men stopped talking horses long enough to listen.

What followed turned out to be a splendid evening. The meal was peppered with laughter and she managed to choose light-hearted music for their entertainment that followed.

All in all, the house party was off