“No, of course not,” Evelina said.
“Then I’ll deposit what a place like this would let for into your accounts as compensation, along with a small amount of pin money. What do you say to a hundred and fifty pounds for each month?”
“I say that’s far too much money!” she gasped. “I doubt Arabella would let this place for more than thirty a month and another ten or twenty at most for pin money would be more than generous. Fifty pounds when I’m not even bedding you is the maximum.”
He folded his arms. “I’m not sure you understand what negotiating means, Miss Comerford. You’re supposed to be getting themaximumfor your effort.”
“No, that’s not accurate. A fair price is what a negotiation should be. Fair to both parties.”
He tilted his head and for a moment he seemed confused by that notion. “Very well. Then let us meet in the middle. A hundred pounds, paid up front, for each month we will spend pretending to be lovers.” She opened and shut her mouth, because it was still far too high a sum, but he held up a hand. “I will brook no refusals. A hundred pounds is my final offer and not a ha’penny less.”
“Blackburn—” she began.
“Evelina,” he interrupted.
She bent her head with a laugh at the playfully stern expression on his face. “Well, when we end this arrangement and people ask me about you, I will say generous to a fault and it won’t be a lie. A hundred pounds a month is very kind. And since you seem hellbent on the sum, I won’t refuse you.”
“Very good, our first accord,” he said with a playful wink. “And now to the next item to be determined. I believe you mentioned duration.”
“Yes. I’m not sure how long a person needs to enact revenge by pretending to be attached to someone new. What are your thoughts?”
He pondered for a moment, stroking his hand over his chin. “A good question. Not too short or else it will only cause more scandal. But not too long for I don’t want to keep you from finding a true protector who will provide more fully for your future. Why don’t we agree to discuss the topic each month before I make my next payment to your accounts? And we assume that we will do this no more than…three months?”
“It would get us both through the end of the Season,” she said. “And will your divorce be finished by then?”
His frown pulled down. “I hope so. We’re in the final negotiations, trying to get the permissions from church and sovereign.”
“Then the timing will be right. I agree to those terms.”
“We’re very good at this. What else should the terms include?”
“What to expect. If not sex, then how would we work out the pretended affair so that others know it’s happening? I have some thoughts on that.”
He sipped his wine. “I long to hear them.”
“I propose we attend one public event together each week and share a suggestively long supper once a week, as well.”
“So people think we’re doing the thing we aren’t doing,” he said.
She nodded. “Exactly. And if we decide we want to do more or less, then we can agree to that on a case-by-case basis.”
“You mean if we go to the opera but then there is some art showing I think you’d like the same week,” he said, and leaned closer. “Do you enjoy an art showing, Evelina?”
“I think it would be a poor mind that didn’t enjoy a good art showing,” she teased back. “Though it does depend on the artist.”
“I think we might be agreeing to be friends,” he said after a moment’s consideration. “Is that what we’re agreeing on?”
She leaned back. “Friends. Goodness, I’ve never been friends with a man before. What a concept. But I suppose we are. We have a very sad thing in common, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy each other’s company even as we…well, I suppose act in bad faith.”
“Lightlyin bad faith,” he corrected.
She laughed. “Are we agreed then?”
“We seem to be,” he said, “And now I’d like to eat this fine food and talk about something that isn’t my wretched wife or your wretched former lover. It will be our first suggestively long supper, after all.”
She smiled and after she’d taken a bite of her food, the first bite that had tasted of anything at all for months, she asked, “Have you read any good books lately, then?”
His gaze lit up. “Oh yes! I’m reading the most fascinating biography about Cook’s time in the Pacific.” He frowned. “Is that too dry?”
