Chapter Three #3
‘I will put them in my jewellery box and read them over and over,’ she said, knowing this was exactly what she would do if they were real.
But these notes would be signed Tom Smith.
They would be nothing but a fiction created to fool her grandfather.
As her Thomas Carew was also nothing but a fiction it was probably appropriate.
‘Tie them with your favourite hair ribbon,’ he suggested, as if reading her mind.
‘A courtship and engagement, complete with billet doux, all in a handy packet. You have left nothing out.’ Lord help her, this must be hell. She’d never been so mortified in her life.
‘Perhaps when you have your money, I shall give up being a duke and hire myself out to lovelorn ladies of the ton,’ he said. ‘I could start a subscription service of some kind.’
‘I suspect that would be very popular,’ she agreed.
And for a few minutes, they both laughed over what a silly idea that would be. If he noticed that her mirth was a trifle frantic, he did not remark on it.
When they’d calmed down again, the duke continued to outline his preparations and the wardrobe he had purchased to make himself look more like a humble farmer.
When he began to talk of cutting his hair in a different style to complete the transformation, she interrupted.
‘You are certainly getting into the spirit of this. But is that really necessary?’
‘I will do it properly, if it is to be done at all,’ he insisted. ‘And now, if you are done with your breakfast, I wish to take a walk.’
She pushed her plate away, relieved the interview was over. ‘Where do you wish to go? I can summon your carriage…’ She was halfway out of her chair before he spoke again.
‘Just around the square. No great distance.’
He had never done such a thing before. But then, he had never come to breakfast when Percy was not present. Perhaps he wanted a spot of exercise to help with his digestion. It was not for her to say. ‘As you wish, Your Grace. I will see you to the door.’
He laughed again. ‘You misunderstand. I wish you to accompany me, Louisa. And from now on, you must get used to calling me Tom. I am not a duke. Just a simple farmer from—’ his forehead creased as he searched for the word ‘—Alton in Staffordshire. I do not have it all fully memorised yet. But I will.’
Walking with her. This was another surprise. ‘Of course. I will summon a maid.’
Before she could reach a bellpull, he’d come around the table and had taken her arm, turning her about and heading towards the door. ‘We will only be gone a few moments and will not need a servant to tag along.’
‘But… A chaperone…’ she protested, as he pulled her down the hall and out the front door.
‘Your honour is safe with me. We will hardly be out of sight of your house. If anyone is to believe that we are betrothed, we cannot keep going on as we are, with someone standing between us to see we do not get too close,’ he said firmly.
Once they were out on the pavement, he relaxed and walked a bit slower.
‘Now that an offer has been made, we can relax the rules, just a tad.’
‘Did you offer for me?’ she said, confused. ‘I did not get to the end of the story.’
‘At a picnic,’ he assured her. ‘We went riding in the country. There was no chaperone.’
‘I would never have agreed to that,’ she said, hoping she did not sound too prim.
‘I acquired your brother’s permission beforehand.’
‘Then, I suppose I cannot object to a short stroll,’ she said, letting herself be carried away by the fiction.
‘And I would hope, now that we are engaged, when we go out together you will not look quite so…’ Now he was the one who faltered.
‘Hesitant?’ she said.
‘Repelled,’ he said, at the same time.
She stopped, surprised. ‘I do not find you repulsive.’
If anything, he was far too attractive. She could not say that, though, without making things even more awkward than they were. But she could not allow him to go about, thinking she hated him. ‘I…’ She stopped and moistened her lips.
‘I know you think of me as a brother,’ he said, not allowing her to finish. ‘Just as you are like a little sister to me.’
She bit her tongue to keep from suggesting he add a footnote to his notes, reminding him that it was no compliment to relegate an eligible female to the role of honorary sister. Instead, she said evenly, ‘Of course.’
‘We will need to put those feelings to the side for a bit. For the next week, while we are together, you must treat me as if I am not just an ordinary friend, but an intimate.’
Her irritation dissolved into confusion. ‘That will be very difficult.’
‘That is why we must begin practicing immediately,’ he replied, taking her hand from the crook of his arm and raising it to his lips for a quick kiss.
His lips were warm and soft. Her skin tingled at their touch, which was as light as a dropped rose petal. All the nerves in her body hushed so she could focus her entire being on that one sweet spot, to remember her first kiss.
And, as usually happened when her mind strayed too far into the weeds, she forgot how to walk and stumbled over a crack in the pavement.
His grip tightened on her hand and his other arm shot out in front of her to stop her fall.
Once she was steady, he relaxed again and patted her hand.
‘Don’t worry, my dear. I will protect you, just as I would if this were a real courtship.
’ He smiled and pulled her a little closer.
‘Though I suspect you will need a touch more care than I’ve had to give to other ladies I’ve escorted. ’
Because you are a clumsy cow.
Her grandfather’s voice echoed so loudly in her ears she was surprised that the duke couldn’t hear it. ‘I am not clumsy,’ she blurted, trying to drown it out.
‘Of course not. We all stumble occasionally. I have danced with you. You do quite all right, some of the time.’
Her mind scrolled back through three Seasons of awkward reels, trodden toes and stilted conversation. ‘You are too generous, Your Grace,’ she said through slightly clenched teeth.
‘Tom,’ he insisted. ‘Or Thomas, if that’s easier.’
‘I prefer Thomas,’ she said, blushing.
‘We have never waltzed,’ he reminded her. ‘You will find that much easier if we should try it. Not so many steps to remember. It is simple to keep the beat when your partner has a proper hold on you.’
At the thought of being held in his arms, she stumbled again.
And once again he held her up. ‘The pathway is most uneven on this street. I will speak to someone with the city and see that it is repaired.’
‘How thoughtful,’ she said numbly, staring down at her traitorous feet.
‘We are almost back to the house,’ he said with a nod. ‘You have survived the first lesson.’
Barely. Her knees felt like water. It was only with an effort that she managed the last few steps without tripping on her hem.
‘It will all get easier, with time,’ he said opening the door and ushering her back inside. ‘In a week, it will seem as if we have been together for ages.’
That was exactly what she was afraid of. If she became too comfortable being courted by the Duke of Bonham, she might begin to believe it was real. How would she survive when it ended?
She would have to get through it somehow. At the end of it, she would have a new and better life. That was the whole reason for this farce. It was not a romantic fantasy come to life. She was trying to get free from her grandfather.
She stared down at her feet, ordering them to take step after step, into the house and back to the dining room. ‘I will have a house of my own,’ she said, staring down as if speaking directly to them would keep them in line. ‘A cottage, with roses around the door and a front room full of books.’
‘When we are through, you shall have anything you want.’
She looked up again, at Thomas Carew, Duke of Bonham, the handsomest man in London. ‘Almost anything,’ she corrected. Some things would never be possible no matter how they seemed today.