Scent Of Danger (A Sinclair & Raven Novel Book 4) Page 7

  He was good with children, she’d give him that.

  “Take your time, Emily, we are in no rush.”

  Did he think she could not do it? The look in his eyes was unreadable. Not mocking, nor angry... just blank.

  “Rupert of Mars applauds Neptune.” Emily then repeated slowly in French.

  “Well done.”

  She ignored Cam, while the children clapped her performance.

  “Genius orders Dover sole.”

  His French was of course fluent and flawless... the cad.

  “Your French is much better, Emily.”

  “I have been practicing.” She made herself meet his eyes.

  “It shows.”

  “Thank you.” She could be polite if he could.

  “Gunther’s ices,” he then said, holding her eyes. “In Latin.”

  “Gunther’s,” Somer squealed.

  “Ices,” Samantha shrieked.

  He moved to take the seat beside her, then leaned in to whisper, “I’m not going to apologize for speaking the truth, Emily.”

  “You had no right to say what you did in front of everyone.”

  “Who has that right then? Your brothers? Samantha? Should I have spoken it only before them?”

  She got to her feet, her instinctive reaction to run.

  “Running away like you always do, Emily?”

  “What do you want from me?” she whispered. “Why are you being... being—”

  “Mean?” he said for her. “Honest, because I’m the only one who is actually brave enough to speak the truth. But you know that already, don’t you.”

  “Shut up!”

  “Be honest with yourself at least. And then try and be honest with James. He deserves better from you.”

  “G-go to hell.” There was not a great deal of strength behind her words, as she’d whispered them, but she could feel the heat of anger wash through her. She’d never spoken in such a way, and especially not in company.

  “Already been there, and have to say it is not a place I wish to frequent again.”

  “When did you go to hell?” she asked before she could stop herself. “No, never mind, I don’t want to know.”

  “I’ll tell you if you really want to hear.”

  His eyes were serious on hers. Cam was rarely serious.

  “I don’t, and I’ve been to hell myself, and would not wish that upon anyone else.”

  He caught her hand as she started to leave her.

  “When?”

  “It matters not. What matters is that you and I avoid each other, as no good can come of us conversing anymore. So please keep your distance.”

  “Because I make you think, Emily. I force you out of hiding, and because I make you feel, that scares you.”

  She walked away. Fighting her first instinct, which was to leave the room, Emily instead conversed with Eden, and lastly Max. Only when she was sure she’d stayed long enough so that no one would think she was fleeing—most especially Cambridge Sinclair—did she leave. His words had annoyed and shocked her, but also made her aware of her behavior, and while she’d never admit that to him, Emily was determined to stop hiding in her room and running away.

  Looking over her shoulder, she found Cam watching her, his green eyes intent on her face. And that was another thing that would change from this moment on. She would no longer shiver, or be aware of that man, and in fact she’d do whatever was necessary to ensure they put their relationship back on its previous footing. Well, perhaps not exactly that, as arguing with him was exhausting.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The adults had decided that today they would take the children to visit the insects and butterflies on display at Sidley House. This would offer them entertainment and keep them warm and dry inside. Plus, stop them from tormenting each other.

  “Warwick painted Mrs. Wattle’s face, Cam.”

  “I’m sure it will wash off, Dorrie.” Mrs. Wattle was her favorite doll.

  “And he tried to break my dolls’ house,” Somer added.

  “I did not break it, I merely wanted to test how much weight the roof would hold.”

  “That will do,” Cam said as Somer prepared to launch herself at her brother. “We will turn the carriage around if you three do not behave.”

  They had meant to go several days ago, but had decided to wait until Emily was recovered enough to accompany them. This Warwick had demanded, as Emily had once confided in him that she envied butterflies as they appeared so weightless, and able to flutter about wherever they wished.

  A telling statement that for Cam just added weight to what he already believed. Even after four years, she was still not settled in her new life. She had adapted in a way that ensured she made no scenes, created no conflict, which as far as he was concerned was not healthy for anyone. It was certainly not the Sinclair way. If a thought came into their heads, it usually came out their mouths. He doubted she could keep it up indefinitely; one day she would explode, as her brothers had when his sisters picked away at them.

  “Take your finger out of Warwick’s ear, Dorrie.”

  “I just wanted to see if he could hear what was being said in the carriage behind out of one ear, Dev.”

  “Yes, well it is not done, so don’t.”

  “Emily is telling Samantha about butterflies,” Warwick said, unfazed by his sister’s finger.

  “Somer, leave your ribbons, please, or they will be hopelessly tangled and I will be called upon to work them free.”

  “Yes, Cam.”

  Cam’s morning business meeting had been cancelled at the last minute, which had left him free to accompany his family to Sidley House. The fact that Warwick had told him Emily was to come also did not have any bearing on the situation.

  Riding was not an option as it was raining, so he was jammed in the carriage with Dev and his three little siblings. Lilly had stayed home with Mathew due to the weather. Behind them rumbled the Raven carriage with Eden, James, Samantha, and Emily. Essie was looking after Isabella.

  “Cam?”

  “Yes, Dorrie?”

  The twins wore cream, which to his mind was a disaster waiting to happen, knowing their love of investigating everything. Sweet in their chipped bonnets, they looked like little angels. Warwick wore white trousers and a green jacket; by day’s end they too would be brown, and streaked with mud.

  “Why do you not like Emily?”

  Christ.

  “Of course he likes Emily. What a silly thing to say, Dorrie,” Dev said, smiling at his sister and then shooting a scowl at Cam.

  “He’s always arguing with her, and she with him.”

  “Yes,” Warwick said. “With everyone else she is gentle, and barely speaks, just sits quietly, but with Cam she’s different.”

  “I’m sure you’re wrong.” Cam tried to brush off the words.

  “No, we’re not,” Somer said in that direct way children had which he usually found endearing—when it was aimed at anyone but him.

  “Perhaps we are just destined to argue,” he said, because he had nothing else. “Like you and Samantha, Warwick, and like you two were with that Pillock girl... what was her name? Her mother was the seamstress in Cranston Cliff.”

  “Oooh, Jenny Pillock!” Somer shrieked in outrage. “She had two front teeth missing and used to whistle when she spoke.”

  “Nice deflection,” Dev whispered as the twins launched into a discussion about all Jenny Pillock’s defects. Warwick offered up a few of his own.

  “I thought so.”

  “They were bound to notice, Cam. I’m just surprised it’s taken them this many years to comment.”

  “They haven’t before now.” Cam looked out the window and wondered how long it would be before he could get out of the carriage.

  “That business in James’s study the other day, what prompted that?”

  “I was tired and sore. Perhaps I was not myself.”

  “I’m sure you were, as you’re rarely anyone else, plus ther
e is the small matter of your avoidance, which is a sure sign of discomfort on your part.”

  “Avoidance?” Cam wrinkled his brow to appear confused.

  It was fair to say that Cam had been avoiding his elder siblings since that day in James’s study, because he’d known they would want to discuss the matter with him. Eden had paid him a call, and he’d rushed out the door citing an urgent appointment he did not have. Essie had asked him to eat a meal with her and Max, but he’d declined, and gone to his club alone. Dev had attempted to ride with him in the mornings, but Cam had ridden during the day.

  “Yes, avoidance, and you cannot lie to me, I have known you longest.”

  Cam grunted.

  “I thought about what you said, and discussed the matter with Lilly.”

  “Of course you did.” Cam sighed.

  “She is my wife, and loves you, as do I.”

  “You always use the L word when you’re trying to bring one of us to heel.”

  “Only on you does it not work.”

  Dev’s face was serious.

  “Somer, there is no need to speak that way, thank you,” Cam said as he overheard his sister shrieking that Jenny Pillock was a pudding-faced simpleton.

  “James and Max bear no grudge, Dev, so let the matter lie. I apologized to them the following day.”

  “Because they know your words for the truth, Cam, as do we all. But it was not your place to speak them.”

  “Then whose?”

  “Her family—”

  “Don’t want to upset her. I have no problem doing that, as with me she usually just fires something back. We have always communicated that way.”

  Dev’s eyes took on a speculative glint.

  “I wonder why?”

  “Why what?”

  “She is a Raven, after all.”

  Cam felt color fill his face as he took in his brother’s words.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Cam said hell.”

  “Thank you, Warwick, I heard.”

  “Apologies, I should not have done so.” Cam glared at his eldest brother. “I don’t care for where your thoughts are leading, Dev, and will thank you to never raise them again.”

  His brother shrugged, then pulled the twins off each other as they began to wrestle.

  Dear Christ, he could not actually be serious! Cam and Emily. Just the thought made him shudder. They would kill each other in days.

  “When does Wolf come to lodge with you?” Dev asked, changing the subject, much to his relief.

  “Next week. He sent word yesterday.”

  As the carriage was finally slowing, Cam put the ridiculous thought of any connection with Emily from his head. His brother had said it to annoy him; there was no more to it than that.

  Urging the children from the carriage, they hurried into Sidley House and out of the cold. The occupants of the Raven carriage followed. Emily’s face was, as usual, devoid of expression. Just looking at her made him feel as if he was standing on his head, but Dev was wrong. No way could he ever marry such a woman. The idea was absurd.

  “Look!”

  Following Warwick’s hand, they saw a wall completely covered in butterfly paintings. A door to the right opened, and out walked a man and woman.

  “We are Mr. and Mrs. Flutterby.”

  “Are you really?” Cam asked.

  Mrs. Flutterby wore a dark brown dress with white shoes, gloves, and bonnet, and her husband wore a bright blue jacket with white trousers and gloves.

  “They are dressed as the Blue Adonis,” Warwick said. “The male is bright blue, and the female brown.”

  “Are you reading by candlelight again at night, because I’ve told you that’s dangerous, Warwick,” Dev said.

  “No, Mr. Lineus loves butterflies. He has a collection.”

  “Ah, that explains it all,” Cam said. Their tutor was a man of many collections, the elder Sinclair’s had come to learn in the years he’d been schooling Dorrie, Somer, and Warwick.

  “Is Mrs. Flutterby your real name, because it’s very pretty,” Samantha said, moving forward to wedge herself between Dorrie and Somer, as she usually did.

  “Well thank you, my dear, and yes it is.”

  “I think I’d like to marry a man with a name like that,” Dorrie said. “Do you have any young sons?”

  Cam chuckled, Dev blanched at the thought of his little sisters wed, and then they started the questions.

  “Do you catch the butterflies yourself?”

  “Where is the horridest place you’ve been to catch one?”

  “They really should be loaned out for interrogation purposes,” Cam whispered to Dev as they entered the first room, which held rows of glass cabinets with colorful insects and butterflies.

  “My money would be on them lasting less than a day before driving someone mad,” Dev replied before he moved on to act as intermediary.

  Cam wandered behind their party, happy to bring up the rear and observe. The fact that most of his time was spent watching Emily was annoying, but every time he tried to drag his eyes away, they returned seconds later.

  She wore a pale rose coat, buttoned to the chin. The sleeves were puffed at the shoulders and straight down the rest of her slender arms. The bodice was fitted, and buttons ran down to her waist, the rest was open to reveal a cream dress with matching rose trim around the hem. The style suited her, Cam thought. She looked elegant and beautiful. He had to acknowledge that, because he’d come to realize lately she was that and more.

  Her scent had always been there, the orange blossom mingling with a thousand other ones, but now, for some reason, it seemed to rise above them, as if it had lined his nostrils and he would need to scrub them to remove it.

  “How are you feeling?” He fell in beside her, determined to at least try for a modicum of harmony between them. He was an adult after all; this should not be a difficult task. They had not spoken since that day, and while he hadn’t been avoiding her precisely, he had definitely not sought her out.

  “I am well, thank you.”

  Her words were rigidly polite.

  “And have you heeded your brothers’ advice and left the house only in company?”

  Her eyes narrowed, and Cam wondered why he felt the need to ruffle her feathers. Harmony, he’d wanted, but instead the first words out of his mouth had been ones that would achieve the opposite. He watched as she inhaled a deep breath before speaking, something she often did when addressing him.

  “Mr. Brown and Mr. Spriggot, along with my brothers, whose opinions I of course respect, believe now it is likely the abduction was a chance thing, and connected with several women who have been abducted off the streets lately, as they can find no evidence to state otherwise.”

  “As opposed to my opinion, which you do not respect?”

  Her lips tightened.

  “It is still wise to show caution, Emily.”

  “I am not a fool, contrary to what you believe, Cambridge.”

  “Fool, no; stubborn, yes.”

  Her chin lifted.

  “Please worry about your welfare and that of your family, and I shall worry about mine.”

  “But I have already saved you once, so your welfare does concern me.”

  “Thank you, I am of course grateful—”

  “Be sure you don’t choke on those words.”

  “Desist!” she hissed softly.

  “Forgive me,” Cam whispered, knowing two of his siblings had acute hearing. “It was not my intention to speak to you that way, but I fear it just happens.”

  Her slender shoulders rose and fell on a sigh.

  “I-I know what you mean, as it is no different with me. Therefore, I think we should make an effort to at least try to be polite to each other... for our families’ sakes.”

  Surprised she was agreeing with him and taking a portion of the blame, Cam found himself smiling.

  “The effort will be herculean, but I shall try if you will.”

/>   Her lips rose, the smile like sun peeking through a cloud. Where the hell did those words come from?

  “Cam!”

  “Yes, Warwick?”

  “They have a Pontia daplidice, Cam!”

  “Good Lord, do they really?”

  “Come and look.”

  “I’ll be right there,” Cam said, dragging his eyes from Emily to find his little brother, who now had his face pressed to the glass. When he looked back she’d moved away.

  “Is her color good now, Dev?”

  “Who?”

  His brother was bent over a display.

  “Emily’s.”

  “Yes, I checked when she entered. She is back to full health.”

  “What are you doing? Surely you of all people have no need to get that close.”

  “No, but when I do it’s rather spectacular. The colors are quite something.”

  “Really?” Cam bent to look also. He couldn’t see as well as Dev, but the detail on some of the wings, this close, was amazing.

  “So, why did you ask me about Emily’s color?”

  Their faces were close as they studied the display.

  “I thought she looked a bit pale.”

  “It’s winter, she’s a lady, therefore she is pale. Or we could go with my earlier theory—”

  “I’m leaving.” Cam rose and walked away with his brother’s laughter following him.

  They walked through the floors, looking in each cabinet and discussing what they observed. The children were as always tireless in their enthusiasm.

  “If you’ll come this way, we have another display on the lower level,” Mr. Flutterby said.

  To his credit, the man’s smile had not slipped, even with the constant barrage of questions.

  “Where is Emily?”

  Looking around at Warwick’s words, Cam felt his pulse kick when he did not see her.

  “I shall find her. You all go on.”

  James started to follow, but Eden grabbed his arm and dragged him down the stairs, which Cam thought odd. To the best of his knowledge his sister had no interest in butterflies.

  He searched two rooms, and it was in the third he found her. He took a moment to get his breathing back under control before approaching. She was safe; no one had abducted her again.

  “Problem?” She was crouched on the floor looking at her shoe.