“No one’s going to laugh at you, Min. I won’t let them. Besides, the fact of the matter is peopledon’tknow the truth, and London being what it is, no one is going towantto believe the truth because the story of you being an heiress is much more interesting.” He let the horses walk loose and slow again, Sunlark, on the right, taking a greedy snatch at the bit. Leaving half a strand of thought for the temperamental horse, he turned the rest to Min, running an eye over her tense and unhappy form. She still didn’t seem to understand the true danger she was in.
“People will either believe it and act accordingly, or they’ll try to get close enough to you to discover how much you’re really worth. Either way, you’re a target for men on the hunt for a fortune. They’ll try to wheedle their way in—you’ve seen yourself what your aunt endures from her visitors.”
“Yes, and I am wise to it!”
“But you’re not an elderly widow living in seclusion. You’re a young, inexperienced, and unmarried female mixing freely in London society, and therefore in the path of every crooked sharp in town.”
“If you think I am foolish enough to fall for some…some rakish flatterer—”
“They have more weapons than words and smiles.”
“And you think I’m stupid enough tomarrysuch a man? It is not as though anyone can force me!”
He clenched his teeth at an image of a struggling Min being dragged to the altar but tried to keep his voice as soft as his hands on the reins.
“Min…you’re so…innocent.You don’t know… There are sordid things that go on that I’m glad you haven’t the slightest idea of. Not long ago there was a rumour about someone trying to trap an heiress by… Well. I’ll not sully your ears with it. But believe me that you don’t know the dangers. But if we let people think we’re engaged—”
Colour scalded her cheeks, and she jerked her head away to look out across the park, tugging fretfully at the fingers of her gloves.
“No. It is ridiculous.”
“Why?”
She said nothing, presenting a stiff shoulder to him in silence, the rigid curve of her neck below her bonnet, all of her turned away as though she’d sooner jump out of the carriage than consider it.
“What’s so awful about it?”
Shewas the one being ridiculous. If it hadn’t annoyed him so much, he might have laughed. “Do you realise how many girls actuallywantto be engaged to me? You’d be the envy of dozens.”
No reply.
“It’s not ridiculous at all.”
Wonderful. He sounded petulant when he was attempting to be the voice of reason.
He let out a long breath and looked up the path, to the distant trees, the wide horizon. He took another conscious breath,attempting to pull up some conviction with it, to speak from some deeper, truer place.
“Min. I know you see me as…well…just Jack, but to the rest of the world, I’m the Viscount Orton, and that counts for something.” Or it used to, when his father had been alive. Whether the name carried as much weight now it was in his hands was a distant flicker of doubt he was in no mood to examine. “We’re good friends, we know each other well enough to put on a believable show. Any fool can see we’re fond of each other, that we know how to talk to each other and get along comfortably. I want to protect you, as a man, as your friend, and the Lord knows I haven’t done a good job of it since you arrived in town.” He frowned. “Or since you left Herefordshire. Or ever, really, if I’m being honest.”
She hadn’t moved one bit. Was entirely still as the curricle rolled slowly on.
That sainted heiress from a season or two ago—Marchfield? Marshfield?—she’d been found on her back with Lansbury up her skirts—up her skirts and therefore soon to be her husband and the possessor of her fortune, whether she liked it or not. And though the earl had always been a devil, Jack had never believed him capable ofthat. But one thing he’d learned in his twenty-six years of unwisdom was that half the people one met were capable of things impossible to imagine.
“My name, my status, will keep you safe. The Sedgewicks don’t have that power. And it need only be for a few months, until this rumour has run its course, until you’ve found your feet in London or gone back to your aunt’s. You can cry off, Min.” He gave her a smile, though she still wasn’t looking anywhere near him. “You can accuse me of something shocking or other and no one will blame you. Most people will probably believe whatever you say about me.”
Only the wheels of the curricle answered back, the creak and jingle of the harness, the hooves dull on the packed earth. Somewhere, magpies were making a hellish racket, but the smile he’d meant for Min lingered, one amusing idea after another lighting up his brain now he’d given his imagination flight.
“It could be fun. No! Itwouldbe fun. Imagine the look on Nell’s and everyone’s faces when we told them the news. Jack Orton finally caught by the parson’s noose…” He laughed. “Caught by little Min, of all people, after I’ve had every renowned beauty in town flinging their cap at me. Just think what they’d say! You can admit it’d be funny, at least.”
Finally, and very quietly, she spoke. “I don’t think that would be funny at all.”
“No? Not even going about town with me? Shopping for your trousseau?Thatwould be good fun. I’d fit you out like a princess, Min. And, what’s better, we could be always together, just like we used to be as children, with no stuffy old matrons sniffing aboutproprietyand all that tedious nonsense, as though grown men and women can’t spend time alone together without—” He hastily recalled there were some topics off limits, even with Min.Especiallywith Min. “Anyway. You know what I mean. It’d be just like old times. Jack and Min. Min and Jack. Ihavemissed you, you know. I didn’t realise quite how much until I saw you again.” Alarmed by a sniff, he pulled his attention from the path. “Good Lord! What are you crying for?”
“I’m not. It is the…the wind.”
He stared at her in horror. “Devil take the wind. Youarecrying, and I’ve no idea why.”
She turned her head away, hands at work mopping her cheeks. When she dropped them to her lap, the tips of her gloves were darkened with tear stains. His heart gave an almighty wrench.
