Part 17 (1/2)
”No!” She cast him a considering glance. ”Why shouldn't she? You're a very skilled investigator, I'm told.”
”But not skilled enough to suit your ladys.h.i.+p,” he said, feeling a perverse urge to bait her.
”I didn't say that. From what I've seen, you're very thorough.” She turned her gaze to the road ahead. ”It's no wonder that you're being considered for the position of Chief Magistrate.”
His stomach knotted. He should have known that every conversation with Celia had the potential to be a bog-ridden moor. ”I suppose your grandmother told you about that.”
A troubled expression crossed her face. ”She says you must be careful not to be accused of any impropriety. That it would hurt your prospects for advancement. She says I should take care not to let you be caught in that position.”
”Oh, she does, does she?” Mrs. Plumtree was even more Machiavellian than he'd given her credit for. ”And I see you listen to her very well, for here we are, alone together again. At your instigation.”
A blush suffused her cheeks that so enhanced her beauty, he had to look away. ”Don't worry,” she said, ”no one will ever know about this. I'll make sure of that.”
”Like no one knew about our being alone together yesterday?”
”No one did!” she protested.
”Right. And your grandmother didn't guess that we'd been together, either. The last time anyone saw us, we were walking off arm in arm, remember?”
”Oh, but I told her some nonsense about how we parted before I came into the north wing.”
”And she believed you,” he said skeptically.
”Yes.” She chewed on her lower lip. ”Well, I think she did.”
”Doesn't sound like it.”
Her brow knit with worry as she glanced over at him. ”What did she say to you last night at the ball?”
That she'll disinherit you if I'm fool enough to offer for you.
No, he couldn't reveal that. Celia liked being told what to do about as much as he did. She might attach herself to him just to annoy her grandmother. He didn't want her that way. Especially when she had no idea what it was like to live without money.
”She asked about my intentions toward you.” He steadied his nerve to speak words that might hurt her. ”I told her there was nothing between us.”
”Did you?” Her expression was impenetrable as she s.h.i.+fted her gaze to the road ahead. ”Fortunately, I told her the same thing.”
He gripped the reins. So much for hurting her.
”But you know Gran,” Celia went on lightly. ”She'll think what she wants, no matter what either of us say.”
”Well,” he managed, ”her mind will surely be put to rest about you and me when you announce that you're marrying the duke.”
”When I announce it?” she echoed, then fell silent for a long moment. ”There's something I ... ought to have mentioned before.”
He gritted his teeth. d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n. She must have already announced it, last night after he'd left the ball. It was set in stone now. She was planning to let that b.l.o.o.d.y duke into her bed and her life, even though she didn't- ”I never had any intention of marrying the duke.”
Stunned, he turned to gape at her, a jolt of relief shooting straight to his soul. Then he caught himself. He could be reading her words entirely wrong. ”Oh? Have you fixed on one of the others instead?”
She took a deep breath. ”Actually I'd planned for another outcome entirely.”
His blood clamored in his chest. ”What do you mean?”
”I was hoping that if I gained an offer from a man of high rank, I could throw it back in Gran's face to prove I am just as marriageable as any woman. Then she would realize that her ultimatum was foolish, and she would rescind it.”
Sweet G.o.d. That, he hadn't expected. ”I see,” he muttered, rendered practically speechless by her revelation. All this time he'd a.s.sumed that she wanted to marry one of those a.r.s.es. If she hadn't really ...
No, he couldn't allow himself to hope. Nothing had really changed.
”I know, I know,” she went on, ”you don't have to say it-it was a stupid plan. I didn't think it through.”
He weighed his words. ”If it was a stupid plan-and I'm not saying it was-it's only because you misconstrue your grandmother's feelings about your eligibility to marry.”
She snorted. ”She thinks no one would ever marry 'a reckless society miss' and a 'troublemaker.'”
He winced to hear his own words thrown back at him. Celia was all that ... and so much more. Not that he dared tell her. Bad enough that he'd revealed too much of how he felt yesterday. For now, she could chalk it up to mere desire. If he started paying her compliments, she might guess how far his feelings went, and that wouldn't do.
So he tempered his remarks. ”Your grandmother is merely worried that you will waste yourself on some man who doesn't deserve you.” Like a b.a.s.t.a.r.d Bow Street Runner. ”I suspect that if you tell her you're going to marry the duke, she won't be a bit surprised. And she certainly won't agree to rescind the ultimatum, now that she's finally achieved what she wanted.”
”Yes, I've come to that conclusion myself. And besides ... well ... it wouldn't be fair to involve him in such a plot behind his back when he's a genuinely nice man offering marriage. If word got out that he had offered and I'd accepted, only to turn him down, people would a.s.sume I'd done it because of the madness in his family. That would just be cruel.”
Now that Jackson knew she wasn't actually going to marry the duke, he could be open-minded. ”It certainly wouldn't be kind,” he agreed. ”But I'd be more worried that if word got out, you'd be painted as the worst sort of jilt.”
She shrugged that off. ”I wouldn't care, as long as it freed me from Gran's ultimatum.”
It took him a moment to digest that. ”So you lied when you said at our first discussion of your suitors that you had an interest in marriage?”
”Of course I didn't lie.” Her cheeks pinkened again. ”But I want to marry for love, and not because Gran has decided I'm taking too long at it. I want my husband to genuinely care for me.” Her voice shook a little. ”And not just my fortune.” She cut him a sidelong glance. ”Or my connections.”
He stiffened in the saddle. ”I understand.” Oh yes, he understood all right. Any overtures he made would be construed as mercenary. Her grandmother had made sure of that by telling her of his aspirations.
Not that it mattered. If he married her, he risked watching her lose everything. A Chief Magistrate made quite a lofty sum for someone of Jackson's station, but for someone of hers?
It was nothing. Less than nothing.
”So what do you plan to do?” he asked. ”About your grandmother's ultimatum, I mean.”
She shook her head. ”If presenting her with an offer and begging her forbearance didn't work, my original plan was just to marry whichever of the three gentlemen had offered.”
”And now?”
”I can't bring myself to do it.”
He stopped clenching the reins. ”Well, that's something then.”
”So I find myself back where I started. I suppose I shall have to drum up some more suitors.” She slanted a glance at him. ”Any ideas?”