They represented traps, but they also could be the answer to all of one’s troubles.
But now, he could not help but be curious about this young woman. And in knowing Nia just a little, he realized how patronizing his perspective had been.
“The morning you climbed into my carriage,” Jasper admitted, “I’d just broken off a six-month affair with my… mistress. She’d begun to demand a more complicated arrangement that I was unwilling to commit to.”
“She wanted to marry you?”
“Yes.”
“And marrying her would be complicated. Will marriage to me be any less so?”
Ah, they were finally getting down to business. But her question was, in itself, complicated.
“Georgiana wanted it all. She wanted the protection of my name, access to my properties and bank accounts, and a reliable escort to social events.”
“Georgiana,” Nia seemed to test the name on her lips. “Was she not suitable?”
“She was a proper lady, a widow. That wasn’t the issue. Trouble was, she wanted my everlasting devotion. She wanted the one thing I don’t have to give. She wanted my—”
“Love.”
“Yes.”
Nia nodded slowly. “You found her requests unreasonable?”
“I made myself clear to her at the onset. She tried to change the rules.” But these weren’t the sort of things one discussed with a potential wife. Jasper clamped his mouth shut.
“But marrying me would be different?” she persisted.
Jasper shifted and then frowned. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Why? He stared at her thoughtfully. “Because of expectations. And because you don’t want to marry me.”
She nodded. “And yet, it was I who trapped you.”
“Not by choice.” Jasper narrowed his eyes, only half-teasing. “Unless you saw my carriage and, upon seeing the opportunity to become Baroness Westcott, threw yourself inside in order to compromise both of us.”
“It’s better than being the Duchess of Dewberry.” She grimaced.
“But a baroness is lower than a duchess. Are you sure?”
“Is there something you aren’t telling me?”
Jasper held her gaze. Of course, she hadn’t planned any of this. Marriage to Nia posed a unique possibility—that of marriage without full capitulation. But…
Was he really going to go through with this? He might not have a choice. But even so, he was… willing.
“What do you want to know?” Jasper asked.
“Anything. Aside from your reputation, I know practically nothing about you.”
“I suppose you’d like to become better acquainted,” Jasper said.
“What else is there to do?”
Rather than offer up some inappropriate suggestions, Jasper relented. He supposed she ought to know his circumstances that would be relevant to her—as his wife.
