ChapterSeventeen
Hal froze, pinned in place like a wrestler thrown to the mat.
Lord Stonehaven packed a mean punch after all, he thought dimly.Only he didn’t use his fists, he used words.
Secrets.
Recovering himself as quickly as he could, Hal shook his head, a fighter throwing off the ringing in his ears.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His snarl did not appear to intimidate the earl, who moved a step closer and held his candle up, the better to examine Hal’s scowling visage.
Part of Hal would’ve liked to turn his face away, but pride wouldn’t allow it.He squared his shoulders and stared down at the earl, letting him look his fill.His pulse raced.
He scoured his brain for any memory of having met the Earl of Stonehaven before but nothing came to him.Hal had been well and truly rusticating for years, and even at school, once he fell in with Jonathan and his crowd of sober, hard-working student friends, Hal had kept less exalted company than heirs to earldoms.None of Gemma’s previous gentlemen had seemed to see anything other than what they expected to see.
And yet Lord Stonehaven’s furrowed brow cleared when he got a closer look at Hal.“I knew it was you.John Henry Montrose, now the Duke of Havilocke.I was a year behind you at Oxford.Exeter College.You won’t have noticed me, I did nothing but study.”
“Hal,” he said automatically, his mind whirring.“My friends call me Hal.”
“Friends.”The earl smiled faintly, his light-colored eyes unreadable in the candle-lit gloom of the stable.“Is that what we are.I was beginning to wonder if it was more along the lines of ‘rivals.’”
Heart racing like a thoroughbred tearing up the track, Hal stared at this earl, this man, who seemed intent on bypassing the layers of secrets and propriety and class expectations in favor of directness.
Were they rivals, in truth?Could Hal offer Gemma anything close to what the Earl of Stonehaven could?Could Hal, in good conscience, do anything to stop her from marrying this man and securing her own future and the happiness of the family that depended on her?
As someone who understood a little something about having people depend on him, Hal knew, with sinking clarity, what the only real answer could be.
“No,” he rasped, dropping his arms to his sides.“I am not your rival.Not in any way that matters.”
“Lady Gemma is an unusual person,” Lord Stonehaven said into the tense air between them.“I obviously do not know her as well as some, nor as well as I should someday like to, but I can tell already on even such a short acquaintance that she is a person who is perfectly capable of making her own choices.I cannot pretend to understand what circumstances have brought about this…”
He broke off and gestured up and down with his free hand, as it to encompass all of Hal’s recent choices.
“It’s a deception,” Hal said bluntly.“And one that I would prefer not to be revealed to the lady in question.”
Lord Stonehaven’s mouth took on an unhappy curve.“I don’t understand.”
Hal was damned if he was going to explain it.He folded his arms over his chest and waited out the painful pause before the earl realized he wasn’t going to get anything more out of Hal.
But instead of becoming annoyed or self-righteous, he surprised Hal again.
“Perhaps it is none of my business,” Lord Stonehaven acknowledged ruefully, “But I can’t say that I like it.”
“You don’t have to like it.Just know that hiding my true identity from Lady Gemma is not intended to harm her in any way.I give you my word as a gentleman.”Hal dredged up a small smile.“As a fellow Oxford man.”
Against all odds, this seemed to actually carry some weight with Lord Stonehaven, who stood for a moment in silent contemplation.
“In that case.What if I were to propose a small trade?My silence, in return for your permission to perform a little light excavation on your ducal lands?I’ve found an altogether remarkable exposure of intrusive granite that…well, suffice it to say, I should like to follow where it leads, but I would prefer to do so with the landowner’s permission.”
Hal barked out a laugh.It wasn’t very full of humor, but he wasn’t in the best of moods.
“That is a very neat solution to our problem.You and Lady Gemma are perfect for one another.She also likes to make deals.Consider my permission granted.I’ll try to stay out of your way.”
Slinging his coat over his shoulders, Hal strode from the stables.He couldn’t bear another moment in this perfectly suitable suitor’s presence.Still, he paused at the stable door and said one last thing over his shoulder, the words jerked from him like a fractious horse tugging on the reins.
“Take care of her.”
Because I bloody can’t.
