With Love (Blackwood & Friends #1)

Chapter 2: An Idle Jason Up to No Good

Chapter: An Idle Jason Up to No Good

"Have you chanced upon my sister?"

A pair of startled brown eyes darted in his direction. Jason hadn't meant to frighten her but obviously the lady he'd addressed had been so absorbed in her writing that she had not heard him enter through the parlor doors.

A frantic, almost panicked look came over her face and her hands clumsily gathered and hid the parchments she was scribing on under a book, then she simply plonked her elbows on top of that to secure the privacy of her musings. Needless to say, Jason's curiosity was wildly piqued.

"I b-beg your pardon, my lord?" Nicola Eversley stammered from the other end of the chamber.

Slowly, Jason ambled towards her and allowed a wicked smile to play across his lips. The mischievous side in him adored teasing a flustered lady, and the cool and composed Nicola Eversley, his youngest sister's most treasured friend, suddenly became no exception. "Blanche," he told her in a voice that could make a woman swoon out of her skirts. "I am looking for Blanche." Meaningfully, he propped his hip against the edge of the mahogany escritoire that she was utilizing and grinned down at her. A blush leapt up her neck and for all her years at Northwick, Jason could not recall a moment this young lady had honoured him with a blush.

She had been young when Jason had first met her, a tawny-haired sprite who enjoyed caking herself in mud whenever she explored the vast lands of the estate. Nicola had made a close friendship with his sister and, as they were of similar age and standing, they had been schooled together. In fact, Nicola spent the majority of her time here at Northwick and had even acquired chambers of her own.

From what he knew of his sister's closest friend was that she was rather quiet and coolly composed. As she was seated at this moment, her demeanour was shielded by her posture and dwarfed by his height. If she chose to stand, and politeness dictated that she should, Nicola would be quite tall and only a few inches shorter than himself. However, she was guarding the notes she had been scribbling with a steadfastness that would put any mastiff to shame.

Presently, she shook her head and those riotous coppery curls loosened the pins that vainly attempted to hold them in place. She had the most unruly mane of hair he had ever beheld on a woman- impossibly thick, curly and flyaway. "Apologies, my lord," she murmured a tad hesitantly, "but I haven't seen Blanche in over an hour."

"Hmm." His eyes dropped to the book and pile of papers she was shielding with her elbows. "Are you busy presently, Miss Eversley?"

Her eyes narrowed shrewdly, knowing the question to be a trick. If she answered affirmatively, Jason would demand that she tell him with what, while if she answered in the negative, she would have opened the unspoken invitation for him to join her tea or something to that equivalent. It seemed that whatever Nicola was working on was too important for her to even chance him enquiring after it and she said, "No, why do you ask, my lord?"

After all her years at Northwick, Jason found it slightly ridiculous that she insisted calling him by titled formality. She was practically family and even though he wasn't as close to her as Blanche was, he still regarded her as part of the Blackwood household. "Perhaps you'd like to keep me company while I wait out her presence," he suggested in a manner which certainly did not pertain to actually asking her.

Knowing that it would be unforgivably rude to deny her host such a thing, Nicola hurriedly gathered the papers beneath the book and stuffed them into the top drawer of the desk. Safe from an unwanted gaze, she stood and gave him a tentative smile. "Of course, my lord." With a gesture that spoke multitudes about the state of her nerves, she smoothed the creases of her creamy skirts. "Shall I ring for tea?"