A few minutes into the talk, she made the error of including Jonathan in her survey of the room when making a point and faltered again.Had he taken to tying his cravat in a different way since they had parted?It appeared so.What else had he changed in his efforts to forget her by obliterating everything in his life that reminded him of her?
He looked immaculate in his evening clothes.
Oh, when will this talk be over?She looked around the room again for a smiling face to focus upon as a lifebuoy while she floundered in the turbulent sea of her disrupted talk.Then she found her sister Anna smiling at her from the third row.Charlotte and William sat on either side of the audience.At each pause to deliver a point to each part of the room—left and right and center—she focused on her siblings’ smiling faces, ignoring all distractions from the front row.
With relief, she uttered her concluding sentence, smiled at the room of attendees in an all-encompassing way, and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, supper will be served now, and discussion is welcome.”
Then she dared to look at him again.
Jonathan rose from his seat and turned to assist his sister.He looked tall and masculine and authoritative.Jane yearned to touch his face, to feel his soft lips upon hers and his hard arms cradling her body.Her heart ached.The pain of their separation wasn’t over and appeared it never would be.
Why had she fallen in love with this man—this most incompatible man?
His deep, mellow voice broke into her thoughts.“Well, Jane?”
“Lord Dalton, you’re here.”Could I have responded any more inanely?
His mouth twitched with suppressed amusement.“Indeed, I am.”He bowed over her hand.“Elizabeth wouldn’t miss one of your salons for anything but a summons to Carlton House.How could I disappoint her by not playing chaperone?”
Jane responded in a similar light manner.“You are a dutiful brother.”
He retained her hand in his firm grip.“May I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your recent inheritance and the resultant relief of your financial woes.I am truly pleased that you have prospered and are no longer beholden to others for your family’s fate or fortune.”
He looked sincere, so Jane answered him in kind.“It is a pleasant feeling to know one’s future and that of one’s loved ones is buffered from the ups and downs of life.”
“But is thatallthat is necessary for a happy life, Jane?Is there not much more that you can envisage for yourself that would give you true contentment?”
“What do you suggest I am missing?”
“Love of a husband and your children to go with it?”
Jane scoffed.“How typical of a man to present that rosy picture as the ultimate prize for a woman.And are you suggesting yourself as part of that prize?”
“Not at all, Miss Brody, I was merely raising the prospect as a discussion point,” he answered deadpan.“As you suggested, discussion was the purpose of this evening.”
Curse the man’s self-assurance.Jane shot him a tight smile and inclined her head before turning to her other guests.
Jane spent the next hour with her guests discussing the issue of women’s education.Women’s attendance at university seemed as far beyond the scope of possibility as reaching the moon when most of the female population was illiterate and the majority of the remainder were denied any education approaching that of their brothers.
By the time Jane could talk with her sisters, only a few close friends remained.Dr.Logan had arrived after the talk concluded, with sincere apologies for having been delayed by a birth.Jane then understood the circumstances that had compelled Lord Dalton to accompany his sister.
Anna asked whether Jane had had time to talk with Lord Dalton this evening.When she answered in the affirmative, Anna replied, “Well?”as though she expected Jane to have learned something out of the ordinary or come to some conclusion.
“What are you implying, Anna?What ought I to have gleaned from him?”
“Didn’t you ask him about our mystery pamphlet writer?”
“Why on earth would I have asked him that?He is probably the last person I would expect to know the writer,” Jane scoffed.
Anna appeared incredulous.“By now you must have guessed that Lord Daltonisthe anonymous pamphleteer, have you not?”
Surely not!Jane’s mouth gaped open.“How do you know this?”
“His sister found evidence of large printing costs in his cash book.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Only by asking him, I suppose.You should do that.I haven’t the bravery to do so, and he wouldn’t tell me.”
