“Why meet now?” She cocked her head, obviously not pleased with him.
He’d thought taking her to Talley on the Green would satisfy her for at least a fortnight. “Because Leighhall is currently at a house party where he is dancing attendance on a number of ladies, much like the one Lady Harewood attended.” He paused as a thought occurred. “I can only hope he does not come away wishing to do damage to one of their reputations as well.”
She finally moved closer even as she shrugged. “Then if you find anything on him, you can sell it to that lady’s parents. I’m sure they’d be grateful.”
Her suggestion surprised him, as he’d willingly offer such intelligence freely. It reminded him once again that she’d done what she had to in order to survive. Part of him wished she’d never had to experience war, but the selfish part of him was thankful she had, or he would have never had such a good friend. “Did you find anything in your research on weapons that might be what Leighhall carried out of the cobbler’s?”
“I did.” She crossed her arms. “But if I tell you, will you forget about me again?”
“Lissa, I would take you with me, but that is hardly proper.”
She glanced past him at nothing in particular. “I so wish I didn’t need to pretend to be a lady. I’d rather jaunt about with you and experience life.” She flung her hand out toward the path to Silver Meadows. “They read about life, think about life,talk about life, but they do not experience it. At least while in London, they went about a bit. It is not for me.”
Something had seriously changed in their time apart. She had not complained so much before. “What has happened?”
She snapped her gaze back to his. “I did not say anything happened.”
He raised his brows, not letting her look away. “I know you, remember?”
At first it seemed she wouldn’t give in, but then she threw her hands up. “Grand-maman wrote me. She has a list. A list! She said she’s going to arrange for the Blackmores to bring me to London early so I can be outfitted.” She stalked across the pathway. “Oui, she wishes to dress me up for auction. Sell me to the highest peer. This is what she wants.” She stalked back across the path. “She is boxing me in.Mon Dieu, I do not want this. But what I want—What are you smiling for?”
He couldn’t help grinning. “You have no need to worry about going to London early. Lady Blackmore will not be able to travel. In fact, I doubt she plans to attend much of the Season.”
Lissa stilled. “She won’t?”
“No, she won’t. She is in a delicate way. I doubt that she will travel before April. So, you see, you have a reprieve.”
She frowned before her eyes widened. “She’s with child? I was not aware.” Even as Lissa’s spirits seem to lift, her shoulders slumped. “Grand-maman will just have Lord Blackmore ask Lady Northwick, who I know will accept.”
He hadn’t thought of that, but what she said could very well happen. He tried to think of what might help her. “You only need to heed your grandmother until you are twenty-one.”
“Is this true?” Her eyes lit with excitement. “You do not jest?”
“Not at all. If you can avoid a proposal from a peer for a couple of Seasons, you can then do as you wish.” But could she?As a lady, she was stunning, and many a man did not look past a lady’s appearance and manners.
A sly smile lifted her lips. “But I won’t—wonder if the duchess could convince my grandmother to wait another year.”
If he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he would have missed it, the slight movement of her nose when she hesitated. He’d only seen it once before when he’d caught her lying. Their friendship was built upon respect for each other’s abilities and honesty. Not a little hurt that she sought to dissemble with him, he folded his arms. “That was not what you were going to say.”
She opened her mouth then closed it.
“Why do you seek to lie to me now? What is of such import than you cannot tell me?”
Her gaze lowered. “It is habit. I apologize.”
It was habit to lie? She had lied daily in France, but now there was no reason for it. “I cannot accept your apology unless you tell me what you were about to say.” As she rolled her lips in to think about how to answer, he lost his patience. “Tell me now.”
Her gaze snapped to his. “Very well. I’m not nineteen.”
When she didn’t continue, he scowled at her. “How old are you?”
She didn’t look away, but her shoulders stiffened. “I’m twenty-four.”
He dropped his arms. “Twenty-four?” He wasn’t surprised. He was shocked.
“Oui. Far too old to be marriageable material, which is why Grand-maman told all I was younger. She has her plans for me.”
And Madame Fontaine calledhimthe trickster? Several requests the old woman had made of Lord Blackmore over the years started to coalesce. As the one who fulfilled those requests, Anthony had sometimes wondered, but it made more sense now. The old woman had wished for tutoring for them both so they could come to England and converse appropriately. Theother tutors for Lissa were to teach her to be a lady by English standards, evidently so she could be married off.
