Page 36 of A Season for Scandal

With that, Oliver swept past them, tugging me along with him on shaking legs.

“I take it that was the fool you were engaged to,” he said in a low voice once we were out of earshot.

“Yes,” I managed.

“Fortunate that you managed to dodge that particular bullet, then.”

“How did you know it was him?”

Oliver glanced down at me, his expression hard to read. “You went all … strange. And I didn’t like the way he looked at you.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, thank you for that. It was nice to see him put in his place like that.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“Of course,” I said with a sigh, “once we break off our pretend romance, everyone will think I’ve let another man slip through my fingers. I’m sure Simon will be delighted by that.”

Oliver seemed struck by this. “We’ll just have to make sure everyone knows that ending our relationship was your choice,” he said finally. “Plenty of people will be more than happy to tell you I’d be impossible to live with anyway.”

The words were gruff, and they drew a smile from me as we entered the park. “But, Mr Lockhart, only acomplete foolwould let me slip away. What will Simon Earnshaw think of you then?”

Oliver snorted. “I couldn’t care less what that chucklehead thinks of me. His opinion is not worth a brass farthing.” He came to a stop next to a bed full of phlox in bloom. Their playful pink petals were splashed magenta in the middle.

“You know,” he said, suddenly awkward, “I am grateful” – here he touched his tie, cleared his throat – “to the Aviary, I mean, for helping me. I will do whatever I can to make sure this ridiculous false engagement plan doesn’t hurt you or your reputation.”

“Thank you,” I said, surprisingly touched.

His eyes flicked to mine. “Yes, well. Don’t start getting all misty-eyed again; we’ve got enough to deal with, without you and all yourfeelings.”

“Quite right,” I agreed primly.

He cast me a suspicious glance.

“Though, of course, you’re going to have to pretendyouhave feelings for me in front of the Lavignes,” I added. “If we are to be convincing. So frustrating, all theseemotions. I do hope you’re a good actor, Mr Lockhart.”

Oliver’s jaw was set, a muscle twitching. “I suppose we will find out, Miss Bloom.” He cast his eyes to the heavens, before muttering under his breath, “What have I got myself into?”

I hid my smile as we turned and made our way back to Mrs Finch, but his question rang in my ears. Whathadwe got ourselves into? And were we going to be able to come out the other side unscathed?

PART THREE

Yorkshire

August, 1898

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The next day we were in Yorkshire. It seemed a miracle to me, that it was as simple as getting on a train, and that only hours later I could be hundreds of miles from the city in which I had spent my whole life.

As the distance sped past, and we left the sprawl of the city behind, I felt no shame in pressing my face to the windows of our fancy first-class carriage. I had only travelled by train once before, and it certainly hadn’t been in the sort of luxury that Oliver Lockhart seemed to take for granted. Mrs Finch, too, seemed as unflappable as ever, sitting quietly in the corner with her book.

As we moved further and further from London, it was as if a weight was being lifted from my chest, and I didn’t understand why. Daisy’s question of the day before rang in my ears.It’s not as if you’re going to be here for ever, is it?

Would I only stay at Bloom’s if I didn’t marry – or if I married someone who wanted me to continue working? Presumably such an arrangement would mean that the man in question would take over the shop. And did I even want to get married at all? My heart had been badly bruised by Simon, and the man was objectively a buffoon. Surely, it was better not to risk it, not to make myself vulnerable again.

After what had happened six months ago, such thoughts had been sealed away tightly in a box, but now that box had sprung open. I was forced to admit to myself that one day I wanted a family, and hard as it was to imagine, when I saw Izzy and Max together, I knew that if I everdidmarry, then I wanted what they had – a true partnership between equals. But was such a thing even possible? Their relationship was nothing like mine had been with Simon.

As the questions tumbled noisily over one another in my mind, I goggled at the countryside unfolding outside the train: the neat handkerchief squares of green and yellow and amber, separated from me by the thin sheet of glass that felt cold under my fingertips.