“Bodyguard?” Westerbrook laughed. “Julia needs no bodyguard. I daresay she charms anyone she meets.”

  Julia beamed at him. “That is so sweet of you to say. Now, I shouldn’t keep you, though I so enjoy your company. We cannot upset Father. And I will see you at the railway opening.”

  “Of course.” He took her hand and bowed over it, lips closing in. Mrs. Daring frowned.

  Tanner grabbed him by the back of his coat and hauled him upright.

  “Oh, I say,” he protested, but Tanner marched him toward the door.

  “Tanner!” Julia cried, hopping to her feet and following. “Remember your duty!”

  “I am,” he assured her as Mrs. Daring rose with a martyred sigh. “It is my duty to see this blackguard thrown out of the house.” He made a show of winking at the viscount before releasing him.

  “Oh, very good,” he murmured. He raised his clean-shaven chin and straightened his lapels. “Now, see here, my good man.”

  “No, you see here,” Tanner said, taking his arm and dragging him toward the door. “Julia is my intended, and I’ll thank you to save your attentions for a lady who might appreciate them.”

  “What’s all this then?” Mr. Hewett strode out of his study as Garrison handed the viscount his hat and glared at Tanner.

  “Just putting out the trash, sir,” Tanner said, and he yanked open the door with his free hand, pushed Westerbrook through it, and followed him out.

  “Yes, well, that should do it,” the viscount said, shaking Tanner off. “Nicely played. He didn’t suspect a thing.”

  “He might be watching from the window,” Tanner cautioned. “Best we stay in character.”

  His lordship’s coachman had been walking the horses. Tanner motioned him over, then all but shoved his lordship into the vehicle.

  “You’re good,” Lord Westerbrook said, surreptitiously rubbing at his arm. “But I meant what I said. I’ll make sure you are not inconvenienced by all of this. In fact, I’d be delighted to recompense you for any time lost while you deflect suspicion from Julia and me.”

  “I’m already well recompensed,” Tanner told him. “Safe travels back to London.” He slammed the door and motioned to the driver to go. The coach trundled down the drive, picking up speed as it went. Tanner stayed on the gravel until the vehicle had turned onto the Weybridge Road.

  His fingers seemed to want to stay fisted. He shook them out as he turned for the house.

  Mr. Hewett was waiting when Tanner came back in, grin so large it widened his mustache. “Well done, my lad. That’s giving him what for.”

  “Exactly what I would have done,” Mrs. Daring agreed.

  Julia’s smile looked far from pleased.

  The doors to the formal withdrawing room were thrown open from within.

  “Miss Hewett!” Mrs. Bee caroled, eyes lighting like a cat who had spotted a plump mouse. “There you are! You must come and join us. We have so much to discuss.”

  “So do we,” Julia murmured to Tanner before broadening her smile and going to do her duty.

  {♥}

  Julia was in no mood to survive a visit with the Bees, but she managed to sit on a chair in the formal withdrawing room and smile at appropriate times. Her father had designed the room to impress, with crimson draperies trimmed in gold fringe on the windows overlooking the drive, silk paper patterned in golden swirls on the walls, and a black marble fireplace surmounted with a massive gilt-framed mirror that reflected back the salon’s glory. But the firm horsehair furnishings, for all their velvet coverings, required one to sit up straight and discouraged one from lingering.

  Except when that one was Mrs. Bee.

  She fluffed at the flaxen curls beside her round face. “This weather! I cannot stomach Surrey in autumn. Drip, drip, drip. I swear it is all I hear some days. However do you survive, Miss Hewett?”

  “I find the cool air bracing,” Julia said.

  “It is more difficult for those of us of a certain age,” Daring wheezed.

  Mrs. Bee had a tendency to ignore anyone she felt beneath her. “Yes, you and my girls certainly enjoy a romp across the fields,” she said to Julia before turning to her oldest. “Elspeth, tell Miss Hewett about your new horse.”

  The daughter’s pale eyes lit. “Oh, she is such a darling, Miss Hewett! Father bought her for me.”

  “From Tattersalls,” her mother put in as if it were important everyone knew he had been to the most famous source of horseflesh in London.

  Julia had pity on the girl, who was only a few years her junior. “Is she a goer?”

  “She flies!” she enthused. “If Father would allow it, she could even join the hunt.”

  “Now, then, there will be no talk of that,” her mother said with a frown in her direction that sent her closing in on herself again. “A lady riding to the hunt. What rubbish.”

  Julia knew a number of ladies, of much higher rank, who rode to the hunt, but she decided not to mention the fact. She always felt more in charity with the fox.

  “And what will you be wearing at the next assembly?” Daring put in.

  Mrs. Bee could not resist answering that question, even if it had come from a woman she considered no better than a servant, and the next little while was passed without anyone coming to fisticuffs or being forced to flee.

  Finally, Mrs. Bee stood, and her daughters climbed to their feet as well. “We should be going. We will see you on Friday for the balloon ascension.”

  Despite Julia’s best efforts, her smile slipped. “The balloon ascension?”

  “Yes, with Lord and Lady Worthington,” Mrs. Bee said as if Julia might have forgotten. “It is only to be expected they’d want to come to Surrey for their attempt. We are the very best of places.”

  Her daughters nodded agreement.

  Three more women at an out-of-doors event were not such an inconvenience, but this was the Bees! So much for Julia’s select group!

  “Well, we were only planning on a few people attending,” she tried. “It is an experiment, so it might not be as exciting as you would expect.”

  Mrs. Bee waved a hand. “You can find a way to make it exciting for all.”

  “Mother was certain our invitations had merely been lost in the post,” her oldest daughter put in. “That seems to happen a great deal, invitations being lost. I can’t count the number of times a hostess has told me of it happening to ours. It must be terribly difficult on arrangements.”

  “The postal system is notoriously unreliable,” her mother lamented.

  Daring made an attempt to hold them off as well. “I understand it will rain. And the wind is sure to come up. It is Surrey in autumn, after all, as you so eloquently noted. I only hope I have sufficient fortitude to brave the elements.” She shivered.

  “I have a fur tippet I’d be happy to loan you,” Miss Bee the elder said kindly, “and a muff to match. I find they keep me quite warm indeed. I wouldn’t want you to miss something so momentous.”

  “Indeed,” Julia said. She managed to chivvy them toward the entry hall at last.

  “Perhaps my nerves will be overcome on Friday,” Daring mused after Garrison had seen them out the door.

  “Don’t you dare leave me alone with them,” Julia threatened. She turned to her butler. “Have you seen Mr. Tanner, Garrison?”

  “No, Miss Hewett,” he said, and he did not seem disposed to go in search. Julia left Daring in the upstairs withdrawing room and went looking herself.

  She located her perfidious false fiancé in the kitchen, sitting at the worktable while their cook and her female assistants found ways to work right next to him, their blond heads bobbing in interest to his conversation.

  “And then you gave him what for, I’ll wager,” Mrs. Cheevers said, smacking her cleaver down on a choice bit of beef.

  “Between Mr. Huber and me, we managed to send him packing,” Tanner allowed. “And he never tried to accost the prince again.”

  The assistant cook and pot girl stopped their work to applaud.

  “What an interesting life you lead, Mr. Tanner,” Julia said from the doorway, and the women all quickly dropped their heads and busied their hands. “A word, if it wouldn’t inconvenience you.”

  “You are never an inconvenience,” he assured her, rising. He popped the last bit of scone he had been eating into his mouth and followed her out.

  On the first floor, she checked to make sure her father was busy in his study before leading Tanner up to the family withdrawing room. Her waiting companion sank deeper into the sofa as if hoping to be ignored here as well.

  “We must speak of your behavior this afternoon,” Julia informed him, pacing before the hearth. “What were you thinking? You dragged poor Westie out of the house as if he had been caught stealing the silver!”

  His smile was more satisfied than sorry as he went to lean against the hearth. “Westie?”

  She raised her chin. “Lord Westerbrook gave me leave to use the nickname he reserves for family and friends.”

  “How thoughtful.”

  She wanted to shake the amusement from his voice. “It was. Everything was going well until you barged in.”

  “I’m supposed to be your betrothed,” he pointed out. “You don’t think I’d mind coming in to find another fellow kissing your hand?”

  The memory brought heat to her cheeks. “I think you entirely overreacted, sir.” She stalked to the chair closest to Daring and dropped into it.

  “Perhaps,” he allowed, taking another chair. “But I have to own it was fun.”

  That jerked her upright. “Fun!” she sputtered. “Well, I never!”

  The twinkle in his eyes was impossible to miss. “I fear you will, frequently, if that’s how your viscount is prone to behave. I am your bodyguard.”

  She opened her mouth to give him what for, when she remembered what had happened in her father’s study. “We both know I don’t require a bodyguard, but my father may. When I was trying to avoid the Bees, I overheard Father and another man talking. His visitor threatened him!”

  “Such poor manners,” Daring said, hands fluttering.

  Tanner had stiffened. “Who was it?”

  “I don’t know,” Julia admitted. “I only saw the back of him, and I didn’t recognize his voice. But he claimed whatever Father was doing would ruin him and vowed to pay him back in kind.”

  “A gentleman of Mr. Hewett’s success is bound to make enemies,” Daring lamented.

  Tanner nodded. “I’ll speak to your father. Do you have need of me at the moment?”

  “I’m not certain I have need of you at all,” Julia said. “Westie might even have proposed today, if you hadn’t interfered.”

  “In which case, he would be the one speaking to your father. Since he did not, it is left to me.” He rose, bowed, and saw himself out.

  “Impossible man,” Julia muttered, going to sit beside her companion on the sofa.

  “But useful,” Daring suggested.

  Guilt nipped. “Yes, I suppose he is. I hope he can convince Father to take care. And I hope I can convince Father that Westie is a better choice.”

  “Stand your ground,” Daring said, taking up her embroidery. “I wish I’d had your fortitude when I was younger. Things might have turned out differently.”

  Julia gazed at her. Her white head was bent over her work, her fingers moving slowly. “Why, Daring, did you have to fight off suitors?”

  She heaved one of her martyred sighs. “Entirely too many and, I’m ashamed to say, none I took seriously until I met my dear husband. Though there was one fellow…” She gave her embroidery a good jab.

  Julia nudged her with her elbow. “Well, go on. Tell all.”

  Her gaze went off into the middle distance. “Dameron Carlisle. He wasn’t tall, but then neither am I. He didn’t have a prepossessing build, but I never thought a gentleman needed one. But he had blue eyes you could swim in and the sweetest smile. And he would listen to whatever I had to say for hours.”

  “He sounds quite perfect,” Julia said. “Whyever didn’t you marry him?”

  Daring tied off a knot. “My father didn’t think he was good enough. His family was not well off, you see, though he had a job as a clerk at a prominent London bank. Father refused to consider his suit, and I refused to go against Father’s wishes. In the end, I married Mr. Daring, who was quite a few years my senior.”

  Now Julia sighed. “It sounds very much like my situation.”

  “Which is why you must know that I speak from experience. If I had stood my ground, insisted on accepting Dameron’s proposal, who knows what might have happened? Not that I entirely regretted my marriage. It taught me much. Then again, if I had married Dameron, I would not be sitting beside you now, dispensing advice like a cup of tea.”

  Julia patted her shoulder. “Well, I am glad you are here now, even if I’m sad you didn’t marry your sweetheart. I won’t forget the story. I will stand firm.”

  “So long as the gentleman is worth the effort, dear,” she cautioned.

  Julia nodded. But she couldn’t understand why the gentleman that popped into her mind wasn’t Lord Westerbrook but Tanner.

  {♥}

  Tanner was still smiling when he knocked at the door of Mr. Hewett’s study. Julia might lose her temper easily, but she certainly gave as good as she got. He could only hope her viscount appreciated the fact.

  He schooled his face as his employer called for him to enter. Hewett was sitting at his desk, hands clasped over his belly. At the sight of Tanner, his own smile turned up.

  “Ah, the man of the hour. Did she blister your ears for throwing the jackanapes out?”

  “She only warmed them,” Tanner assured him, moving into the room.

  Hewett motioned him into the chair in front of his desk. “And what did you think of the fellow?”

  Nothing that would endear the fellow to Julia’s father. “I only had a few moments with him.”

  “But I wager you generally take a man’s measure in as short a time,” Hewett said. “Am I wrong to be warning Julia away from him?”

  This was his opportunity to help Julia’s father see the man she loved was the right man for her. He ought to extoll Lord Westerbrook’s insights, his character. At the very least his golden good looks. He couldn’t make himself do it.

  “No need to warn,” he allowed. “But it is never a bad idea to become better acquainted before agreeing to a lasting union.”

  Hewett eyed him. “So you’ll say nothing against the fellow.”

  Tanner shrugged. “He seemed surer of himself than his consequence might warrant.”

  Hewett slapped his hands down on the arms of his chair. “And if that isn’t a good way of saying he’s conceited, I don’t know what is. What I can’t understand is why Julia doesn’t see it. She has a good head on her shoulders, her temper notwithstanding.”

  “There’s no accounting for taste,” Tanner said, though he’d wondered as much. There was something manipulative about the viscount, as if he saw others as things to use for his purposes. Julia Hewett could do better.

  Her father leaned forward. “But you didn’t come to talk about Westerbrook, did you? Is something else afoot?”

  “Not with your daughter,” Tanner told him. “But she confided that she heard part of a conversation this afternoon that troubled her. Another man apparently threatened you.”

  Hewett waved a hand. “That was nothing. Jacobs is a squeaky little fellow afraid of his own shadow. He might bluster, but he won’t back up the sound with action.”

  “You’ve crossed him before, then,” Tanner surmised.

  “Not really. He’s invested in a string of canals between here and Runnymeade. I invested too, but that didn’t stop me from investing in the railway as well. Now that the railway is about to launch, he thinks I cheated him. Tell Julia there’s no need for concern.”

  “Concern is my job,” Tanner said. “Would you like me to look into him?”

  Hewett leaned back. “That might not be a bad idea, now that you mention it. Make sure the little pug doesn’t have a bite to match his bark. By all means, so long as you don’t leave Julia unprotected. See what you can discover about Rufus Jacobs. He lives near Weybridge.”

  Tanner rose and clapped a fist to his chest. “Your servant, sir.”

  Hewett nodded, and Tanner left him.

  Here, at last, was something worth doing. He could take one of Hewett’s prize mounts, ride over to Weybridge, and ask a few questions about this Jacobs. Movement, action. Perhaps a tiny bit of adventure.

  And how exactly could he do that and remain on guard with Julia?

  Chapter Seven

  In the end, Tanner decided to give the task to Keller. He couldn’t very well justify galloping all over the county after a danger that might be no danger after all. He went to his room, where Pepin was pressing one of his coats. The lad was happy to find him writing materials instead.

  Tanner jotted off a note to Keller and handed it to his valet. “Can you locate someone to deliver this to Rose Hill at their earliest convenience?”

  Pepin’s head bobbed. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.”

  He consoled himself with the fact that he’d given his friend something to do while Keller looked for his own position.

  Preferably one more challenging than this one.

  At times, when King Frederick and his sons had first been exiled from Batavaria, the Imperial Guards had had to be constantly on the alert. Württemberg, the kingdom that had subsumed their country, was determined to keep it. He’d foiled assassination attempts in ballrooms among the German states and vineyards in the hills of Italy. He should be grateful that here, the most he found were overweening viscounts and veiled threats.

  The next day, Julia was planning to determine where to stage the balloon ascension. With lawns stretching in every direction, he would have thought it an easy task, but apparently more was involved. She and Daring holed up in the library, checking maps and jotting notes. Until they left or someone called, they had no need of him.

  He’d go mad sitting about. He grabbed his weapons and took them to the kitchen garden beside the house to practice.