“What has happened?” she gasped, but Jack didn’t answer, towing her through the clustered easels and out of the double doors.
“Jack,” she said again, once they were out of the room. “What is it? What has happened?”
He had no time to answer before Thornton himself joined them, with what Jack guessed to be Min’s cloak and sketchbook in his hand.
“Mr Thornton,” she said, “apparently there has been some emergency, I am so sorry to leave, but…”
She trailed off, because Thornton was looking at Jack, eyebrow crooked.
“Is that so, Lord Orton?”
Twenty-Four
To Lucy’s surprise, Jack looked furious, staring hard at Mr Thornton. In the coldest voice she’d ever heard him use, he said, “I’d like a word with you, sir, tomorrow morning. I have quite a lot I’d like to say. But not now. My only concern is to take Miss Fanshaw away from this…situation.”
Lucy frowned, all her anxiety replaced by a dawning unease. “Jack…”
“You’d do better to speak to Miss Fanshaw than me,” said Thornton, amiable but cool. “All I have to say to you, my lord, is that you’re making a mistake.”
“Mistake! By protecting one of my dearest friends from the danger and damage thatyouhave subjected her to?”
Lucy grew hot, her fears realised. Thornton smiled thinly. “In this, I assure you I’m being a better friend to Miss Fanshaw than you are. I hope, for her sake, you realise it soon.”
Jack only retorted, “Tomorrow, sir,” then, taking Lucy’s belongings from Thornton’s hands, he once more took her by the arm and steered her out of the house.
“For goodness’ sake, Min,” he hissed as they hurried down the stone steps and into the dark street. “What the devil were you thinking?” He tucked her sketchbook under his elbow then threw her cloak around her shoulders. He was fastening it under her chin when he looked up and met her eyes, his fingers stumbling at her expression.
She was so angry her voice shook. “How dare you!”
“Min, you have no idea of the repercussions of—”
“Not Min.Lucy.And I have every idea of the repercussions. Whatyoudo not understand is that Ido not care. It is my choice to be there, Jack! My choice! And I have fought so hard to even get that choice at all. How dare you turn up like that, embarrass me,frightenme with some story about an emergency, then march me out as though I am nothing but a common prisoner! Howdareyou, Jack!”
The last part was a shout. Jack stood, stunned. She didn’t think she’d ever shouted in her life. Certainly not at him.
Snatching her sketchbook from under his arm, she turned, striding rapidly away down the lamp-lit street. Jack hurried after her, but she shook off his attempt to take her arm and make her stop.
“Wait, Lucy, wait. I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”
“You never do!”
“Please… I know I could have handled it more tactfully—”
“You humiliated me! And in front of Mr Thornton too, when he has been so generous, so encouraging…”
“Lucy,” he implored, but she hated the soft, self-righteous note in his voice. Just as she hated the way her true name on his lips always skated right down her spine.
It was a mistake to make him call her Lucy.
“How could I let you harm your reputation?” he continued, but she wouldn’t look at the coaxing pity in his eyes either. She made a study of the light and shadow on the dark cobbles. “Youunderstand the impropriety of attending such a place, I know you do. You might not care what society thinks of you, but I do, and I won’t have you snubbed and cut, subjected to hurtful comment, made easy prey for every man who thinks your virtue unprotected… For God’s sake”—he dragged off his hat to hook agitated fingers through his hair—“I care about you! I wouldn’t see my sisters, my friends, any woman of my acquaintance ruined.”
“It is worth the sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice! Your reputation in tatters, your name in the mud!”
“You forget, Jack, I have already made an excellent match.”
Something in his face shuttered—she looked up in time to catch that, already regretting it. So much for honesty! He looked away, jaw tight, silent for once, and her heart wrenched. But she was goaded past endurance, hurt to her core, because this was Jack,Jack, who’d once defended her art and now couldn’t see how much this meant to her.
