“Unfortunately, yes.”
“You did not fancy the job?”
“Worst job I ever had.”
“Worse than me?”
He laughed. “You have no idea.”
“Was she a... pretty girl?”
He glanced at her. She stared straight ahead.
“She was,” began Declan, “curved and cinched and powdered and rogued. She craved attention and knew how to get it.” He made a face. “No, I did not find her pretty. She was—” A weary sigh. “The journey to France was an exercise in frustration, mostly due to multiple wagons of luxuries related to her comfort. Her list of essential ‘accommodations’ made travel slow and burdensome. Longest journey of my life.” He rolled his neck, remembering the extreme inconvenience of every mile.
“And now you are my . . . groom,” Helena marveled. “You went from escorting the sweetheart of a royal duke to watching over me. Girdleston hires only the best, I suppose.”
He made a noncommittal sound and steered her around a cage of chickens. Helena didn’t need to know that he’d been unlocked from prison to do this job; she didn’t need to know he would likely return there if they failed. Her pressure to succeed was already significant. He’d said enough.
“There are extenuating... circumstances with Girdleston and me,” he finally said. “But you’re clearly valuable to the dukedom, of this I have no doubt. Girdleston is determined to shackle you to Lusk. I am guessing that the river on your family’s land must be very highly valued.”
“Thousands of pounds a year,” she said sadly. “A fortune, or so I’m told. At the moment, the limestone in the duke’s mines must be hauled to Bath by wagon. It is slow and expensive, and they sell it only within the region.
“But if,” she continued, “the limestone can be moved onmyriver, they can float it as far as Bristol. From there, it can be shipped around the world. It would be a huge windfall for both of our families but it would destroy the forest and my orchard especially. The apples are on terraced land that borders the river, and the line of wagons would wind through the center of it. They would actually have to chop every tree.”
Declan speculated, “If they must do it—”
“They mustnotdo it,” she insisted.
“Yes, alright, but if theywishto do it, why hingethe thing on the marriage of two unwilling people? Why not simply draw up some agreement between the families?”
“My grandparents, the previous earl and countess, forbade the disruption of the forest, and my father promised not to make any changes when he became earl. After Grandfather died and my grandmother saw the type of earl her son would become, she installed a second fail-safe to protect the forest by willing itto me.
“The loophole Gran could not foresee is, if Lusk is my husband, then the land will behispurview. And he may do as he likes. Or as his uncle likes. My father feels he is getting the profits from the mining agreement without breaking the exact language of the promise to his mother. His conscience is clear. Such a coward.”
“But you are not,” Declan said. Her position was as unfair as the false accusations about Knightly Snow.
Helena’s jaw was set. “No. I am not.” She glanced at him. “Thank you, for siding with me. And telling me about Knightly Snow. I’m... I’m sorry I raised Camille’s fears about betraying me. You do not deserve to be doubted, least of all by me.”
“Well, betrayal is afoot. I betrayed the very letter of my employment within hours of being hired.”
“Why? I wonder.” She slid him a shy smile.
“Good question.”
“Because you were immediately persuaded by me?”
“Because . . . it’s a bollocks job. Because everyone has a price, but mine is higher than saddling you with Lusk.”
It was the truth, he thought. Why not admit it?
Helena considered this, and he added, “And yes. Because of you.”
She laughed. “Because I am relentless?”
Now it was his turn to consider. She was relentless and irresistible and, most of all, doing the right thing.
“Aye,” he finally consented. “Relentless. That’s why.”
