Edmund stared. "I say. You appear not to be caring for your reputation at all, do you?"
Her cheeks flushed rosy. "I was just thinking it is an unnecessary complication."
"It would protect you from disgrace afterwards."
She looked at him with round eyes.
He took another turn, stopped, stared out of the window and watched the sun's rays dapple between the leaves of the trees. "To be clear. It would be a marriage in name only." He turned his head to watch her answer.
"Of course. I would have expected nothing more."
Was he imagining it, or did she look relieved? For some reason, it irked him.
"You will be my wife in name, appearance and conduct—in public, that is. Are you a good actress?"
"I don't know. I suppose I could be."
"You have to be. People have to believe this is a, um, love match. In private, you can do whatever you want, provided you keep the child out of my sight."
She stared at him; eyes wide. "A love match?" She emphasised the word love.
"Yes." He watched her closely.
"Oh, dear." She rubbed her left eyebrow. "May I ask—why?"
He scowled. "Circumstances are such that, for one reason or another, the wholetonbelieves I am married. They think it was a hasty love match, so no one was informed. No banns, or late newspaper announcements. It is not to my detriment, on the contrary. Keeps the matchmaking mamas at bay. But now I need a wife to play the part, and I have no taste for insipid, whey-faced debutantes or fortune-hunting widows. Nor do I care to waste my time in Almack's looking for someone suitable. I need someone now. Immediately." He paused for a moment, then added, "And you'll do."
"And I'll do," she echoed blankly. Then she pulled herself up, a hard glint in her eyes. "You didn't mention the love match before. That will change things a bit if I have to keep up the pretence of being, er, in love with you."
"What do you mean, change?"
"In terms of price."
"How much do you need?"
She gave him a sum. The amount was probably less than five times her salary. She didn't have a good head for business, it seemed, but then, neither did he.
"I need that amount now, immediately." She twisted the edge of her spencer in her hands, crumpling the material.
Edmund frowned. "Why that particular sum?"
She took a deep breath. "To bail my stepbrother out of jail."
His eyebrows shot up. Now they were getting to the heart of the matter. "I say. A jailbird. What's he done?"
"Don't worry, he's not a murderer or a thief or anything like that. He is a gambler." Now it was her turn to walk around the room. "Drake has fallen in with the wrong crowd. How that happened, I do not know. Instead of continuing his university studies, he must have visited the gambling hells where he lost a fortune." Ellen swallowed. "A fortune he did not have." She hung her head. "A fortune no one has, for my stepfather is unable to bail him out. Neither can I." Her eyes filled with tears. "If no one gets him out, he will probably catch some terrible infection and die. They say these prisons are terrible. And if he doesn't die, Jacob, my stepfather, will ruin himself trying to raise the money."
Edmund tapped his fob against his lips. For some reason, that little tap helped him think. If this Drake fell in with the wrong crowd, and he was the green, innocent type, it was all too easy to see how he'd been fleeced by the more hardened gamblers. He'd seen it happen time and time again, which was one reason he stayed away from the gambling hells himself.
"Here is my offer. I'll bail your brother out, and I'll even go one step further. I'll buy him a commission in the army."
"Would you really?" Tears welled up in her eyes, turning them an even brighter green.
He looked away. "And you will receive a handsome annual allowance, which will ensure that you are taken care of for the rest of your life after we have ended the charade. Annulment due to non-consummation should do the trick."
"But annulments are exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. Are you certain this will work?"
"Then we'll come up with some other excuse. We'll say that we weren't right for each other, decide to part amicably and lead separate lives. It happens to married people all the time. I'll be left in peace, and you'll have a comfortable life and never have to work again."
