That Perfect Someone
Page 4

Chapter Four
RICHARD PULLED HIS HAT down low. It wasn"t that he was worried that he might be recognized.
On the London docks? Not a chance. But it would be foolish to flaunt his presence just to tempt fate. Why take the chance that this might be the one day out of a thousand that an old acquaintance might be returning from a trip abroad and be on these very same docks?
He"d put away the greatcoat now that it was too warm for it and was wearing his usual shipboard garb, clothes that were easy to work in. His long-sleeved white shirt was loose for ease of movement, deeply V-necked, and belted on the outside. His black pants were tucked into his boots. He blended in rather well with the common dockworkers, except for his highly polished Hessian boots.
It was highly unlikely that he would be recognized after all these years. He"d left England a skinny seventeen-year-old who hadn"t yet reached his full height. He"d sprouted up a few more inches rather late, which had kept him slim longer than he would have liked, but then he"d finally filled out so he could no longer be called skinny. His long black hair even added to his disguise, since it was about as far from fashionable as he could get—in England, that is.
It was a popular style in the Caribbean, so he"d adopted it to blend in. He didn"t braid his hair the way Ohr did, but it was so long now that he definitely had to keep it queued at the back of his neck or it became a nuisance aboard ship.
He ought to cut it while he was in England. He"d thought the same thing when he was here last year. But why? He wouldn"t be staying and he liked his hair long. Besides, it was a symbol of the rebellion he"d started before he"d left home for good. He would never have been allowed to wear his hair this way while living under his father"s iron thumb.
“Lord Allen?”
Richard hadn"t seen the man approaching, but now as he quickly scrutinized the man"s face, he recognized him. Good God, one of the rakehells he"d been chummy with before he left home? That one-in-a-thousand chance of being recognized? Bloody hell.
“You are mistaken, monsieur. I am Jean Paul from Le Havre.” He bent respectfully, but was actually letting his long hair fall over his shoulder to better confirm his lie. “My ship, she only just arrived from France.”
Every muscle in his body was primed for flight if his bluff and his thick French accent didn"t work, but the rake simply looked disgusted at what he apparently thought was a mistake on his part. “Too bad. That would have been a juicy morsel for the gossip mills.” Indeed it would have—and it would have let Richard"s father know he was still alive. But the man rudely walked off. It took a few moments for Richard to breathe easily again. That had been too close. And unplanned for. But at least the man wasn"t someone Richard had been well acquainted with, and the fellow hadn"t been sure that he was Lord Allen, either. And he had changed enough, Richard assured himself, that no one would really be sure except his family.
“I told you I"d do better at getting us a ride than you would,” Margery gloated as she returned to where their baggage was piled and directed the hack driver to wait right there.
“Now where"s Gabby? Still on the ship?”
Gabrielle"s maid glanced out to where The Triton was anchored in the middle of the Thames. The ship wouldn"t be given dockage space anytime soon, and with summer upon them, the docks were more crowded than usual, so it was quite possible that the ship might not even get a space before they were ready to depart again!
Richard took a deep breath, shook off any remaining tension, and gave the maid a jaunty smile. “She"s waiting for Drew. You know how captains are, always a dozen last-minute details to attend to before they can disembark.”
Ohr was rowing toward the docks in a dinghy piled high with the rest of their baggage.
You"d think they would be visiting for a month, rather than the two weeks they were planning on, they"d brought so much along with them.
“Can you smell it?” Margery said quite ecstatically. “Doesn"t it smell wonderful?” Richard eyed the old girl as if she were daft. “What the deuce are you smelling? All I smell is—”
“England!”
He rolled his green eyes. “It stinks here and you know it. The docks at home, with the trade winds always blowing, smell like a garden compared to this.” She snorted at him. “Gabby must be wrong in guessing this is where you were born and raised. You"d have more appreciation for the homeland if it was. Admit it, the English accent you"re using now is as fake as the French one you were using before. You"re just much better at this one.”
With a wrinkle of his nose that was meant to tease her, Richard merely replied, “One of these days this town is going to pass a law about dumping garbage in the river.” But Margery hadn"t expected him to open up to her just because she"d speculated aloud about his past and merely addressed his remark. “Maybe they have. It"s not exactly the most law-abiding area of London and never has been. Not that I’m complaining. It"s wonderful to be home again even if only for a visit.”
Margery had elected to follow Gabrielle to the New World, and while she might have adjusted to that very different way of life, she still pined for home. Richard didn"t pine for home, but damn, he did miss his brother, Charles. And being this close to him once again, he couldn"t help but wonder if he should make the effort this time to try to steal a visit with Charles—without their father finding out about it.
“Here now, none of that daydreaming,” Margery said, snapping his attention back to her.
“You did enough of that on the ship. Use some of that brawn you"ve developed and start loading these trunks on top the coach. I was warned the driver only drives, he doesn"t load.
Uppity man. He knows his hack is at a premium down here. He"s going to charge more the longer he sits here waiting, too.” Then she added with a brilliant smile, “Nothing changes in this old town. Isn"t that wonderful?”
Margery was a chronic complainer, so this bubbly attitude and her gleeful expression were so out of character that Ohr remarked as he came up beside Richard, “Is she going through her
„everything is wonderful because it"s in England" routine again?”
“Right on the mark as usual.” Richard chuckled at his friend.
“No different than the last time we were here. When you miss something very much and then finally have it in your grasp, you can become a bit euphoric—though the euphoria will wear off as reality returns.”
Richard winced. Ohr was too perceptive by half, and Richard knew his friend wasn"t just talking about Margery now. Though Richard wouldn"t be getting what he wanted, and they both knew it. But that was what Ohr was subtly alluding to, that it would be a fleeting euphoria—and not worth dying for.
“You aren"t going to start in on me, too, are you?” Richard asked.
Ohr"s intentions were good. So were Gabrielle"s for that matter. If Richard didn"t know that, he"d have got quite annoyed at how much they"d hounded him about Georgina Malory on this trip. Though Ohr was definitely less obvious about it than Gabby.
Richard was tall at six feet, but just like Drew, Ohr had a few more inches on him and probably about ten years, too, though that was impossible to tell from looking at him. An Oriental half-breed born of an Asian mother and an American father who"d sailed in the Far East, Ohr"s face was ageless, and he looked no different today from how he"d looked eight years ago when they"d first met, the day Ohr broke several members of Nathan"s crew out of the jail in St. Lucia and Richard just happened to be sitting in the same cell with them. Richard had been able to talk Ohr into letting him come along. When Richard found out their occupation, he hadn"t had to think long about joining them.
The Caribbean hadn"t been Richard"s choice of a destination. It was simply where the first ship out of England was heading the day he"d decided to leave. With thousands of islands, it had been a good place to hide, though he hadn"t known that at the time. But it hadn"t been a good place for a snobbish young Englishman to work. Seventeen and too fastidious to realize he"d need to adjust if he was going to survive there, he"d been floundering for a year, broke, going from island to island and job to job. He kept getting fired since he"d been too bloody arrogant for menial labor. Nor was it the first time he"d been tossed in jail for being unable to keep up with the rent for even the most wretched of hovels.
He and Ohr had ironically ended up in the West Indies for opposite reasons. Ohr had landed there hoping to find the father he"d never met, while Richard had landed there to escape from a father he couldn"t stand. Meeting Ohr that day in the St. Lucia jail had probably saved Richard"s life. He"d found a new family in Nathan Brooks and his crew, new friends closer than any he"d ever had, and an occupation he actually enjoyed!
“„Too"?” Ohr said now. “Has Gabby been beating you over the head again with her concern?”
“When does the darling girl ever mind her own business?” Richard rejoined.
“There"s only one thing she beats your brow over, and I hate to say it, but—”
“Yes, yes, you"re in complete agreement,” Richard cut in with some exasperation.
“Touchy, you. But answer me this, do you love Georgina Malory because you actually know her, or are you merely enamored of her beauty? Actually, you don"t need to answer, just think about it.”
Did his friends really think his love was that insubstantial? Richard didn"t mind answering.
“I spoke with her at length, Ohr. I"ve never come across another woman so easy to talk to—
well, other than Gabby. But I know Georgina has a wonderful sense of humor, too. I saw firsthand how devoted she is to her children. She"s brave—look who she"s married to—and adventurous—last year she came along to help rescue a friend. She"s perfect for me in every way!”
“Except that she loves someone else.”
One tiny wrinkle in the life he wanted for himself? The women he usually came into contact with were tavern wenches, delightful romps, but none of whom he could picture as the mother of his children. All these years he hadn"t met a single woman, other than Gabrielle, whom he could imagine giving him the large, loving family he craved—a family completely different from the one he"d been born into. If Gabby and he hadn"t become such good friends, and she hadn"t been his captain"s only daughter, he would have pursued her. He"d met no one else as suitable for him—until he"d met Georgina Malory. She symbolized everything he wanted in a wife. He couldn"t give up on this woman.
But, ironically, the man she was married to didn"t scare him off. On the contrary, he gave him hope. How could she love a brutish fellow such as James Malory? Richard simply didn"t believe that she really could. Because of that he was determined to wait until she came to her senses and left the man. He wanted her to know he"d be waiting for her with open arms.
Ohr shook his head. “Very well, I will say no more—actually, I will say one last thing. I don"t like funerals. Do not make me have to attend yours.” Richard flinched. “Contrary to what you and Gabby think, I really would prefer to live out my life to its natural conclusion, not have it end at that behemoth"s hands. I"m not going to try to lure her away from her husband again, Ohr, I swear I"m not.”
“Fair enough. You stay away from her and all will be well.” Richard didn"t reply, he just glanced away.
Ohr snorted. “As I thought. But remember, Malory"s warning wasn"t about you making advances to his wife, it was about you getting anywhere near her.”
“An exaggeration. Most threats are made for effect. How often are they carried through?”
“That depends on who makes them. James Malory? If he says he"s going to hurt you, you can stake your life on it.”
“I thought you weren"t going to say anything more about it,” Richard mumbled.
Ohr chuckled. “You"re the one who is dragging out the subject, my friend. Perhaps because you keep losing sight of reason and need help keeping it in view?” Did he? Richard had assured himself that he wouldn"t try to tempt his love away from her husband again, but what if he couldn"t help himself? No, he wasn’t an idiot.
“Why are you two just standing there?” Gabrielle asked as she came up behind them with Drew. “You should have had our trunks loaded and ready to go. You"re not being very helpful.”
“We were waiting for your husband,” Ohr said. “He has more muscle.” Gabrielle cast an admiring glance at Drew, who was close enough to have heard Ohr. “He does, doesn"t he?” she agreed with a grin.
Drew might have scoffed at the muscle remark, but his wife"s look had him blushing instead, which caused the rest of them to laugh. Humor restored, Richard put aside his worries about this trip. Now if his friends would just do the same …
Chapter Five
JULIA MILLER KNEW THAT the Eden ball was definitely going to be the event of the Season. Not only had every invitation been accepted, but from the crush in the ballroom on Park Lane, a lot of party crashers were apparently there, too. Which would account for their hostess, Regina Eden, looking so frazzled. As it was a masked ball and hard to recognize most of the guests who were wearing the more elaborate masks, she couldn"t very well point her finger and say,
“You weren"t invited, get out.”
Actually, Regina Eden, a niece to the four eldest Malory brothers, was too sweet to do something that rude. Julia would have had no difficulty doing so if the food and drink she"d arranged for a social event weren"t going to be enough to go around because of party crashers.