So he hoped he’d be given a chance to improve his effort later.
Would she be amenable to such an idea? Or would she push him away?
He longed to find out, but how? Getting her alone was impossible with her maid always at her side.
Callum sighed as he settled against the squabs. He wanted to talk to her about all that happened, to be reassured that it hadn’t affected their friendship. Not an option. The subject was far too personal to let Georgina overhear.
Still, it had to be addressed. Not doing so would only make it more awkward.
He considered his choices which were few considering their current location in a closed carriage. It wasn’t as though he could ask Lady Emily to take a turn of the room with him so they could speak with a bit more privacy.
“I’m hungry,” he blurted, with precisely the sort of clumsiness he’d always managed to put on display in Lady Emily’s presence. He ignored it. “Let’s stop at the next inn.”
“London isn’t far,” Lady Emily said, still not looking at him. “Can you not wait to eat until you get home?”
“No.”
She sighed as though he were proving to be a huge inconvenience. “All right.”
Callum tapped on the roof to inform the driver, and they pulled to a halt shortly after. Lady Emily hadn’t been wrong. London was already visible on the horizon. It wouldn’t take more than twenty minutes at most for them to reach it, another fifteen before they arrived at his home.
Ignoring that fact, Callum opened the carriage door and climbed down. He helped Lady Emily and her maid alight, then led the way inside the inn where he quickly acquired a table in the far corner.
He pulled out a chair for Lady Emily so she could sit, then turned to Georgina. “I believe I forgot my pocket watch in the carriage. Can you please go and fetch it?”
“Of course, Your Grace.”
Callum waited for her to walk away before claiming the seat directly beside Lady Emily. Dismissing her stiff posture, he leaned in and whispered. “We need to talk about what has happened. Ignoring it won’t make it go away.”
“I wish it would,” she murmured. “A courtship, that was all this was meant to be. A faux arrangement we could both walk away from with ease by simply deciding that we don’t suit.”
“Don’t we?” His poor heart ached from the sting of her words.
She shook her head. “We’ve only recently started to tolerate one another. To get engaged feels like leaping off a cliff with a blindfold on. It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“I know, but it felt like the right thing to do in the moment.” He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry if it was the wrong move to make.”
“You’ve nothing to apologize for.” Lady Emily sniffed. “I got you into this mess when I asked you for an unreasonable favor. It is I who ought to be sorry.”
“You were only trying to make your grandmother happy. I understand that. In fact, the length you’re willing to go for her only proves what a wonderful person you are.”
“I don’t feel wonderful at the moment.”
He considered that with an increasing sense of sadness. “Would it truly be such a bad thing if you and I were to marry?”
“Stratton, you—”
“Please, call me Callum.” When she looked like she might protest he told her, “We are by all accounts engaged. Will you permit me the honor of using your given name too, without the honorific?”
She hesitated briefly before eventually nodding. “I’ve been thinking of how to solve this conundrum. If we tell Mama and Papa the truth, they can help make it go away.”
A serving woman arrived at that moment denying Callum the chance to comment. Georgina joined them in the next instant. She apologized for not finding the pocket watch Callum had known to be in his pocket, and his conversation with Emily effectively ended.
Callum frowned. There was so much more to be said. Unfortunately, it would now have to wait.
“We’ll go to Rosemont house directly,” Callum informed the driver when they returned to the carriage after their meal.
Emily sent him an odd look. “We’re supposed to be dropping you off first.”
