“That tells me a lot.”
Miss Greenaway huffed a little. “I don’t see why I should tell you anything.”
“Suit yourself. Only I can’t help you if I don’t know the half of it.”
She eyed him with suspicion. “Why should you wish to help me?”
“Well, if that don’t beat all! Didn’t you throw yourself on my mercy?”
“No, I did not. I merely asked you to convey me a little way in your coach. That does not give you the right to demand the history of my life.”
“First off, you didn’t ask me. You ordered me at gunpoint. Second, if you don’t stop trying to run rings round me, I’ll set you down in the middle of the countryside and leave you there.”
Miss Greenaway’s obstinate little chin came up. “No, you won’t. You are not that sort of man.”
“How would you know?”
“If you were, you’d have given me back at once.”
“Ha! I may still do so.”
“You can’t. You don’t know where to take me.”
Alex cursed and smote himself on the knee. “Devious little monkey! Should have guessed it when you wouldn’t open up about your father. Well, don’t think you’ll get the better of me, young bufflehead, because you won’t.”
To his chagrin, a mischievous look flitted across her face. It made her eyes sparkle and her lips quirk. Alex’s gaze became riveted upon her mouth and a ripple of sensation startled him. The lower lip curved prettily, and a neat little cleft made a bow of the upper.
Dragging his eyes away, Alex chided himself. It was a child. And under his protection, however unwilling he’d been to assume it. With an effort, he recalled what he’d said, and the symptoms vanished. Why, the little minx! So she thought she’d got the better of him already, did she? They’d see about that.
He adopted a casual tone. “What do you mean to do when we part company?”
He was careful not to mention when that might be, but Miss Greenaway did not hesitate.
“I shall take the stagecoach to London.”
“You do realise we’re going the wrong way?”
“It makes no matter, as long as you set me down at a coaching inn.”
“And when you get to London?”
“I told you. I’m going to seek out Mr Vergette.”
“Who’s he? The lawyer you spoke of?”
“Yes, and I think he is my trustee. I am persuaded he will feel for me.”
If Alex knew anything of the matter, the fellow was more likely to return Miss Greenaway at once to her guardians. Which was exactly what he ought to do himself. But it was scarcely politic to say so.
“Not sure what you expect your Mr Vergette to do for you, but a conscientious lawyer won’t be persuaded to break the trust, you know.”
“He won’t need to. It comes to an end the moment I attain my majority.”
Alex could have slapped the girl. “Then, for the Lord’s sake, what possessed you to play this fool’s trick? If you’re very nearly one and twenty, as you told me — not that I believe a word you say! — you’ve only to wait a short time to be free of any persecution.”
Miss Greenaway did not appear to be in the least perturbed by his statement that he did not believe her. She waved this away in an airy fashion. “No, because there is a stupid caveat. The trust may be broken if I marry before that date.”
Enlightenment dawned. “Hence the attempt to get you to accept Mr Cumberledge.”
