Heaven and hiccups, no.
It would never do for Jules to pay his address to her at home, and a ride would likely be reported as well. Mama wasn’t above locking Jemmah in her chamber to assure Adelinda received his undivided attention.
Good thing he wasn’t as besotted as most men by her sister’s exquisiteness.
When Adelinda did finally marry—for certain her beauty would snare some unfortunate fellow—how long would it be before her sulks and vile tongue obscured her bewitching beauty and the poor sot regretted his choice?
Still, Jemmah could no more deny Jules’s tempting request than she could ignore the impossibility of his calling on her.
The scraping and frenetic whispering at the door had finally ceased, but her alarm increased.
She mustn’t be found, here alone with him.
No telling what Mama would do.
Jemmah speared an anxious glance to the other doors.
“It’s impossible. Mama won’t allow you to call upon me. She had hoped Adelinda would attract your notice, and she’ll be furious if you show any interest in me.”
“Yes, so I became acutely aware, earlier this evening. However, Adelinda isn’t the Dament sister who fascinates me. I’ve always preferred the one with gold and amber streaks glinting in her hair and eyes so pale blue, I lose myself in their color each time I look into them.” He grazed his thumb across her lower lip. “And she has the most tempting mouth, soft, honey sweet, with lips I cannot wait to sample again.”
He swept his mouth across hers.
Tender, fleeting, a silent promise.
Joy, and perhaps the minutest amount of triumph that he preferred her—plain and unremarkable Jemmah—over Adelinda’s exquisiteness, sang through her veins. A jaunty celebratory tune. And for the first time in the veriest of times, a spark of hope ignited deep in her spirit.
For once, she believed Papa’s assurances that she was lovely in her own way, and that someday she’d find the man who gazed at her through love-filled eyes and found her beautiful.
“Do you know what the Dandridge motto is, Jemmah?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“In adversity, the faith.” Jules’s touched his lips to hers again. “I shall find a way, if you want me to.”
Her stomach flopped over again, and the air left her lungs on a fluttering breath.
Thundering hogs’ hoof beats when he looked at her like that—like she was the most precious of jewels, his gaze reverent, yet also slightly hooded—although logic screeched “No,” her desperate heart whispered, “Yes.”
Yes. Yes. Yes.
If this was her chance for happiness, no matter how brief or implausible, she damn well—yes, damn well!—had every intention of grasping it.
“My aunt invited me for tea tomorrow.”
Comprehension dawned on Jules’s face, and she entertained another, small victorious smile.
“Ah, I do believe Theo mentioned something of that nature to me as well. I find I am quite available at that hour.”
He lifted Jemmah’s hand, and rather than brush his lips across her bare knuckles, he turned it over and grazed her wrist.
A jolt shot to her shoulder while her knees, ridiculous, worthless things, decided to turn to mush.
“I shall look forward to it. Now if you’ll excuse me,” he blew out all but one taper, “I promised Sabrina I’d be home to tuck her in tonight. It’s her birthday too. The second since her parents died, but at the first one, we didn’t know if she’d recover from the carriage accident. I don’t want her to fall asleep without bidding her good-night.”
Such a flood of emotion bubbled up in Jemmah’s chest that tears blurred her vision as she pulled her gloves on, trying to ignore the frayed spots on the fingertips.
“She’s lucky to have such a devoted uncle. Would you wish her happy day for me too?
“I would indeed, and if I may be so bold, might I tell her you’ll give her drawing lessons?” He turned her toward the other set of doors. “Naturally, I’ll approach your mother and explain I’d like to retain you.”
Mama would take any earnings, thinking they were her due, and she’d still expect Jemmah to do all of her regular chores.
“Honestly, Dandridge, I think it would be better if I were to give Sabrina lessons when I come to tea. And please allow it to be my gift to her. I have a standing invitation with Aunt Theo on Mondays and Thursdays. I could use one day for lessons so Mama’s suspicions won’t be aroused.”
His head slightly angled, he considered her. “Very well.”
“Aunt Theo usually only sends the carriage ’round for me when the weather is foul, but I’ll explain our plan tonight and ask her to send it every tea day. That way, I’ll have more time to instruct Lady Sabrina.”
“We can discuss those details tomorrow. Until then, my precious Jem.” He cupped her shoulders with both hands, and leaning down, kissed her forehead with such reverence, she almost could believe he cared for her as much as she did for him. “Go along. I’ll wait a respectable amount of time, and then take another route to the manor’s entrance.”
She nodded. “All right.”
“And Jemmah?”
“Yes?”
A strand of hair had fallen across his brow, and with the warmth radiating from his brandy-colored eyes, he very much resembled the young man she’d fallen in love with.
“Your mother can fuss all she wants, but once I set my mind to something, I am seldom dissuaded. I mean to court you.”
Incapable of speech, her heart teeming with happiness, Jemmah nodded again and quit the parlor. She could yet taste and feel Jules’s mouth on hers, and an odd heat throbbed at her wrist as if branded by his lips.
Glancing down, she half expected to see his mouth’s imprint there.
A few moments later, having brought her exuberant smile under control, she edged into the ballroom, as unnoticed as a fly upon the corniced ceiling. No one paid her any mind as she wove between guests, headed toward the empty seat beside the Dowager Lady Lockhart.
Jemmah’s silly legs still hadn’t returned to their normal strength after Jules’s bone-melting kisses, and feeling slightly off-balance, she gratefully claimed the seat.
Her ladyship bestowed a beaming smile on her. “Where’ve you been, child? I saw you arrive and hoped to have a coze with you. It’s been some time since we chatted, and you always brighten this old woman’s day with your wit and intelligence.”
“How kind of you to say so, my lady. I enjoy your company as well. Aunt tells me you have a cat now.”
From the corner of her eye, Jemmah caught site of Miss Milbourne prowling the dance floor’s perimeter, a half-pout upon her lips while her miffed gaze roved the ballroom. They narrowed for an instant upon sighting Adelinda dancing with the exceedingly tall, raven-haired Duke of Sutcliffe.
Miss Milbourne wouldn’t find what she sought.
He’d already left.
“I do indeed,” Lady Lockhart agreed. “A darling little calico I named Callie. I thought the name quite clever.”