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“Not exactly,” Ellie returned carefully. “It is rather that I am… er…related, in a manner of speaking… to Mr… ah, Fairfax. I mean… Neil. I’m related to Neil.”
Adam’s head shot up with alarm.
“You’rewhat?” He blinked as his focus sharpened. “Ellie… Eleanora. Fairfax’s sister is an Eleanora. But your name is Mallory!” He shook his head. “Except Fairfax’s dad passed when he was a kid. His mother remarried. Some nice insurance clerk… Daniel?”
“David,” Ellie corrected him weakly as she forced a grimace into an approximation of a smile. “David Mallory.”
“Your dad,” Adam filled in bluntly. “Because Fairfax is your brother.”
“Technically my stepbrother,” she hedged in return.
Adam stared at her, paling.
“Because you’re Peanut,” he said numbly. “You’re Fairfax’s Peanut.”
Ellie’s irritation flared.
“I will not endorse that wretched nickname,” she pronounced.
“You’re Fairfax’s Peanut,” Adam repeated stubbornly. His expression shifted to one of deeper dawning horror. “And I’ve ruined you.”
Ellie’s jaw dropped. She snapped it closed again.
“You most certainly have not!” she protested.
Adam pushed to his feet, agitation animating his frame.
“We’ve been alone in the bush together for a week. You think anybody is going to believe I kept my hands off you?” He laughed a little madly as he pushed his hands through his hair. “I mean, for all anybody knows we might’ve been—” He caught himself, choking back the words as he flashed Ellie an uncomfortable look. “Just… things. Extremely inappropriate things.”
A bolt of indignation straightened Ellie’s spine.
“I am not ignorant of the conditions required for sexual congress, Mr. Bates.”
Adam made a strangled noise, and then dropped back into his chair, lowering his head. He raised it a moment later, looking stricken.
“We’re gonna have to get married,” he declared.
Panic drove Ellie to her feet as the response spilled out of her.
“Absolutely not!”
Adam jabbed a finger at her.
“Word of this gets back to London, what do you think is going to happen?” he demanded.
“Maybe word of it doesn’t need to get back to anyone,” Ellie suggested uneasily.
“So—what? We just lie to everybody for the rest of our lives? One of my best friends? Yourbrother?” he emphasized.
Ellie ground her teeth against the conundrum.
A falsehood would certainly be easier. They were on the other side of the world. The chances that anyone would ever find out about it were practically nonexistent… as long as she didn’t mind living a lie for the rest of her life, and obligating Adam to do the same.
She let out a growl of frustration and fell back onto the cot, sprawling out her arms. She stared up at the blank canvas roof of the tent.
“I don’t want to be married,” Ellie protested. “Toanybody.”
There was an alarming wobble to the words.
