“It was as if he wanted to get caught with me!” she said, disgusted at the memory. “Why would he do that?”
“Best not to speculate on the motives of a fool, Miss Blake. But in the future, you will have to be much more careful with gentlemen you do not know.”
“What would I have done if you’d not happened by?” Rose turned to him. “It seems more than chance.”
He chuckled and said easily, “Well, as it happens, I was heading to your home. I wanted to offer you a ride through the park, and lo, here we are riding through the park.”
“That makes it twice you have rescued me from the ill intentions of other men. I fear, my lord, that as a rakehell, you are not living up to expectations.”
He laughed, and said, “Well, I am rather contrarian. Always have been.”
“Is that true? What was your first contrary act?”
“Well, I suppose it was the act of being born at all. I was not expected to survive, and my mother told me that every midwife and doctor said there was no hope. But I never liked to listen to others, so I did live that first night, and persisted in living ever since. My mother said every day with me was a miracle…which is the sort of thing a mother would say, yes?”
“I should hope so. My own mother tends to say things like Rose, stay out of the sun, and Rose, stay away from the window, you’ll catch cold. But she says them out of love,” Rose added loyally.
He didn’t speak for a few moments, and Rosalind understood that he was negotiating the more crowded pathways of the park. But then he lightly touched her hand, as if to remind her who she was with. “What are you thinking of?”
“I was thinking that today was the first time in years that I’ve been outside the house with someone who was not a member of my family, and now I’ve ridden with not one man, but two. Mama will probably lock me up once she hears what happened.”
“Is that true?” He sounded surprised by that. “Because you are a woman, or because you cannot see?”
His bluntness didn’t upset Rosalind. “Both, I suppose. My mother thinks me very fragile.”
“You are her only daughter, are you not? She feels responsible for you.”
“She has difficulty understanding that I am not still twelve years old.” Rosalind sighed. “Forgive me, I shouldn’t talk like this.” She could smell the clean spring air, and knew that they must have returned to the main roads of the promenade. However, this time she felt no fear. She trusted Lord Norbury’s judgment on where to drive. “Please tell me what’s going on in the park.”
“The usual,” Adrian noted, probably looking around with a disinterested air. “Lots of carriages and riders. The latest frocks, and pearls on every limb. The polite society are out, parading for all to see. Those with things to sell are selling them as best they can: their jewels and titles and offspring.” His voice grew increasingly bitter as he spoke.
“You don’t think much of them,” Rosalind said calmly.
He replied, “I’m nodding in complete agreement, so you know. I don’t think much of them, but perhaps only because they don’t think much of me.”
“Why not?”
He paused, then said, “Why not? A thousand reasons, some of them totally unsuitable to mention in mixed company. In short, I have created a reputation for myself.”
“As a rake.” Rosalind didn’t see any point in concealing her knowledge. “I have heard about you. But in any case, it doesn’t explain why you so hate society.”
“I don’t like their rules. Nor do I play by them. Society loathes nothing more than someone who doesn’t kowtow to their rituals. They’d push that person to the edge if they could, to the demimonde. But no one can push me out. Hard to tell a viscount what to do.”
“Yes, you are still invited to the beaumonde’s parties,” she said.
“Rake or not, I’m still wealthy.” He shrugged. “And they’re avaricious.”
“You’re cynical.”
“Yes,” he agreed shortly. “As well as being an unpleasant conversationalist. I apologize.”
“Not at all. I’m delighted when people speak honestly to me. It hardly ever happens––except with Poppy.”
“You’re lucky to have a friend like Miss St. George.”
“I am indeed.” Rosalind smiled, thinking of her. “I would trust her with my life. I don’t know what will happen when…” She trailed off.
“When what?”
