“Yes. Frankly, I’m surprised by all of this. While I appreciate what you’re doing, you have gone beyond what anyone else would.”
“I am not anyone else,” he pointed out, feeling proud of himself.
“I know,” she agreed and walked away from him, pacing around his chamber. “You’re a notorious libertine of the first order.”
True, but did she have to keep bringing that up?
He nearly protested and said he was reformed, but that year, he’d been with a widowed lady at the end of last winter, then Lady Georgiana in the spring, as well as the loose-lipped, conniving Lady Neville, using him against her husband. But he had enjoyed himself with her, too. And then, he’d tested the waters with Miss Louisa Tufton and with Lady Arabella, and more recently with Lady Violet, and sometime during the year, he knew there’d been another baron’s daughter and a French countess.
No,reformedwas too strong a word, but he liked to think he was mature enough to pledge himself to only one woman for the rest of his life. On one condition.
“Areyouglad about our engagement?” he asked.
“Is it real?” Julia stood in front of the curtains, the candlelight flickering over her, looking ethereal.
“Meaning?” he prompted, rudely lounging against the end of his bed and stretching his feet out in front of him, arms crossed. He supposed this was one thing he could do in the company of his fiancée, almost sit while she stood.
“Did you say we were engaged simply in order to get rid of those men?”
“It was spontaneous genius, don’t you think?” He practically patted himself on the back.
“Do you intend to follow through?” she asked.
Is that what worried her? That she would be made a fool of?
“I told my mother we were engaged,” he reminded her. “I wouldn’t have done so if I didn’t intend to marry you.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Jasper waited, while she chewed her bottom lip. She didn’t sound thrilled at the notion of becoming the next Countess of Marshfield.What was wrong with the minx?
“I vow we shall be married,” he said, “at the earliest possible time, right here in the same country church in which I was baptized. We won’t wait three weeks for banns, though. For ten shillings, I’ll get our good clergyman to issue a common license, although I suspect it will be the only thing common about our marriage.”
“Are you willing to part with ten whole shillings for me, my lord?”
“How will I bear such a saucebox for a wife?” he returned, wishing she would match her expression to her jesting words.What was jabbing at her?“Naturally, we shall send word to your father. He is welcome to travel here. Your sister, too, I suppose, although that will delay the ceremony.”
“You seem to have it all arranged,” she said, still not sounding the least joyful.
Perhaps she had other worries. Jasper wanted to allay every last one.
“I will request an audience with the Prince Regent for us both after we return to London. I’ll tell him the accusations against you are a silly misunderstanding. He’ll fall in love with you at first sight.”
Her eyes widened with alarm.
“Don’t worry. This isn’t the Middle Ages. He can’t force one of his subjects into a liaison unless she chooses. And while Prinny is a powerful man, I am confident his appearance won’t appeal to you.”
She shot him a frosty glare. “My morals would have me refrain from jumping into the royal bed even if I found him to be Adonis himself. I — for one — will hold true to any marriage vows I make.”
“I, for two, shall do the same,” he insisted and realized he meant it.
Yet the chit laughed out loud at him.
“What?” he demanded, uncrossing his arms and standing up tall. “You don’t believe I can be a faithful husband?”
“I would hate to wager upon such an uncertain hand of cards or such an erratic horse.”
He frowned.Uncertain and erratic?There was one thing she didn’t know about him.
