With great exaggeration, she rolled her pretty blue eyes.
“I am not helpless, nor in any danger. I promise you.”
“Given the last time I rescued you and from whom,” Jasper reminded her, “I am not sure your judgment on the matter of what is dangerous is entirely sound. Regardless, I intend to accompany you home, and we shall go the direct route, up St. James’s Street to the delightful Bond Street. We can look in the shop windows. Isn’t that what women like to do?”
Whatever protest she offered, he wasn’t going to miss out on a minute of her company in the casual environment away from the ballroom. He found it great fun.
When the milk was purchased and the address given, with a generous tip for speedy delivery, they strolled northward.
“Just to be clear,” Miss Sudbury told him, after they dodged carriages crossing Piccadilly and stepped onto Old Bond Street, “except for the extremely wealthy, most women don’t amble along peering into shop windows as if they haven’t a brain in their head. Most are trying to figure out how to feed their children or put a roof over their—”
She broke off as they stared ahead of them at the throng of people, predominantly women, doing exactly as Jasper had predicted.
He grinned at her surprised expression.
“They can’t all be the extremely wealthy, can they?” he teased, just as a member of the middle class, or so he guessed by her style of dress, pushed past them carrying packages. She was accompanied by two young girls, who looked to be her daughters by their resemblance.
“Normal families,” he pushed his argument, “enjoying the fine weather and the shops. Surely, once in a while, you can do so as well without it harming London’s poor in any way. Or do you still insist on staying to the parklands? Perhaps you should attempt to swing from tree to tree to reach Hanover Square.”
As he knew she would, Miss Sudbury started to laugh. It bubbled out of her until she had to cover her mouth with her white-gloved hand, and after a deliriously refreshing chuckle that made him join in, she caught her breath.
“I love the way you laugh,” he confessed, surprising himself.
Her eyes widened. Then she made a confession of her own. “I seem to do so around you more than at other times.”
“I am pleased to be of service.” And he was damnably pleased with himself.
They started a companionable walk along Old Bond Street to New Bond Street toward her home. Not only did she let him point out curiosities he noticed, she relaxed enough to exclaim over the odd bric-a-brac that caught her eye.
And on nearly every corner, she bought three-penny posies. Finally, after the third stop for such a purchase, he had to ask her.
“You have quite a love of flowers.”
She nodded. “I do, yes, but even more a desire to get my pennies into the hands of as many flower girls as possible.”
Finally, he had an explanation for the many posies he’d seen upon his two visits inside old Worthington’s house. She was a good soul, even if he thought it a naïve effort.
When he bid her good day on her doorstep with the promise of seeing her at the upcoming Wendelsons’ ball, Jasper couldn’t help thinking how easy it had been to keep her in good humor and how much he’d enjoyed doing so.
Flagging down a hackney, he knew if he could get her into his bed as adeptly, his own enjoyment would be complete.
***
“WHY ARE YOU COMINGtothisball?” Julia all but whined when she discovered Sarah was attending instead of the negligent Mrs. Zebodar. She didn’t learn this fact until she came out of her room, ready to go, dressed in a diaphanous cream gown with a Pomona green bodice.
And there was her sister wearing violet satin.
Sarah stared at her. “Whyever not?”
Julia snapped her mouth closed as there was no good reason why her sister shouldn’t go out into the world. Her mourning was long past.
“Are you hoping to see Viscount Denbigh?”
“No,” her sister proclaimed, and instead of her cheeks blushing pink with happiness, her mouth became a thin, firm line. “I am no longer interested in him, but you and I shall have a splendid evening.”
It would make it more difficult, but not impossible to go about her usual endeavors. Although, she supposed she could take a break and simply enjoy one event without worry.
Particularly since Lord Marshfield would be in attendance. She came to the conclusion she was more excited to see him than she should be. Despite sticking up for him to her sister and despite what a gentleman he’d been at Lord’s Cricket Ground, he had earned his reputation over at least the past four years. He wasn’t going to shed the skin of a rake in a couple of weeks. Certainly not for her.
