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She recalled then the conversation they’d begun on the dance floor, his admission that the dukedom was bankrupt.
Which, if true, would make it doubly important that he lay claim to something so very dear to him. She laid a comforting hand on his sleeve. “You must get your father’s book.”
“I will. Eventually.”
“No, now,” she pressed. “You cannot allow something so important to you to remain under your mother’s roof any longer. And besides,” she continued when he gave her a dubious look that nevertheless revealed the pain her statement caused, “you don’t know that you’ll never see those places. You mustn’t give up hope.”
He gave her a small smile full of longing that quickly disappeared as the sound of laughter from within the ballroom reached them. “No, I couldn’t. It would be unforgivably selfish of me to leave you to that crowd. Especially with the announcement of our engagement turning them positively manic.”
“I assure you,” she said with an arch look, “I can handle myself, sir.”
“Oh, I’ve no doubt you can.”
The admiring glimmer in his eyes, the intimate murmur of his voice, turned her bones to liquid. And her brain as well, if the next words that came out of her mouth were any indication.
“Take me with you.”
His eyes flared wide. “What was that?”
It was the perfect opening to recall the words. It was a mad scheme; she knew it the moment the words left her mouth. To sneak off from the ball, to travel alone with him in a carriage after dark? Especially after the kiss they’d shared…
Absolute insanity.
And yet the very idea of him leaving without her had every fiber of her being crying out in protest.
Surely it was not the thought of being without his company that had her reacting so. It must be the realization that, after the announcement, she would quickly be set upon by everyone present. Those people would no doubt have questions regarding her speedy engagement, how it had come about, when they would marry. And in that moment she could not stomach it in the least.
Yes, that was most assuredly the reason.
Having convinced herself, she said, her voice firm, “Take me with you.”
For a split second his eyelids grew heavy, a spark of something lighting the depths of his gaze. All too soon, however, it was gone, and he shook his head, a denial forming on his lips.
Determined to head off his refusal, she added, “You would not want to leave me to deal with the fallout from our engagement alone, would you?”
It was manipulation at its very core. Instead of growing annoyed with her, however, he laughed. “Clara, I didn’t know you had it in you to be quite so openly devious.”
He was going to let her accompany him. He did not say it, of course, but it was there in every amused line of his face.
Relief washed over her. Which was silly, really; it was not as if she had anything riding on this trip to his mother’s home. Yet she couldn’t help the grin that spread over her face. Casting a glance around the balcony, finding that the other couples had left and they were blessedly alone, she grabbed Quincy’s hand. “Come along then,” she said, pulling him back down the stone steps and into the dark garden toward the mews. And as his quiet laughter trailed them like the wake behind a ship she tried—and failed—not to focus on how happy that sound made her.
Chapter 10
He shouldn’t have brought Clara with him, Quincy thought some time later as he stared up at the grand façade of his family’s Berkeley Square townhouse. He’d had the thought several times during the quick drive here. The carriage interior had been too dark, too close, the tension between them a palpable thing despite the laughter that had started them off on this adventure. Yet how could he leave her behind when she had turned those beautiful eyes on him and smiled?
Even now the remembrance of her lips lifted in that sly smile as she turned his decision on its head took his breath away.It will be easier to capitulate, he’d thought as they’d hurried to the mews, her fingers wrapped tight around his, no doubt to keep him from making a run for it. As if he would have been able to.
He knew deep down this was not easier, not one bit. Had he been alone he could have walked with greater speed than it had taken to secure a carriage, have the horses harnessed, and be driven through the congested streets around Dane House. No, the truth of the matter was, now that he’d held her in his arms, he was loath to let her out of his sight.
It was a mad notion. This was a fake engagement, not the beginning of a new life together. They would be parting soon enough.
Yet the thought of walking away from her had every inch of his body rebelling.
“Are you all right?”
Her soft voice echoed in the close confines of the carriage, bringing him back to the problem at hand. He would focus on this most pressing issue now and revisit his concerns over his feelings for his faux-fiancée later. When he was not in danger of dragging her back in his arms and finishing what he’d accidentally begun in the gardens.
“Never better,” he declared with much more confidence than he felt. “Let’s go.”
