“Friends?” I caught myself fuming on the word and lowered my voice. I could not allow any of our company to overhear what I had to say. “How could you ever imagine that I would desire your friendship? You are the most unamiable, selfish, ill-behaved person I have ever met.”
Peter’s smile dropped as he raised his chin. Finally. Perhaps now he would take me seriously.
He swallowed, his gaze boring into mine. “Why?”
“Never mind. Only leave my sister alone. You have done enough to draw Sir Ronald’s attention away from her, and I can no longer sit idly by. You do everyone in this party a disservice by meddling where you ought not to.”
Peter was silent, brows raised. He did not counter me, nor did he seem angry by my response. Whether he contemplated my thoughts or was calculating his own rebuttal, I did not know, nor did I wait before counting more accusations against him in my head.
He took in a long, slow breath before responding. “Georgiana needs me to encourage her.”
“Then do you deny it? That you are pushing my sister out of Sir Ronald’s company to suit your own ambition for Georgiana’s marriage?”
Again he paused, eyes too gentle for the overwhelming fire within mine. “My intention has only been to aid Georgiana in her own endeavor. I have no ambition for the marriage. Only for her happiness.”
“At the expense of my sister’s? How cruel a person you must be to openly scheme one woman into love by denying another of its possibility. I will ask you again to stop your interference at once.”
He let out a disbelieving laugh, rubbing his jaw with a hand. “You do not know me at all, and yet you describe your opinion of me so brashly.”
“Do you deny it, Mr. Wood?”
He leaned against the window in his usual carefree manner. “I do not.”
I scoffed, shaking my head in disbelief. What surprised me was not that he schemed, but more that he seemed entirely complacent, content even, in his actions.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Peter said with an edge to his voice. “We are the same.”
Immediately I crossed my arms. “We are not—not in the least.”
“Really? What of your breathlessness on the hill earlier? And our private picnic away from them?”
I bit my tongue. He was not wrong. But that we were the same in reason? Absolutely not. A man like Peter could never understand the importance of a match like this for Clara, for me. He lived without a care, and Georgiana would too, regardless of whether or not she married Sir Ronald. Their lives would be undisrupted without this match, but for us, it would mean the difference between poverty and freedom. If anyone deserved to nudge her sister nearer to the finish line, it was I.
“You cannot possibly understand my motives. What weneedfrom this,” I emphasized.
“Do your needs outweigh my sister’s desires?”
Huffing, I rubbed my temples. There would be no arguing with a man who had everything, who gave freely to his sister as she desired. Clara and I did not live like that. We were the minority at Lakeshire Park. But I would never admit as much to Peter. Heaven only knew what he might do with that information.
“Spoken like a gentleman who wants for nothing,” I said under my breath. No matter what I said, he would never understand. “Just leave my sister alone. Do not engage her again unless she approaches you first.”
“Or what?” Peter smiled, and I realized I had no actual threat to back up my demand. “If you want me to step back, Amelia, you will have to give me something in return.”
“What is that?” I asked disdainfully, turning my gaze out the window. He knew I likely could not give him what he wanted, yet he baited me with the possibility.
There was a pause, an unexpected hesitation. I drew three steady breaths before he spoke. “Your company. Every afternoon until we leave.”
I whipped my head around to meet him. “What? That is preposterous.”
“It is the only way I will relent. But you must also keep from scheming.”
“You cannot be serious.” I shook my head, waiting for him to laugh at his own teasing. What could he possibly want with me? What sort of trick did he have up his sleeve now?
“I am in earnest.” He looked intently at me, as though we were discussing a legitimate trade. “Are you in agreement?”
“My company in exchange for you loosening your hold on Sir Ronald?”
“Yes,” he said firmly.
