What on earth had Serena and Sophia been playing at?
Gemma took Cam’s arm with what she knew was a lack of grace, but she was too annoyed for niceties.
Hadn’t the whole point of having him bring some of the gentlemen from Pearson Close been to ensure she’d be able to speak with them? She was treated to Lord Cameron’s company on an all too frequent basis. If they were going to discuss the latest news in the fossil-hunting world, it would have happened by now.
(It had not.)
“A penny for them,” said her companion as they climbed the stairs toward the gallery where Lady Celeste had displayed her most prized finds. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were not best pleased with my company.”
Leave it to Cameron to state the obvious. A true gentleman would have ignored her pique.
Still, she hadn’t missed the appreciation in his eyes when he first entered the drawing room. And it was hardly his fault that Sophia and Serena had schemed to place them together.
Her innate sense of fairness made her relax a bit and the smile she gave him was genuine.
“Of course not. I am merely trying to recall which of Lady Celeste’s treasures will be the most intriguing to Lord Paley and Sir Everard.”
“I’ve never seen the collection either,” he reminded her. “What might I want to see?”
And just like that she was annoyed again.
“It’s not from want of opportunity,” she reminded him tartly. “You’ve been to visit your brother any number of times since his marriage and have never once come to Beauchamp House to see it.”
“Perhaps you’ve forgotten the occasion of our first meeting,” he reminded her, “but I have not. I know we seemed to make up the quarrel once my brother and Sophia arrived that day, but I left with the impression you were not fond of me. I thought it would be … unwelcome for me to ask you to show me.”
That assertion made Gemma stop in her tracks, in the center of the carpeted hall.
So much for keeping her temper.
Removing her arm from his, she turned to face him.
“You are a gentleman who has traveled the world in search of natural artifacts,” she said in a low voice so they wouldn’t be overheard. “You have dined with royalty and no doubt wooed ladies on three continents. Am I really to believe that you were afraid to ask me to show you a few fossils that, despite my appreciation for them, are hardly the sort of groundbreaking discoveries you’ve seen before? Because I was intemperate enough to argue with you at our first meeting when you mistook me for a not very bright gentleman? Truly?”
As she spoke, his cheekbones reddened. As did his ears.
His voice was equally low when he responded, stepping closer so that she could hear him. “I’ve met seasoned diplomats who would have difficulty knowing how to handle you in a mood, Miss Hastings. And I do not know from whom you have got your information, but I’m hardly a penny dreadful explorer who digs fossils with one hand and woos ladies with the other. I have traveled, yes. I have seen some of the important specimens, but that doesn’t mean I have no interest in others. As you well know, there are bones and fossils that have been in collections for decades that are only now revealing their place in the history of our world. So please do not paint me as some sort of snobbish Lothario with more hair than wit.”
Gemma swallowed at his words, and tried to maintain her composure.
There was some truth in what he said. Though she was hardly going to admit that now. Not when he was standing so close and she could see the dark ring of blue that circled his pupils.
And definitely not when her eyes were drawn to the lines that framed his mouth as he spoke.
When had Lord Cameron Lisle become so handsome? The thought made her frown, which he took as a response to his words and so continued.
“As for our first meeting, I explained myself already, but I will repeat, I thought the article was written by a man. But that doesn’t mean I ever mistook you for one. And far from thinking the author of the piece not bright, I thought it was well reasoned but unsuitable for the journal at that time. The very fact that you are still holding a grudge after so many months should be reason enough to show why I have not importuned you to show me the collection. You are the sister of my brother’s new wife. I cannot insult you without sowing discord in my family. And as you know, I value my family above all things.”
They stood close enough that anyone who came upon them might suspect a different conversation altogether.
“There you two are.”
At the sound of Sophia’s voice, they both stepped back with almost comical haste.
Sophia looked between them for a moment, as if trying to determine what sort of confrontation she’d just missed.
Knowing how easily her sister could read her, Gemma didn’t dare meet her eyes.
“Sir Everard and Lord Paley are eager to hear your descriptions of the collection, dearest.”
The glance Sophia gave Cam was speculative. Gemma knew well enough what sort of quizzing she’d face after the men were gone and resigned herself to it. At least she’d have the morning to devise some sort of explanation.
Because right now, she wasn’t quite sure what had just happened.
* * *
That went well.
The ironic thought reverberated in Cam’s head as he trailed the sisters into what looked to be a workroom, judging by the wide table and neatly arranged tools along the wall behind it.
It was a familiar sort of room for anyone who had spent time cleaning and examining bones and stones.
But he couldn’t help but notice the feminine touches. A floral chintz covered pair of chairs with a tea table between them in one corner. A small bookshelf with frequently consulted resources on the history of the Sussex coast and its soil, the proceedings of the Royal Society, and if he wasn’t mistaken, a couple of Cuvier’s works. Sir Everard must have missed that, or they’d have been treated to his stubbornly incorrect opinions on the Frenchman and his theories.
Lady Celeste, Cam knew from what Sophia had told him, had been a highly intelligent lady with many interests. He’d been reluctant to think she could possibly have been as well read and knowledgeable as reputed. In part because he was a believer in the old adage that a jack of all trades was master of none.
And yet, the workroom did more to convince him of the lady’s genuine interest and knowledge in geology than the most ardent defender could.
“The bookshelf is my doing,” Gemma was saying to Sir Everard, who had taken her arm, Cam noted grimly.
So much for the order of precedence.
“Lady Celeste’s library is quite impressive,” Gemma continued. “But I wished to have my own books here so that I might use them to help understand and authenticate my finds.”
Sir Everard’s eyes narrowed as he tried to make out the titles on the shelf, but fortunately he was forestalled from comment by Paley.
“I see you are mindful of creature comforts as well, Miss Hastings,” he said with an approving nod to the chairs. Despite his earlier declaration of interest in Gemma, Cam noted, Paley’s arm was still threaded through Lady Serena’s.
Interesting.
“I’m afraid those were here when I arrived at Beauchamp House,” Gemma admitted with a laugh. “I would never have been bold enough to remove such lovely furniture from one of the other rooms. Especially to a room like this where they might become soiled. But I believe Lady Celeste had these made for this room particularly. I readily admit, I do retreat to them sometimes when long hours standing over the worktable have my back in knots. She thought of everything, you see.”
“My aunt was nothing if not practical,” Serena noted with a smile. “And as she got older, she had no reservations about providing for her own ease. And I do believe many of the improvements here in Beauchamp House were undertaken with the heiresses in mind.”
“What a pity you weren’t here long enough to take advantage, Lady Benedick,” said Sir Everard with a laugh. “Though I suppose what you’ve missed, your sister gains.”
Gemma stiffened. “I may be the only one of the four to be in residence at the moment, Sir Everard, but that doesn’t mean that I would keep my sister or the others from enjoying the House now that they’re married. On the contrary. They are free to come and go as they please. And after a few days together none of us was prepared to hold the others to the strict terms of the bequest.”
“But as the last heiress it will become yours, will it not?” Sir Everard pressed her.
“If I remain unwed until the first of February, yes,” Gemma said coolly. “But as I said, it is not something about which any of us is overly concerned. And I have no intention of marrying anytime soon.”
Or at all. Cam could almost hear her add.
Certainly she had no interest in marrying a man of Sir Everard’s ilk.
At least he thought not.
If he’d learned anything at all from today’s events it was that he didn’t know nearly as much about Miss Gemma Hastings as he’d thought.
“Now, is there anything else in this room you wish to see?”
Sir Everard might be pompous, but even he recognized a maneuver to change the subject in Gemma’s words.
“Tell us about this specimen here, Miss Hastings,” Sir Everard said, with a gesture to a long fossil lying in the center of a dark blue cloth.
“A particularly fine spinal column from a sea lizard,” Gemma said, removing her arm from his and carefully taking up the fossilized bones in her hands. “I found it on the shore just below the bluffs here. I keep returning—especially after storms and particularly strong tides—to see if the rest will reveal itself, but so far I’ve had no luck. As you know, there can be years between discoveries in the same location. So I try to be patient.”
“Might there be a skull in the collection that could be paired with it?”
Sir Everard’s tone was casual but Cam knew exactly what the other man was digging for.
Oblivious to the subtext of the baronet’s question, Gemma shook her head. “Alas, no. That was my first thought, too. But there is nothing of this size in the main collection. But there are several boxes of Lady Celeste’s finds in the attic that I haven’t yet had a chance to search through. Perhaps I might find some other part there.”
At the mention of boxes, Cam saw Sir Everard’s eyes light up. Of course he’d find that interesting given his interest in the no-doubt apocryphal Beauchamp Lizard. He could see the other man working up the nerve to ask for a look in the attics, but before he could do so Gemma made it unnecessary.
“Lady Celeste put her most impressive finds in her collection here, in the gallery, so I have no doubt that the boxes contain little more than ammonites and some smaller bits. But it will be amusing to see what she found interesting enough to keep nonetheless.”
But Cam had underestimated the baronet’s determination to leave no fossil unturned.
“If you would like,” Sir Everard said with a patronizing smile, “I will have one of my servants itemize the contents of the boxes for you. I cannot think you should wish to worry yourself over such trivial matters when there are finds like this to be had.”
Paley, who had been watching the exchange with interest, spoke up. “I’m sure it would be far more convenient for Miss Hastings to have the boxes out of her way altogether. I’m always looking to expand my own collection. What if I were to purchase the boxes from you, Miss Hastings?” He then named a sum that had Cam’s eyebrows rising into his hairline. Gemma herself looked a little shocked as well.
Before she could respond, Serena spoke. “Until the year is completed, the sale of any part of Lady Celeste’s estate is strictly forbidden, Lord Paley. And I will let Gemma speak for herself, Sir Everard, but I think you would have better luck convincing the Avon River to flow in the opposite direction, Sir Everard.”
“I’m afraid she’s right,” Gemma said with a smile. “I wouldn’t part with any of Lady Celeste’s findings for the world. Even if it were legally possible. I’ve been looking forward to examining each and every item in the boxes myself for months now, but there’s been so much excitement. I hope now that the weather has turned cold I will be able to lock myself indoors to do the job properly.”
“They understand, of course,” Cam said for his companions. Though it was plain from the expression on Sir Everard’s face that he did not, in fact, understand.
It was more difficult to read Paley, since he was by far the more polite of the two.
Either way, they would not be leaving here today with any lizard, Beauchamp or otherwise.
For Gemma’s sake, Cam was pleased.