A Visit From Sir Nicholas (15 page)

She was once again Lizzie Effington, and she was gazing into the eyes of the man she might or might not have loved. Whose kisses had curled her toes. Who had spoken with her as though she were his equal. The man who had humiliated and embarrassed her.

The very man who absolutely had not broken her heart.

She snatched her hand from his. "What are you doing here?"

Jonathon groaned.

Nicholas raised a brow. "What a charming greeting. I see the years have not dampened your penchant for speaking before due consideration. And yes, I am well, thank you."

"I don't care if you're well or not." She grit her teeth. "I don't particularly care if you're breathing or long since dead and buried. What are you doing here?"

"Why, I am reacquainting myself with my old friend." He cast Jonathon a friendly smile. Jonathon grinned. "We have had a great deal to talk about."

"Ten years is a very long time." Nicholas picked up a glass of brandy from the desk and took a sip. His gaze lingered on her even as he drank. As if she were a butterfly pinned to a board and he were a student of such things. It was most disconcerting. And no doubt the reason, the only reason, why her heart thudded in her chest.

Worse still was the thought that rose unbidden in her mind. What was the result of his assessment? Did he find that the years and childbearing and life itself had taken its toll? She'd never considered herself especially vain, but at the moment she couldn't help but wish that she had worn the emerald walking dress that brightened the color of her eyes or that she'd cinched in her corset a bit tighter. Not that she cared one bit if he found her attractive, but she'd long known a woman's beauty was as great a weapon as her intelligence. Greater, perhaps, because few men looked beyond beauty.

Of course, there had been a time when he and he alone had. Or rather she'd thought he had. Still, that was a very, very long time ago and much had changed. She certainly had.

Elizabeth squared her shoulders slightly. Confidence gathered in the last years, forged from self-reliance and accomplishment, had well prepared her for such a task. No matter how clever or powerful or wealthy Nicholas might be, now that he was here in the flesh, she hadn't a doubt in the world that she could handle him. She'd simply needed a moment to recover from the shock of his unexpected appearance. There was nothing more to her reaction than that.

She drew a deep breath and forced a pleasant smile. "Do forgive my rudeness, Sir Nicholas, it has been a long, trying day thus far."

Nicholas chuckled. "So I gather."

Heat flushed up her face. She hadn't blushed in years, and the fact that she did so now was almost as infuriating as everything else that had happened today.

"Yes, well, that's neither here nor there," she said in an offhand manner. "May I be so bold as to ask what the two of you have been discussing?"

"All sorts of things, Lizzie," Jonathon said quickly. "Nicholas has done and seen a great deal during his travels. You can't begin to imagine the—"

"You, my lady," Nicholas said coolly. "We have been discussing you."

"Well, not really you, exactly, or not you exclusively," Jonathon cut in. "That is to say—" Elizabeth ignored him. "Do go on, Sir Nicholas. Exactly what about me were you discussing?"

"Exactly?" The corners of his lips quirked upward.

"Exactly." She narrowed her gaze, but her smile never wavered.

"I can see I'm probably not needed," Jonathon murmured and edged his way toward the door.

"Don't take another step, Jonathon." She addressed her brother, but her gaze never left Nicholas. Her cool tone matched his. "You are very much a part of this."

"More's the pity," her brother muttered.

"Let me see if I remember
exactly
." Nicholas furrowed his brow in apparent thought, although she didn't doubt for a moment it was some sort of ploy simply to heighten her annoyance. It worked exceedingly well. "I inquired as to the health of your sons. Christopher and Adam, I believe."

"They are quite well, thank you for asking." Her voice carried just the right shade of politeness.

"I imagine they are eager for Christmas?"

"They are eight and six years of age, Sir Nicholas. They can think of little else." He chuckled. "I look forward to meeting them."

"Oh?" She raised a brow. "Then you are planning to stay as long as Christmas?" She tried to stop herself, but the words came of their own accord. "This year."

"Dear Lord, take me now," Jonathon muttered.

Nicholas stared for a moment, then laughed. "Well said, my lady. I daresay I deserve it. Between my earlier travels with my uncle and my own pursuits, I have missed—what? Thirteen Christmases in London? Far too many."

"Too many indeed," Jonathon said firmly.

"I confess I have missed it greatly. Perhaps it is the sentimentality in the air or the spirit of goodwill toward all, but at this time of year, my thoughts tend to dwell on past Christmases and on those persons I cannot be with yet have a deep affection for nonetheless. I find a measure of comfort in those memories and in the various occurrences of the season that remind me of home. In particular, I find nothing brings my thoughts, and indeed my heart, home quite like a reading of," Nicholas's gaze met hers, "
A Christmas
Carol
."

Her breath caught.

Nicholas smiled in a far too innocent manner. "Don't you agree, Lady Langley?" She ignored the racing of her pulse at his mention of the book. After all, thousands upon thousands of people had read the story since its publication. It had become the quintessential depiction of Christmas, particularly in England. The fact that it had provided Nicholas comfort during his travels had nothing to do with her.

"It's a wonderful story," she said, her tone a bit harder than she had intended.

"Indeed it is, and while I am grateful to Mr. Dickens for bringing a measure of home to me during my years in America, I daresay, despite his remarkable work, there is nothing that can replace being in London for Christmas." He smiled in a wry manner. "As I said, I have missed it." There was something truly genuine in his manner and his smile, and if it had come from any other man, Elizabeth would have been quite moved by it. That no doubt was his plan, to work his way past her defenses with charm and sincerity. Well, she was having none of it.

"I'm sure Lord Thornecroft has missed you," Elizabeth said.

"As have we all." Jonathon nodded.

"But I shall not miss another Christmas." Nicholas's tone was firm. "This is not a mere visit. My days of travel are at an end. I fully intend to make England my home for the rest of my days."

"Excellent." Jonathon beamed.

"How very nice. For your uncle," she said pointedly, her stomach lurching at the thought of Nicholas Collingsworth being back in her world, apparently for good.

"He is quite pleased, and I see now I was remiss in my responsibilities as his nephew not to have returned some years ago." Nicholas nodded thoughtfully. "Indeed, my uncle's pleasure is such that he has decided to host a small dinner to celebrate my return."

"Like the proverbial prodigal son," she said in an overly sweet manner. "Will he be sacrificing a fatted calf as well?"

Jonathon muttered something she was rather glad she didn't hear. She knew full well her reaction to Nicholas's presence was perhaps a bit unreasonable, but she couldn't seem to help herself. The man was a threat to the security of her family, her life, and possibly, if she allowed it, even her heart.

"I don't think he's all that fond of fatted calf." Nicholas's voice was matter-of-fact, but an annoying twinkle gleamed in his eye. "Still, I shall suggest it. One never knows. You should be receiving invitations in the next day or so. Jonathon." Nicholas's words were directed at her brother, but his gaze never left her. "I do hope your family will be able to attend."

"We shall make a point of it," Jonathon said firmly.

"I, however, fear I am otherwise occupied." Elizabeth shrugged apologetically. "Christmas is but a few weeks away, and my social obligations are rather more extensive than usual." She forced a light laugh.

"The days surrounding Christmas have become more and more popular for merrymaking. Why, there are dinners and musicales and routs and all manner of entertainments. I do apologize, but there you have it."

"That is awkward." He narrowed his gaze. "Especially as I have not mentioned specifically what evening my uncle has proposed his celebration to mark my homecoming."

"I'm certain whatever evening is chosen I shall be unable to attend. I couldn't possibly fit one more thing onto my calendar." Her gaze met his directly, and she couldn't resist a smug smile.

"We shall see," Nicholas said softly.

"Indeed, we shall." She turned to her brother. "Have you and Sir Nicholas discussed anything else I should be aware of?"

"We talked about your finances, Lizzie." Jonathon glanced at her account books stacked on the desk.

"You'll be pleased to know, Nicholas has found everything in order and has decided—"

"I have decided, as competent a job as you have done up to now, it's past time I lived up to the responsibilities assigned to me by your late husband," Nicholas said smoothly.

"What?" Jonathon's brow furrowed.

"Competent?" She stared in disbelief, and her voice rose. "
Competent
?"

"Competent." Nicholas's tone was firm.

"My dear Sir Nicholas, my handling of my family's finances has been substantially more than," she nearly choked on the word, "
competent
. The value of virtually everything from Charles's investments to the estate has increased."

"So it would appear. However—"

She waved at the ledgers on the desk. "Haven't you looked at my accounts?" Nicholas shrugged. "I have glanced at them, but I have yet to do an exhaustive study, which is, frankly, of utmost importance before I can make any decisions regarding your financial state and my administration of it."

"Then take them." She grabbed the heavy pile of oversized books and thrust them toward him. "Study them. Read every line entered for the past three years. Peruse every figure, every decimal, every erasure if you will. And then tell me my handling of my money has been merely
competent
." Nicholas set his glass on the desk in an annoyingly unhurried manner and accepted the books. "I shall do precisely that. And, as I am certain I will have any number of questions regarding my findings, I shall present myself at your residence this evening."

"This evening?" She glared. The arrogance of the man. "I can't possibly—"

"The sooner we deal with these matters, the sooner we can establish how we are to proceed from this point forth," he said with an irritatingly pleasant smile.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Am I to understand that your
living up to the responsibilities
assigned to you by my late husband
means you intend to take over the active administration of my financial affairs?"

He nodded. "You may indeed assume that. For the time being at least."

"I must say I am somewhat confused," Jonathon murmured.

"It's quite clear to me," Elizabeth said sharply. "Sir Nicholas has the conceit typical of his gender in that he cannot conceive of the idea that a mere female can handle something as complicated as finances."

"I say, Lizzie, that's not entirely fair," Jonathon said.

"No, Jonathon, it's entirely fair, if not entirely accurate," Nicholas said. His gaze met hers. "Most men of my acquaintance, and I should incelude the late Lord Langley among their number, do not consider the fairer sex to be intellectually equipped to deal even adequately with the complicated matters surrounding the management of money. It is admittedly something of a farfetched idea, yet I am one of those rare specimens who believe there may well be the rare woman who can do precisely that."

"As I have," she snapped.

"Prove it to me." A distinct challenge sounded in his voice.

"And if I do?"

"Then we shall see."

She stared at him for a long moment. "Very well, it seems that you, the solicitors I have spoken to, even Charles himself have left me with little choice." She drew a deep breath. "I shall expect you this evening."

"Excellent." Nicholas smiled that enigmatic half smile she had never quite forgotten, and she ignored the odd things it did to the pit of her stomach. "I shall take my leave then."

"Allow me to see you out." Jonathon cast a quick glance at his sister, then escorted Nicholas from the room.

The moment the door closed behind the men, Elizabeth crumpled into the nearest chair and rubbed her hand across her forehead.

Dear Lord, she'd known there was every possibility her path would cross Nicholas's again some day, but she'd always rather hoped it would be when they were both very, very old. Old enough that her knees would no longer weaken at the mere look in his eye, or her hand tremble at the briefest touch of his, or her heart speed up when he smiled.

In spite of her words and her confidence in her own abilities, she had to admit, at least to herself, the mere presence of Nicholas unnerved her. What she wasn't willing to admit was why. She certainly didn't want him, or anyone for that matter, managing her accounts, but now that Nicholas had actually returned it was obvious her apprehension was not limited merely to the control of her finances. She'd spent ten years telling herself that what she'd felt for Nicholas had not been significant. A youthful moment of confusion brought on by nothing more lasting than innocent friendship and a kiss or two. If anything it had been a young girl's first taste of, well, desire. Even, perhaps, lust. Lust that had obviously not passed with the years.