“Lord Renfrew doesn’t assume that Hallie has been bedded by Jason Sherbrooke?”
“Surely Miss Carrick hasn’t gone that far! It was just that single embrace.”
“How can Lord Renfrew know that for sure?”
“As I said, my dear Elgin loves her. He’s willing to overlook certain matters. He’s willing to mend her reputation, give her the protection of his name.”
Dead silence, then Hallie heard the rustle of skirts. She quickly walked toward the back of the house. She heard Angela say, “I shall certainly speak to Hallie about this, Lady Grimsby. But she was very overset when she learned Lord Renfrew had lied about his age.”
“Lied about his age? Why would a gentleman do that? It’s absurd, only ladies lie about their age. A man is supposed to be a girl’s senior by a number of years and proud of it since he is the one who must provide his young wife with proper guidance, a firm hand, wise counsel—”
“So I may assure Hallie that Lord Renfrew plans to hunker down in front of his own hearth, not avail himself of her money and begin to celebrate birthdays again?”
“You are treating this as a joke, Angela. You know that a woman’s money becomes her husband’s upon her marriage. It is always the way things are done. You must know that as soon as this news gets out, Miss Carrick won’t be invited anywhere.
“Jason Sherbrooke won’t marry her. Lord Grimsby assures me that he won’t. If she has a brain, she’s to thank the good Lord for sending Elgin here to save the day. As for her ridiculous partnership here at Lyon’s Gate, everyone knows it’s Jason Sherbrooke who runs things, it’s—”
Hallie said, “Good morning, Lady Grimsby. How very lovely of you to visit. Ah, if you would be so kind to tell Lord Renfrew I will be by at precisely midnight with my ladder. I will climb up to his bedchamber and rap smartly on his window. I will take him to Gretna Green. What do you think of that?”
Lady Grimsby looked her up and down. “I don’t care if your boots are shiny, Miss Carrick, you cannot continue living in this house with a man who isn’t your husband.”
“So if I were to wed Lord Renfrew, he would move in here too?”
“Why, as to that, I don’t know. Perhaps he would simply have Jason Sherbrooke leave and take over the management of the stud.”
“Jason won’t sell out, Lady Grimsby. If I were Lord Renfrew, I would think seriously about sitting across from Jason Sherbrooke’s beautiful face every morning at the breakfast table.”
“Elgin will see that that doesn’t happen. He’s older than Jason Sherbrooke, he will take care of him, you’ll see.”
“Elgin and who else?”
“I do not find you amusing. Good day, Miss Carrick. Good day, Angela. I shall tell Elgin you’re ready to hear his suit now.”
“A moment, Lady Grimsby,” Hallie said. “Did you know my father, Baron Sherard, is staying here with us? If Elgin wishes, he can certainly speak to my father.”
“Your father is here? How long has your father been here, Miss Carrick?”
“Why don’t you ask your maid. She can ask her cousin. If he isn’t certain, why he can come to the house and I will give him the straight facts. Good day, Lady Grimsby. Oh goodness, which is Lord Renfrew’s bedchamber? I should hate to rap on your window by mistake.”
Lady Grimsby turned back as her footman prepared to hand her into her carriage. “You will come to a bad end, Miss Carrick. This levity, it doesn’t bode well for a lady’s future.” Lady Grimsby swept into her carriage. The driver gave Hallie a mournful look as he gently closed his mistress’s door.
Hallie heard Jason’s whistle coming from the stables, and heard her father’s voice. She called out, “Jason, do we have a nice tall ladder?”
CHAPTER 32
Jason caught Hallie eavesdropping, her ear pressed to the drawing room door. She didn’t act embarrassed at being caught, rather she smiled, motioned him to her and whispered, “I can’t believe he actually screwed his nerve to the sticking point and came here to face my father.” She gave Jason a sideways look. “Hmm. Perhaps I’ve misjudged poor Elgin.”
“He came again?” Jason said. “Lord Renfrew must need money very badly.”
“Ah, so you don’t believe his courage is because he’s lost himself in love for me?”
“No.”
She sighed. “At least in his case the truth doesn’t hurt.”
Seven minutes later, Hallie jumped back from the door. Three seconds later, Lord Renfrew, looking both pale and philosophical, preceded Baron Sherard out of the drawing room. He saw Hallie standing beside Jason Sherbrooke, the bastard with his angel’s face that he didn’t deserve, and a male form he didn’t deserve either. Elgin knew he ruthlessly used both to his advantage, because it would be the reasonable thing to do. As for Hallie, this girl he’d tried yet again to secure as his wife—He nearly shuddered. She was wearing those ridiculous boots that were so shiny he could see the sweat on his own brow. Her hair was windblown, and there was a dirt stain on the side of her nose. She looked frowzy. He said to her, “I don’t know why you’re standing there holding a bridle.”
“It’s broken. I’m going to fix it.”
“You’re a female despite those shiny boots of yours. You can fix a cup of tea but you can’t fix anything important, certainly not a bridle.”
“Tea isn’t important?” said Alec Carrick, a brow shooting upward. “I find nothing so inspiring as a bracing cup of tea. A dollop of milk, nothing else.”
“Oh no. One must add lemon so that the tea obtains the most select depth of flavor, not milk. Very well, tea is important, but for her to fix a bridle? No, girls don’t do that sort of thing.”
Hallie said, “You may be right. I certainly couldn’t fix you, could I?”
“You never tried. You never asked me to explain, never showed me a moment’s compassion, you just booted me out the door. And now I understand from your father that you will marry this man who doesn’t want you, this man who compromised you only because you are here and willing, and that makes him worse than me.”
Jason asked, “How could I be worse than you?”
“I never tried to seduce her so she would be compromised.”
Hallie wished she could whirl that bridle about in her hands and aim for Lord Renfrew’s head. “You didn’t have to compromise me. I swam right into your net.”
“Well, yes you did, but that’s not what’s important here. What’s important here is manhood and the use of it. I would have done all those things he probably did to you, but only after you became my wife, when it would be proper to do so. You could have had me, Hallie, and all my devotion and all my skills as a renowned lover.”
“Jason did not compromise me,” Hallie said.
“Ha. He’s a man, isn’t he? It’s obvious he wanted to enjoy your fair person without having to sit across the dinner table from you for the rest of his life.”
“Since we are partners, my presence at the dinner table is a regular occurrence. Nothing would change there.”
“I would have wanted to sit across the dinner table from you, Hallie, perhaps feed you bits of my dinner roll. He doesn’t want to. He is trapped only because your father is here and would kill him if he didn’t marry you.”
“Maiming might have been an alternative,” Alec said.
But Lord Renfrew ignored him. “I can’t imagine being your partner; it doesn’t bear thinking about. Having to put up with your impertinence without enjoying the benefits of your womanly self at night—perhaps, were I he, I’d flee back to Baltimore. As for his marrying you, it is to gain your money, all know that. You are not wise, Hallie. You could have had me with my heart in my hand.”
“That is a thought that stirs the hairs on my neck. Good-bye, Lord Renfrew. Whenever I think of what I could have had, I shall doubtless be saddened, for the rest of my life.”
“Your father is right. You would have not made me happy.”
“I didn’t say exactly that,” said Baron Sherard.
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“No, Papa, probably not,” she said. “Consider yourself a lucky man, Lord Renfrew. Good day to you.”
He shook his head, said to himself as he clamped his hat down upon his head, “I cannot believe I let Charles talk me into wasting my time here,” and he was gone.
Jason frowned after Lord Renfrew: Charles Grandison wanted that dolt to marry Hallie? Charles never did anything without a reason. Jason wanted to know what that reason was.
Alec Carrick said, “There goes a man who will have a rich wife by the end of the year, maybe even by fall. He’s really quite believable when he sets his mind to it. I can see how you were taken in, my dear.”
“Not any longer. I do wonder why he came.” She watched Lord Renfrew mount his horse and ride away, not looking back. He rode well, tall and arrogant in the saddle. “Did he think I would forgive him what he’d done? Is this what Charles Grandison thought?”
“Yes,” Angela said. “What I don’t understand is why Charles Grandison wanted him to marry you so badly.”
Jason cleared his throat. “Hello, Angela. You move very quietly. Were you eavesdropping from outside the drawing room window? No, don’t tell me. Lord Renfrew is gone and that’s all that matters now. As for Charles and his part in this, I will pry the reason out of him the next time I see him. Hallie, I believe you and I should take a walk now.”
“Why? Is something wrong with one of the mares? Father, why are you shaking your head at me like that?”
“Sweetheart, do not be obtuse. Face up to the facts. Go with Jason. There will be a lot to do. Oh yes, your aunt and uncle will be staying at Northcliffe Hall.”
“Father, all that talk about Jason having to marry me, I thought you were joking, that you were torturing Lord Renfrew, and I will admit that I thought it was well done of you. You really believe I should marry Jason? That’s ridiculous.” She whirled around to face Jason. “Listen to me, I will not marry you. You don’t want a wife. You wouldn’t trust a wife.”
“Come along, Hallie.”
“No. You said you never wanted to marry. I don’t want to marry either. That makes two of us. We have the majority opinion here.”
Alec Carrick roared, “You had your hand down his damned britches, Hallie! You would have had him on the stable floor in a matter of moments if I hadn’t pried you off him.”
“Pried me?”
“No, sir,” Jason said, heart pounding, the specter of doom sitting on his shoulder. “I would have stopped her. Well, perhaps not.”
“Exactly,” Alec said. “This is called consequences, Hallie. Get a grip on yourself.” He said to Jason, “She once denied a downpour because she wanted a picnic. Denying the need for a husband would be nothing for her.”
“But—”
“Shut up, Hallie.” Jason grabbed her hand and jerked her toward the front door. “Let’s talk about a picnic in the rain.”
She said, “That particular picnic was pretty dreadful, truth be told—” Jason dragged her out of the house.
Angela said to Alec, “I am worried about this, my lord. She’s always been stubborn.”
“I have confidence in young Mr. Sherbrooke. I saw him surrounded by children several times in Baltimore. They adored him. They obeyed him. He will bring Hallie around. Did you know she found out who the stable lad is who told his cousin, who is Lady Grimsby’s maid, about Jason and Hallie in the stables?”
“Oh dear, is the fellow hanging from a stable beam? Will we have to hide the body?”
“Nothing so final. She told me she was going to lock him in the closet beneath the stairs, keep him on a diet of bread and water until he repented his loose tongue.”
Despite knowing better, Angela looked back over her shoulder toward the stairs.
Alec Carrick laughed, buffeted her shoulder. “Life is never what one expects, is it, Angela?”
“Their children will be beautiful,” Angela said.
Alec Carrick looked like she’d slapped him. He was still shaking his head as he walked to the stables. He saw Jason and his daughter walking toward the maple copse to the east, and stopped. No, he wasn’t needed. If Jason didn’t have the wherewithal to bring her to reason, it would take the Devil himself. How strange that she was so like her stepmother—bullheaded wasn’t far off the mark—and not at all like the woman who’d birthed her. He wondered what Jason would say to her.
Jason didn’t say a word. He pulled her to a halt beneath a lovely summer-leafed maple branch and dove his fingers into her hair. She closed her eyes. How could massaging her scalp make her want to rip off her stockings and boots? “Surely that is sinful. It feels too good not to be bad.”
“What comes after my rubbing your scalp is what’s bad.” She leaned toward him so he could rub her head better, not because she wanted to throw herself on him. She was firm with herself about this, she was in control of herself. She would see this through, she would not bow to parental pressure. When he released her, she pulled a maple leaf off and began twisting it around her fingers. She said, “I will not marry you, Jason. I will speak again to my father, tell him that—”
Jason growled low in his throat, grabbed her, and kissed her hard. He said into her mouth, “Be quiet. It’s done. You’ve got me. We’ve got each other. I will do my best to be a good husband to you, Hallie, I swear it to you. Now stop being a mule.”
He raised his head and she was forced to look into his incredible eyes, a woman’s downfall, those eyes of his, and his mouth—well, she wasn’t going to look at his mouth, or his eyes, she wasn’t that great a fool. She wanted to ram him against the tree. No, she was strong, in control of herself, she knew what was right. Forcing him to wed her wasn’t. Her heart, though, it was pounding so hard and fast it nearly hurt. She wanted him to press his fingers to her racing heart. She felt his fingers stroking through her hair again, this time pulling out the pins. She felt his mouth again on hers, and finally, thank the good Lord above, felt his fingers lightly cup her breast. Her wits fell out of her head. She saw things very clearly in that moment, looking up at him, seeing his determination, and yes, lust as well. Perhaps there was caring as well, mayhap a dollop of tenderness. It was enough. It was more than enough. Without another thought, she jumped off the cliff. “All right,” she said. “Yes, perhaps marrying you would be a very wonderful thing.”
Over dinner that evening, Jason invited all the staff into the dining room for a glass of champagne.
“What is this, Master Jason? Have we a new mare to be covered by our virile Dodger?”
“No, Petrie. Miss Carrick and I will be married. Very soon. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard the rumors. The rumors will cease once my uncle Tysen says the hallowed words over our heads.”
Martha accepted her glass of champagne, beaming. “Oh, Miss Hallie, how very exciting, to actually have Master Jason all to yourself! But you nearly had him in the stable, didn’t you? Well, perhaps it’s best not to speak of that.”
“To the joining of partners,” Baron Sherard said loudly, and everyone cheered and drank the rather decent champagne, all except Petrie, who looked like he would burst into tears.
“Give it up, Petrie,” Jason said. “Drink your champagne It will make you feel more resigned to the inevitable.”
“Is that what you have become, my poor master? A guzzler?”
“That is quite enough, Petrie,” Angela said. “Trust me on this.”
Petrie wasn’t stupid. He saw the warning in the master’s eyes, knew he was dead serious, and gulped down the champagne. “Don’t let her rearrange the furniture in your bedchamber, Master Jason.”
Hallie said, “Oh goodness, I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Please, don’t, miss,” Petrie said.
“Not the furniture, you dolt, I hadn’t thought about sharing his bedchamber. I like mine better. Why can’t he move into mine? Why can’t we each keep our own bedchambers?”
Jason patted her hand. “Don’t worry about it now. We will figure things out.”
Angela said comfortably as she accepted another glass of champagne from Lord Sherard, “Perhaps I can move to your bedchamber, Hallie, and we can tear down the wall between mine and Jason’s bedchambers. You’ll both have enough room and Jason can arrange the furniture. What do you think?”
Hallie looked like she might bolt. Jason himself wanted to bolt, but he said, “We will consider this. However, right at this moment, I believe we should stick to well-wishes and toasts.”
Petrie moaned again, and it wasn’t at all discreet. Martha rounded on him, waved her glass in his face. “You don’t amuse me, Mr. Petrie. Look at my mistress—a beautiful lady she is, nearly as beautiful a lady as Master Jason is a gentleman. It’s close. Maybe not really close—Yes, you’ve hurt her feelings with your sour little female slurs that smack of a female-having-blighted-your-heart, something that probably happened years ago.”
“Not that many years ago,” Angela said. “Petrie isn’t that old.”
Hallie said under her breath to her father, “I wonder if that can be true. Is Petrie’s dislike of women because his heart was broken?”
“No,” Jason said. “Petrie came into this world disliking the fair sex. His mother never chided him, never abused him. She adores him. She still does.”
“She doesn’t love me deep inside where it counts,” Petrie said and everyone looked at him.
“That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard, Mr. Petrie! Have you told your mama this?”
“Of course not. It would upset her and a female who’s upset does scurrilous things.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “I will tell your mother you feel this way, Petrie, so any curses she has are heaped on my head, not yours.”
Martha said right in his face, “You’re a petulant stick.”
Petrie opened his mouth to blast her. Angela said, “Goodness, all this excitement makes me hungry. Cook, why don’t you bring out your blancmange?”
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