Secluded with the Rogue

11. Jack The Fool

Jack The Fool

J ack blinked. He’d just spent half the day trying to find information regarding her whereabouts and all along she’d been here? He had spent the other half searching the side of the road where he’d picked her up in the first place hoping he’d find some clue in her belongings.

And had no luck with that, either.

“You are employed here,” Jack cleared his throat. “At Thorncliffe Abbey?”

“Yes,” Delia answered.

“To act as companion to my grandmother?”

“That’s what I just told you, Jack,” his grandmother said. “Miss Somerset is my new companion.”

“Jack,” Delia said and then addressed his grandmother. “I mean, it was Lord Stark who… came to my rescue.” Her eyes, which looked even more prominent behind the lenses, darted back to him.

“So it was my grandson who rescued you…?” His grandmother raised her brows. “Let’s leave these two alone a moment, shall we, Archibald?”

“Oh, no, I can help you, my lady,” Delia rose to take hold of Jack’s grandmother’s arm, staring everywhere but at him. “I needn’t take up any of his lordship’s time.”

“Stay,” he said, and she finally met his eyes. “Please?”

She is here.

That niggling regret he’d felt for two days now vanished. And the empty space inside his chest filled with warmth.

“Come along, dear.” Jack’s grandfather took his grandmother’s arm, and Delia stepped back and then dropped onto her chair.

She is here.

His Christmas Angel.

Jack stepped aside, allowing his grandparents to pass. As they did so, his grandmother paused for an instant to squeeze his wrist.

“Sometimes we don’t need to go looking at all.” Her words were as cryptic as her smile. “Don’t scare my companion away. She’s come a long way to be here today, and I do believe I’m going to like her very much.”

Scare her away?

Jack waited nearly a full minute after they’d left before crossing the room to where Delia sat.

“Did you know who I was?” he asked.

She couldn’t have. Of course, she hadn’t. Delia was incapable of dissembling even if she wanted to. And yet, he had to ask.

She shook her head. “I never imagined… Not until Lord St. Vincent came down just before you arrived. You resemble him—your grandfather.” She frowned. “But I never even considered. I thought you must be a solicitor…”

“Or a highwayman?” he teased.

“Only at first.” She hadn’t relaxed yet, but remained sitting straight backed and…cautious.

“May I?” He gestured to the chair his grandmother had vacated.

“Of course.”

Jack turned it so he’d be facing her and then lowered himself onto the edge.

And merely stared at her.

“Do you want me to leave?” She clasped her hands tightly in her lap.

“Of course not.” Just the opposite, in fact. Jack pointed at the atrocious scrap of muslin covering her beautiful hair. “Do you mind if I get rid of this?”

“No.” She dipped her chin.

“It’s awful.” Her voice caught as he uncovered her hair.

“It really is,” he agreed, studying it, and then tossing it onto a nearby table. “I do believe I’ll have it burned.”

The ghost of a smile danced on her lips.

“I went back to find you,” Jack said. “Or where you’d gone, rather.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think?”

“I assumed the impossible once before. I’m not going to do that again.”

Jack swallowed hard. When he’d first been going to make love with her—when he’d thought she was a lightskirt, she had asked him if he loved her.

“You went back for my belongings?” She tilted her head.

“Yes.”

“ Why ?” she asked again.

“Because.” His heart swelled inside his chest. He was happy. She makes me feel happy. “I don’t want to go through the rest of my life looking for silver linings. I want the best scenario.”

Delia licked her lips. “And what is that?” she whispered.

“You.”

He continued before she mistook his meaning. “I convinced myself I was going so that I could assure myself of your safety. But then I imagined finding you and having to walk away again. And I want more than that. I need more than that. So I decided that when I found you, I was going to ask you to marry me. Because you, Delia, give me… hope.”

She shook her head in what looked like disbelief, and her ill-fitted spectacles slipped down her nose.

“Hope?”

“You make me believe.”

“In Christmas?”

“In love.”

She blinked at him.

Had he been wrong to imagine she felt the same? He had been relatively confident that he’d have no difficulty convincing her…

But at her continued silence, the blood in his veins turned to ice.

He reached into his pocket, his hands not quite steady, and withdrew the other item he’d retrieved. He’d spent damn near an hour crawling around searching for them.

“My spectacles? They aren’t broken?”

She reached out, and Jack grasped her hands. “Not even a scratch.”

“But why?” she repeated.

Jack slid off the chair so that he was kneeling before her. “I only knew you for one day.”

“And one night.

“Yes. These don’t quite fit, do they?” Jack slid the replacement spectacles off her face.

“They were the best I could find.”

“But they weren’t quite right for you. They weren’t the best fit.” Jack observed as she shoved the original pair into place.

“No. The perfect size was impossible to find. My father had these specially made for me.”

“Just like you,” he said. “You took me forever to find. That’s because you are not the silver lining, Delia. You are the prize. My prize, I hope. I don’t understand it, but I feel as though you were specially made for me.” He grimaced at how selfish and idiotic his words sounded.

He was making a genuine fool of himself.

She’d gone oddly still and unusually quiet—which wasn’t like her at all.

“I don’t mean to rush you,” Jack added. “It’s a lot to take in. Perhaps you need more time to get to know me. I’m not always the ass I was when I first found you?—”

“You weren’t an ass.” Her expression was soft, and Jack wanted to take her into his arms, but instead, he waited.

Her lips parted making a soft kissing sound. “You want to marry me? You want to get to know me ? Does that mean you love me?”

Something his grandparents had said the day before jolted the pieces into place. Now was not the time to be stoic or proud.

“I do. I’d have nothing but silver linings without you.” He touched her lips. “I know you think they are enough. But not for me. And not for you. Not where the rest of our lives are concerned.”

She leaned toward him. “It’s just that I’ve grown rather used to settling for them.”

“You are the sunshine, Delia. An unexpected sunny day in the middle of winter. I love you.” Jack didn’t understand why, or how. He just knew. She was honest, giving, and real.

And after barely knowing him for one day, she’d claimed his heart.

“I love you, too.” She blinked. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

Jack absorbed her answer. This.

This feeling… was pure joy.

“Tell me I’m not dreaming.” Her sweet little hands cradled his jaw. “You are Jack. And you are really here,” she breathed. “And you love me.”

“And I love you, my merry miss. And we’re going to get married.” Jack leaned forward, took her into his arms, and maneuvered them so she was seated on his lap.

“Y es.” She pressed her lips against his, sealing their promise with a kiss. And then she breathed. “You are my best-case scenario, Jack.” Another kiss. “But never forget that I found you in a silver lining.”

“How could I?” he said. “When you’ve turned out to be my very own Christmas miracle?”

***

I hope you enjoyed reading Delia’s and Jack’s journey to Happily Ever After. To read more about Delia and the friends she left behind in Mayfair, you’ll want to check out my Regency Cocky Gents Books.

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