A blush exploded on her cheeks and even moved down to her neck, making it apparent that such a conversation had indeed taken place.
‘I can assure you, Miss… Margaret, that under the circumstances, I will not expect you to…’ he swallowed, feeling ridiculously uncomfortable ‘… I will not expect you to perform your wifely duties in the bedroom and will never, ever put you under pressure to do so.’ God, he sounded like a pompous old parson who saw sex as an abomination.
‘I see,’ she said, looking out of the window as if the passing scenery held much more interest than this conversation.
He could add,unless, of course, you want to, but suspected that might constitute putting her under pressure.
‘So, we are to be husband and wife in name only,’ she said, her cheeks still burning.
‘Yes. I assume that suits you?’Because if it doesn’t, I’m more than happy to perform my husbandly duties, if such a pleasure could ever be described as a duty.
‘Yes, it does,’ she said, still staring out of the window.
‘I thought that would be the case, so I have booked separate sleeping compartments for tonight.’
She nodded without looking at him.
Jacob had never made love on a train, and suspected the rocking motion would add another dimension to the experience, but that was something he was not going to discover, at least not tonight and not with his wife.
‘That is very respectful of you,’ she said, still not looking at him.
‘Good,’ he said, for something to say, hoping this was not what marriage was going to be like, a series of stilted conversations as if with a stranger. He’d much rather go back to how they’d been when they were unmarried and sparring off each other.
Like her, he turned to stare out of the window at the passing countryside.
‘Look, Margaret—’
‘I know you’re—’
They spoke at the same time. Jacob indicated for her to continue.
‘I know you’re trying to make things as easy for me as you can, with that talk about…well, duties and such…and I do thank you for that.’ She looked down at her gloved hands, clasped in her lap. ‘Because…well…from what Mother said, it is your legal right to expect me to perform…well…you know.’
‘Oh, God, no, Margaret, no,’ he said, shocked by her words, even though what she was saying he knew to be correct. ‘Who cares what the law says? In this case the law is most certainly an ass and should be changed.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Oh, Margaret, you have nothing to thank me for. I know you think me a cad, but I am not like Covington.’
Her eyes widened. ‘I never told you his name.’
‘No, but I know of no other brute who was dispatched to Australia. What he did was unforgivable and your father was right to make him pay for what he did. If anything, he got off far too lightly.’
She gave a small humourless laugh. ‘Yes, Father could have forced him to marry me.’
Jacob drew in a long breath through flared nostrils, hating that she could ever see him in the same light as Covington.
‘I’m sorry, that was unfair,’ she said, raising her eyes to look at him. ‘And you’re right. You’re nothing like the Earl of Covington.’
Faint praise indeed.
‘So, what were you going to say to me when we spoke together?’ she asked.
‘I was going to say that even though we are going to be man and wife in name only, perhaps we should try and be friends.’
She said nothing, as if considering his words, then nodded slowly and smiled. Once again, he was struck by how a smile transformed her face. It was so warm and genuine, containing not the slightest hint of artifice and all the more attractive because of it.
He wanted to make her smile as often as possible, even if the effect of that smile might challenge his resolve to just be friends.
