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The truth was that he had considered little else since finding the child, and now Olivia had entered the equation as well. He thought of her stubborn face, her grey-blue eyes, her reckless courage, and the way she had held the baby as though abandoning him would have been a betrayal of something sacred. James wondered whether the threatening letter had arrived because someone already knew far more than he had intended them to know.

Hubert watched him closely. "And what does this have to do with the young lady you met at the ball?"

James's fingers tightened around the stem of his glass. Of course his uncle would notice. He noticed everything when he was not distracted by dinner.

"She is part of the arrangement," James admitted. "Unless she backs out of the agreement, though I doubt it. Her circumstances are quite desperate."

"Desperate how?" Hubert asked.

"She is attempting to escape a match that her aunt is pressing upon her. She would rather marry me in an arrangement then marry her aunt's choice," James said.

Hubert's eyebrows rose. "You mean to marry her?"

James looked toward the fire, feeling the strange certainty that had settled over him since Olivia had whispered yes behind those library curtains.

"Yes," he said. "I mean to marry her, raise the child with her, and make certain no one can ever take the estate from me. This is father's doing, and I am only navigating his decisions."

He paused, then glanced back at Hubert with the faintest trace of humor. "It seemed simpler than leaving an infant in the road."

Hubert stared at him for several seconds before shaking his head. "You have become quite mad."

James lifted his wineglass. "I have suspected as much for some time."

"But your legitimate son?" he repeated, his brow furrowing. "James, I fear I have missed an important part of this conversation."

James could hardly blame him. The plan sounded absurd when spoken aloud, and yet it had seemed remarkably sensible when he had first conceived it beside that lonely road.

"It is all sudden I know. I will marry tomorrow and figure out the rest as we go along," he explained, folding his hands upon the table. "Then, nine months from now, I shall present the child as my wife's and my own. No one will see him of course and the christening and all will be done in private."

Hubert's mouth fell open. James waited patiently, already wondering whether his uncle would shout, faint, or reach for the brandy. Instead, Hubert stared at him for several seconds before a laugh burst from his chest.

"You are quite the schemer!" Hubert exclaimed, leaning back in his chair as his amusement overtook his shock. "Good God, James, you have already found yourself a wife and child?"

James allowed himself a small smile. "Apparently."

Hubert shook his head, laughing again as though the entire affair were too ridiculous to believe. "And here I was thinking you would spend the next twenty years avoiding marriage, glaring at every woman who came within ten feet of you."

"I have not entirely abandoned that strategy," James replied dryly. "I have merely made an exception, for the estate."

Hubert's laughter faded into a knowing smile. "Then tell me about her."

The question came with such genuine interest that James was momentarily caught off guard. He had expected suspicion, perhaps outrage, but not the almost paternal curiosity that now softened his uncle's face.

"What is she like?" Hubert asked, leaning forward. "Is she sensible? Kind? Does she know what she is agreeing to? Does she understand the sort of life she will have here?"

James looked down at the letter beside his plate, though he was no longer thinking about the threatening words. He was thinking of Olivia instead, of her sharp tongue and fearless eyes, of the way she had challenged nearly every assumption he had made about her, and of how she had looked when she had whispered yes behind the curtains.

"She is courageous," he said at last. "Very stubborn. Far too clever for her own peace of mind. She has a tendency to involve herself in situations that sensible people would avoid."

Hubert's expression became suspicious. "She sounds remarkably like someone who might be capable of marrying my nephew."

James's mouth twitched. "That is what I thought."

Hubert poured himself more wine and studied James over the rim of his glass. "And is she happy about this?" he asked.

The question struck James more deeply than he cared to admit.

Happiness was part of my original calculations. I need a wife, the baby needs a home, and my father's ridiculous clause needs to be defeated.