Redeeming Jack (6 page)

“He’s not in Wales at the moment.”

“Gareth is here?” Carys managed to stop and face Nia. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He’s staying with a friend near Westminster Abbey. I received a note from him this morning.”

“If you had told me my favorite brother was in town, I would have been up like a lark! Where is he putting up?”

“He asked me to bring you to the Green Man Inn on the Strand. That’s why we’re hurrying.”

When the sisters reached the coaching yard, the hostelry in question appeared deserted. A scurry of sparrows fought over an abandoned crust of bread, and the sound of whistling came from the well-turned-out stables. It was too early for the arriving stagecoaches and too late for the morning deliveries.

Nia tutted as she scanned the quiet yard, hands on hips. “I’ll go and see if I can find the innkeeper. Wait here, Carys.”

Tired of being treated like a naughty little sister, Carys headed for the side door of the tavern as soon as Nia disappeared around the corner. Unlike Nia, she didn’t expect to find Gareth in the stables. She opened the massive door, her nostrils assaulted by the stench of hops, spirits and spoiled beer. Holding her breath, she stepped into the darkness and collided with a large body.

“I beg your pardon, sir, I…”

As she tried to turn, her heel caught in her skirt and she fell forward. Her cheek collided with the man’s chest and his hands closed around her waist, pinning her against the wall. She went still as his lips brushed the side of her neck. His enticing scent of coffee and brandy overwhelmed the less-welcome odors of the tavern.

“Carys, what a lovely surprise. Gareth and I were just talking about you.”

Despite her best intentions, heat flooded Carys’s face. “I swear I didn’t know you were here, Jack.”

He slid his hands up to her shoulders and held her still. “Why should you? I imagine Gareth thought he was being romantic, trying to bring us together. You know your brother—always so impulsive.”

“You are speaking to him again?”

“Indeed. Why else would I be here?” He bowed and released her. “Let me take you through to him.”

Still puzzled by his unexpected appearance and confused by his casual references to her brother, Carys placed her hand on his arm. He led her through the deserted taproom. Rows of pewter tankards hung over the bar, and sawdust concealed the worst of the floor. Dust motes danced in the thin greenish light emanating from the ancient diamond-paned windows. Beyond the taproom lay a corridor and a private parlor. To Carys’s relief, Gareth and Nia stood by the fire, deep in conversation.

“Gareth, I didn’t know you were planning a visit to town. What brings you here?”

He enfolded her in his embrace and then kissed her nose. “There is nothing to worry about, my dear,” he said heartily, one eye on Jack. “Just church and estate business as usual.”

Gareth helped their aging father manage the Llewelyn church livings and traveled in his stead. As far as Carys knew, none of his business was in London. He led Carys to a chair by the fire, while Nia bustled around setting everything to rights. With a managing air, she inspected the tea that was brought in and made sure the maid took away the opened brandy bottle and used glasses. Gareth looked glum.

Nia poured out the tea and frowned at Jack until he picked up his cup and retired to lean against the door.

Gareth slurped his tea and waved a vague hand in Jack’s direction. “Carys, I hope you don’t mind me associating with Jack? We have been asked to work together for the…”

“For the development of a medical dictionary in Welsh,” Jack interrupted Gareth and came away from the door.

“A medical dictionary.” Carys stared hard at Jack.

He took up a dominant position on the soot-streaked hearthrug. “After my original collaborator dropped dead, Gareth was the only person I could think of who might be able to help me.” He paused to smile warmly at Nia, who folded her arms and frowned at him. “Did you wish to speak, Nia? Or perhaps I should call you Mrs. Evans, now that you are my father’s housekeeper.”

Nia snorted. “Better his housekeeper than his disgraced son.”

Carys sipped her tea and hastily concealed a smile. Nia and Jack had never gotten along. Even as children they had both wanted to be in charge. It seemed nothing had changed.

Jack glanced over at her. “If you are concerned for Gareth’s safety, Carys, rest assured that I have already offered him my apologies for our last unfortunate encounter.”

Nia burst out laughing, and Carys spluttered into her tea. “
You
apologized to Gareth, Jack?”

Gareth’s face reddened until it almost matched his hair and he cleared his throat. “Now, now, Carys. Please don’t fly into alt. I’m sure Jack has plenty to say to you as well. In fact—” he glanced hopefully at Nia, “—I was thinking of asking Nia to come out with me to buy some, some…handkerchiefs. Would you care to escort Carys home, Jack?”

Jack’s thoughtful brown eyes met Carys’s. He shrugged one broad shoulder and bowed. “It would be an honor. Shall we? Perhaps it will keep Gareth quiet if we make an effort to be civil to each other.”

Carys studied her brother and sister as they rushed toward the door. “I will remember this when either of you need a favor from me.” She raised her voice as Gareth avoided her gaze and scuttled cravenly after Nia. “You had better present yourself for dinner at Llewelyn House tonight, Pastor Gareth Evans. We have a lot to discuss.”

Jack sank into the chair opposite Carys as Gareth shut the door. He placed his cup back on the tray, his expression serious. “Gareth means well and he is right. I do need to talk to you.”

Carys primly crossed her feet at the ankle and stared down at Jack’s filthy boots. As her gaze traveled upward, she realized she wanted to take him home, cut his blond hair and dress him in better clothes. Appalled at the direction of her thoughts, which were not entirely motherly, she sought for composure. “You didn’t want to talk to me last night. You told me to communicate with you via your father’s solicitors.”

“I only said that because I thought you would prefer it. After speaking with Gareth, I hoped we might sort things out on a less formal level.” He leaned forward and touched her gloved hand. “We used to be friends.”

Carys retreated to the small window overlooking the coaching yard. Yes, she had thought Jack her best friend and her whole life before he’d left her. But he’d torn such a hole in her that for a long while after his departure, her skin had felt like the thinnest frayed silk.

She reined in her first instinct, which was to hotly deny his words. For in truth, she needed him. He no longer had the power to hurt her unless she gave it to him, and she had no intention of doing so. For Owen’s sake, she could only hope he had grown up too.

She turned to face him. “All right, Jack. We are both adults. We should be able to brush through this amicably enough. I need you to return to Wales with me. There are matters of property and possessions that need to be discussed.”

Jack nodded, his gaze fixed on hers. The sun came out and squeezed thin fingers of light through the dirty window. Carys noticed new, harsher lines on his face. Had he suffered in the years that separated them? She at least had a family to comfort and console her. Jack had been cast adrift from all he knew and loved. How could he have been happy?”

“That will suit me very well, Carys. There are certain obligations I need to fulfill in Swansea before I can return to Llewelyn Hall with you, but they should not keep me long.”

She went to pick up her coat. He deftly removed it from her hands and held it out with a flourish.

“I don’t live at Llewelyn Hall anymore. I live on the Gower Peninsula near Swansea.” Carys hesitated as she slid her arms into her coat and his hands came around to fasten the gold buttons. She let him complete the task, guiltily enjoying the brush of his fingers and his soft breath on the back of her neck. When she went to step away, his hands tightened at her waist and he dropped his face into the curve of her neck.

“Even after all this time, you still smell the same,” he murmured. “Like butterscotch and spring flowers. I knew it was you the moment I touched you in the hall.”

She’d known it was him as well. She’d have known him blindfolded. Carys forced herself to leave his embrace. “Oh my goodness, Jack, you haven’t changed at all. Still trying to seduce every woman you meet.” She patted him lightly on the cheek. “Unfortunately, I have grown up. I no longer believe the lies and flattery of rakes. You will have to find another naïve sixteen-year-old to try your luck with.”

Jack caught her wrist. “If I can believe you have changed, why can’t you believe it of me? All society knows
you
are the one with a lover, Carys. Not me.”

She pulled out of his grasp. “That is none of your business.”

He stared back at her, visibly biting back whatever he had intended to say. “You are, of course, right. Please forgive me. We were discussing our plans to meet in Wales. Shall I come to your dwelling?”

Carys picked up her reticule and walked across to the door. “I would rather we met on neutral territory.” She didn’t want him anywhere near her home until they decided their future. “How would it be if I accompanied you to Swansea? You could conclude your business, and I could be available to discuss our future when you were not otherwise occupied.”

Jack raked a hand through his hair, his gaze considering. “That will be acceptable. May I contact you tomorrow as to my plans?”

He opened the door for her. Carys dropped him a stiff curtsey and walked out into the shadowed tavern. The sudden darkness disorientated her and she didn’t have time to protest when Jack pushed her against the wall. She stared defiantly into his eyes as his mouth moved downward and his hand closed around the back of her neck.

He kissed her with such slow, deliberate thoroughness that she had to fist her hands against the wall to stop her response. When he finally lifted his head, he rubbed his finger against her lips.

“Aye,” he whispered, “I thought so. You taste the same as well.”

Carys pushed at his chest and he stepped away, hands held up in apparent surrender, but it meant nothing. If he kissed her again, she would let him. To her relief, he strolled out into the yard, giving her a few seconds to compose herself. She straightened her bonnet, patted her hot cheeks and scowled at the heavy oak door. Trust Jack to take advantage of her momentary weakness. Had her attempt to appear as a sophisticated society lady made him believe that she enjoyed being kissed in dark corners?

She brought her fingers to her lips and guiltily considered her desire to kiss him back. It was all Oliver Rice’s fault. If he would only kiss her properly, she would never dream of enjoying or responding to Jack’s attentions. As she had told Jack, she wasn’t some sixteen-year-old virgin. She was a married woman who was familiar with the pleasures to be found in the marital bed.

She pushed open the door and stepped out into the winter sunshine. Jack stood with his back to her, talking to one of the stable boys. With her troubled thoughts still on the joys of marriage, Carys found herself mentally undressing him. Although his face was thinner and harder, his body had filled out in the past five years. How would he feel now against her naked skin?

She choked down a small sound at her own audacity and blushed to the roots of her hair as Jack swung around. He gave her a slow, satisfied smirk as if he had read her mind. She clutched her reticule to her chest and smiled brightly.

“Shall we go, my lord? I am engaged to meet with the Duchess of Diable Delamere this afternoon and I would hate to be late.”

Jack strolled over and held out his arm. “Don’t worry, my lady. I’ll get you home in good time.”

He winked at the stable boy and turned out onto the busy street. The blaring sound of a coach horn reverberated over their heads and the quiet yard behind them became a hive of activity as one of the first passenger coaches swept in.

Jack deftly protected Carys from the press of bodies as the path narrowed to allow the coach through. “Give the duchess my regards, will you? She has been very good to me.”

His eyebrows rose as he studied her skeptical expression. “The duchess employed me when I was down to my last farthing.” He tossed a coin she doubted he could afford to a beggar. “I was contemplating crawling back to my father and begging for a loan.” His mouth quirked up at the corner. “So you might imagine how desperate I was.”

“Were you truly working as a nurse? I find it difficult to believe. You were always so fastidious about your clothes and your surroundings.”

“I lost my dandified ways fairly quickly in the army. When you’ve been covered in another man’s blood and body parts, you forget such niceties.”

Carys squeezed his sleeve. “I’m sorry. As you said, it is hard for me to remember that you have changed as well.”

They crossed another road and reached the corner of Bond Street.

“Gareth asked me about my work as a nurse last night. I told him that my father taught me how to live like a gentleman and the army taught me how to kill like a savage. Indirectly, I learned how to save lives. When two of my options were denied me, I decided to make use of the third. Somehow, healing people seems a lot more worthwhile than idleness and murder.”

Carys was still contemplating his quiet words when they drew to a halt outside Llewelyn House in Great Portland Square. She glanced up at the imposing doorway. “Would you like to come in? The family is not in residence.”

“I think not. The last time I was here, I was abandoned by everything that was dear to me. I have no intention of entering my father’s house whilst he still lives. Good day to you.”

Carys stood, open-mouthed, as he saluted and strode away. She watched until he turned the corner and was swallowed up in the glare of the sharp morning sun.

HELL AND DAMNATION! What on earth had possessed him to kiss her? Jack negotiated the busy road, ignoring a swearing hackney driver, and returned to the safety of the park. He’d mouthed his meaningless platitudes about wanting to be Carys’s friend, and then pushed her up against a wall and kissed her as if she were a tavern wench.