Davina did not know what to make of it. Should he want to speak with her, would he not ask her to come to St. James’s? She doubted he only sought to save her the time of traveling across town.
At three o’clock, she entered the square. Rather than search for him, she decided to sit on a bench and let him find her. He did so five minutes later.
“Would you like to take a turn?” he asked after they shared greetings.
She stood and strolled beside him. He appeared even more gaunt in the full light of day. Shadows formed in his hollow cheeks and the light made him squint. His mouth still reminded her of a frog.
“I thought this would be more convenient for you,” he said. “Also less formal.”
“How thoughtful. And here I assumed the peculiar place you chose meant you are not speaking for the king.”
“You are perceptive. And correct. I am not speaking for His Majesty. I am only conveying my own view of how things stand.”
“And how is that, sir?”
“Not good. Not good at all. His Majesty is most displeased that the matter is being bandied about. I explained that you had no cause to do that. In fact, you lose a useful weapon in its happening. He insisted on knowing the source, and was even more displeased to discover it was your employer, Angus Hume. Now he thinks the whole thing is a Jacobite plot to discredit him.” He laughed lightly. “Nonsense, of course.”
“Of course. Utter nonsense.”
They paced on.
“And yet,” Haversham said. “Once he gets a notion in his head, well . . .”
“If you know of some way I can end the gossip or turn this around, I will endeavor to do so. However, I can hardly silence people if he and the duke cannot. I am the least influential party.”
He slid a gaze over at her. “The only way to silence them is for you to withdraw your request. For now, that is. Allow it to die down, and in a year or two—”
“In a year or two, you say. Then in another year or two. It has already been one year or two. A few, in fact. I am determined to settle this now, Mr. Haversham. I would never have come all this way otherwise.”
He stopped walking. He covered his mouth with his hands and frowned in thought. “It might help your case if you were allied with someone the king trusted. The involvement of Hume has him agitated, you see. Suspicious.”
“Is not the Duchess of Stratton esteemed enough to be someone he trusts?”
“He thinks she will publish a damning article in that journal if given the chance. No, she is not the alliance I meant. I speak of a more permanent one. You are still of marriageable age. If you had a husband, a man the king trusted, it would probably do much to aid your case.”
She managed to keep walking, but this suggestion, put out as calmly as a comment on the weather, stunned her. What did the king expect? That she stand on a street corner with a sign around her neck, offering to marry any man acceptable to the king?
“It would be necessary for the man to be English, of course,” Haversham added.
“Why is that?”
“So you are not unduly influenced, and instead are correctly influenced.”
“I see.”
“There are some sons of peers who would most likely apply for the position. Younger sons, of course. The heirs would need more assurance of a fortune than can be given.”
“Of course.”
“I could arrange some introductions. It would be subtle.”
She pictured all those subtle arrangements and assurances, and the romantic pursuits that were anything but heartfelt, and the proposals. She could see herself getting caught up in it, much as she had at the theater. What woman would not enjoy the flattery and attention, especially after years of having none?
What had the duke said? That if she inherited nothing, she would still be stuck with this man forever. No matter how honest she was, no matter how blunt, he would blame her and feel he had been trapped.
Of course, the duke had not put it that way. He had saidwhenshe inherited nothing, notif.
“I ask that you do not arrange any introductions,” she said. “I am not interested in marriage under such conditions.”
