Page 30 of A Lady of Conscience

“For which I am endlessly grateful,” she said, sounding rather formal. “I will, of course, repay you the gold sovereign you expended on the donkey’s behalf.”

“You owe me nothing.”

“I can’t guarantee you will receive reimbursement from the donkey’s owner, Farmer Fallkirk. Though he and his daughter will certainly be pleased to see the little fellow. I shall arrange to return him to them without delay.”

“I will take him to them,” James said. “All you need do is relay their direction to me.”

Again, she went quiet. And then: “You’re offended by my behavior.”

“I’m alarmed by it,” James acknowledged. His blood simmered to recall the way the costermonger had reached for her. “That man was about to grab you.”

“He didn’t, thank goodness.”

“If I hadn’t arrived⁠—”

“But you did,” Hannah said quickly. “Indeed, your timing was impeccable.”

“Miss Heywood—” He paused. “Hannah⁠—”

“Yes, I know. You’re quite appalled, aren’t you? And no doubt thanking heaven that I didn’t accept the offer you made me before you left for London.”

James’s hands tightened reflexively on the reins. He was amazed she would reference his proposal. But then, she seemed to have a knack for amazing him. Shy and timid as she was⁠—

But she wasn’t shy, was she? Not in the way people supposed. He’d had a glimpse of her true character that night in the Beasley Park stable. It had been the very thing that had first attracted him to her. And today he’d had more than a glimpse. The strength of her convictions had blazed forth, irrespective of the consequences, reminding him exactly why he’d abandoned London after less than a fortnight in order to return to Bath.

And to her.

“You presume to know all my thoughts,” he said.

“No, indeed. But if you believed me unsuitable then, it stands to reason that you must recognize me as being doubly unsuitable now.”

James slowed his horses. He’d reflected on the words he’d chosen for his proposal often during their time apart, and had swiftly come to regret them. “Did I say you were unsuitable?”

“Not in so many words.”

“In any words?”

“You owned to having misgivings about my suitability, yes. Justifiable misgivings.”

He inwardly flinched at the reminder. “It was ungentlemanly of me.”

“But honest.”

“Regardless, I shouldn’t have said it. I hope that, one day, you can forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” she said.

He drove on, subsiding into silence. When the turning approached for Camden Place, he didn’t take it. He continued along the main road.

Hannah didn’t question his lapse. She had fallen quiet again too.

“How have you found your season in my absence?” he asked at last.

It was a damnable question. Naturally she would have met someone else. Several someones, in fact. All James had achieved by leaving Bath was to clear the field for them.

“Rather dull,” she replied frankly.

Relief coursed through him. He didn’t show it. He continued staring straight ahead, not betraying his delight at her pronouncement by so much as a twitch. “Dull, was it?”