Redeeming the Reclusive Earl - Virginia Heath Page 0,27

bafflingly intelligent and academic woman who plainly owned it. Without thinking, he took it from the butler to feel the fabric and only just resisted the urge to bury his nose in it when a waft of lilac and rose floated up his nostrils to torture him some more.

‘Yes, Smithson. Apologise on my behalf and tell them it shouldn’t be too long.’ Or at least he hoped it wasn’t. Having her back in his house unnerved him. Although goodness only knew what had brought her back again this time. Miss Nithercott was falling woefully short of her promise to keep the hell out of his way and the more he saw her the more unnerved he became.

She was a peculiar combination and one he really did not understand at all. On the one hand she was an unbelievably learned scholar and as such had the single-minded, dogged and bookish characteristics of all the great minds he had ever encountered at the Admiralty or at the society balls and parties Eleanor insisted he attend each time he was home on leave. On the other, there was an undeniable and overt femininity about his new neighbour which contradicted the absent-minded professor aspects of her character. Then—and he would need a third hand for this one—she possessed a quiet, proud vulnerability which called to him. Max was entirely certain he never wanted to have to think about her, yet since the first moment he’d met her he had. Near constantly. Which rattled him.

‘Max?’ His sister’s impatient, clicking fingers wrenched his gaze from the shawl to the doorway. ‘Any chance you could pour that sherry before the week is over? Please try to be a good host.’ And with that, she spun on her heel.

Host?

In the recesses of his mind he heard an alarm bell ringing andbecause he had a very uneasy feeling, took himself to the dining room. The table was set quite plainly for three.

‘Smithson!’

The butler scurried back from the kitchen and skidded to a wary halt. ‘Yes, my lord?’

‘Is Miss Nithercott joining us for dinner?’

‘She is, my lord.’

‘And when, pray tell, were you apprised of this fact.’

‘This afternoon, my lord. After Mrs Baxter returned from her ride.’

‘But before the tea she took with me at four?’

‘Yes, my lord.’ Blasted Eleanor and her machinations. She had set this up behind his back and purposefully left him in the dark. ‘Will that be all, my lord?’

‘Could you tell my sister I need a quick word with her, please?’ Max fully intended to wring her neck—after she had ejected the unnerving new bane of his life from the premises, of course.

In typical Eleanor fashion she took her time in answering his summons and sailed regally into his dining room looking not the least bit contrite.

‘You invited a guest to dinner without my permission?’

‘It seemed the least I could do after you had been so rude to her the day before. Besides...’ she shrugged, unrepentant ‘...she is all alone in the world. When I collided with her this afternoon, she was also upset.’

Upset? Max hated that that niggled, but asking why the bane was upset or who had upset her would only fuel his eldest sibling’s dastardly plot to interfere in every aspect of his life. ‘If you wanted her company, you could have dined at her house. Or at the inn. In fact, anywhere but here.’

‘Because that isn’t the least bit insulting, is it? Not inviting her here only compounds your rudeness by making it appear you are avoiding her.’

‘I am avoiding her. Miss Nithercott is...’ Maddening... Irritating... Confusing... Beguiling... Wearing a dress which made his mouth water ‘...odd.’

‘So are you nowadays, little Brother, so by rights the pair of you should get on famously. Although to be frank, I don’t find her the least bit odd. I think Miss Nithercott is lovely. Refreshing, intelligent and extremely interesting. She is also uncommonly pretty. Surely you have noticed that?’

Noticed! The image of her in breeches had apparently seared itself on to his brain and refused to budge. And now he’d doubtless have the image of her in that gown.