Page 16 of The Rake’s Convenient Bride

“The engagement will be over soon,” she declared.

“Being my fiancée can’t be all that bad.” He spoke in jest, and yet there was a weight to his words he didn’t want to feel.

She sniffed again, the tip of her nose pink. “Why did you do it?”

The blue of her eyes was almost black in the inky night.

He stared down at her and recalled exactly all the reasons why he’d gone along with her charade.

Because he hated the idea of her in distress. Because there was so much unfairness that one as good and innocent as Lady Elizabeth would be ruined simply by association with him. Because for one brief moment, he hoped he might be good enough for a woman like her.

Instead, he placed a hand over his chest. “Because, my dear, I am a gentleman.”

But rather than laugh, she put her hand over his where it still lay over his heart, her gaze still locked on his. “Because you are compassionate, Lord Darington. And I thank you for that.”

Jasper had been called many things in his life. Compassionate had never been one of them.

The door opened, letting strings of music and chatter trail out of the golden ballroom as Miss Beauchamp and Miss Honeyfield exited together. “A few more minutes out here and you might cause a second scandal,” Miss Beauchamp whispered.

“You can call on her tomorrow,” Miss Honeyfield said with an encouraging nod to Jasper before they both slipped back inside.

They weren’t wrong. The last thing Jasper wanted was to compromise Lady Elizabeth more than he already had. He put his hand to the small of her back and guided her toward the ballroom.

There was a slick patch of ice of the ground, too large to go around. Jasper carefully led Lady Elizabeth over it. She jerked abruptly, nearly falling. Jasper caught her, steadying her in his arms, nearly losing his own footing in the process.

“I’m such a mess. I’m so sorry,” Lady Elizabeth stammered.

“Don’t speak of my fiancée in such a way,” he chided, and gently released his hold on her to offer his arm.

She put her small hand into the crook of his arm again, bringing with her that sweet powdery fragrance. His nostrils flared slightly as he inhaled the delicate perfume, committing its light scent to his memory.

He liked the way she held onto him, as if he were a rock amid a roiling sea. It made him feel sure and steady; it made him feel needed.

A curl of ribbon slipped from beneath the hem of Lady Elizabeth’s gown, the same white satin he recognized from earlier when she’d tied it around her slender thigh.

“Oh, bother.” Lady Elizabeth’s shoulders sagged. “I should very much just like to return home.”

“I’ll see to it.” He opened the door. “Wait inside. I’ll fetch your mother and then have my man ensure your carriage is prepared.”

A small smile touched the corners of her lips, and he knew she was grateful for his assistance. There was something to that approval that warmed him from the inside and made him stand a little straighter.

Lady Elizabeth saw him in a different light from any other person he’d ever known. Save perhaps Bess, who, despite their sharp banter, had always thought fondly of him. Jasper found he rather liked seeing himself from the angle that Lady Elizabeth saw him in, even if he knew that angle to be entirely wrong.

4

Elizabeth gazed out the window of the carriage as they rode home, too exhausted to let her empty stare focus on any one thing in the whirling scenery.

“Lord Darington.” Mama exhaled his name on a sigh. “Elizabeth, why didn’t you tell us he’s been keen on you?”

“Too sudden for my peace of mind,” Papa muttered. “I don’t like it.”

“Oh, George, do stop,” Mama cajoled. “Our daughter is finally interested in getting married and you’re trying to discourage her.”

“Darington didn’t even bother to ask me first. I’m only the father.” Papa folded his arms over his chest with a harumph. “Shouldn’t surprise me though, what with his reputation…”

Elizabeth cringed, anticipating a lecture on the kind of man Lord Darington was rumored to be, and the miserable marriage that might make.

“He was carried away with emotion, was he not, Lizzie?” Grace pressed, saving Elizabeth from one of Papa’s notorious lectures.