Miss Verey’s Proposal

bride, your Grace!’

‘No…’ Alex slanted a glance down at her ‘…I agree that it would not be at all appropriate-were you to be that bride, Miss Verey! Now, permit me to escort you back to the others before anything else befalls you!’

After a moment’s hesitation, Jane took his proffered arm and they walked slowly through the dappled shade towards the edge of the copse. Her shaken nerves were beginning to settle again, but she was still acutely aware of Alex’s physical presence. She reflected a little ruefully that Alex himself seemed quite unmoved, almost as though he had forgotten what had passed only a moment before. In fact he suddenly seemed a great deal more cheerful than he had for the entire week.

‘So,’ he said conversationally, ‘will you concede the truth? It is all a scheme, is it not?’

Not even Jane found herself brass-faced enough to tell a direct lie. ‘It was all working so well!’ she said a little plaintively. ‘You said yourself that you had been taken in!’

‘Yes, I must have been very slow,’ Alex agreed pleasantly. ‘In truth, I thought I knew you far too well to be deceived again!’

Jane cleared her throat. For some reason his words and tone had disturbed something in her. They created a feeling of intimacy that stirred emotions already aroused by their encounter. For some reason he did not sound accusatory-there was too much warmth in his voice.

‘You have said before that you knew I was untrustworthy,’ she began, a little bitterly, but Alex stopped and turned to face her properly.

‘I did say that, and I am sorry for it. I said it only to provoke you at the time and the fact that it worked does not make it any more admirable! The truth is, Miss Verey-’ his tone dropped ‘-I have long admired your strategies and your determination not to give in!’

There was a silence broken only by the chatter of the birds and the running of the brook. Jane felt the colour sting her cheeks and dropped her gaze, and Alex, sensing her discomfort, started to walk again.

‘Tell me, what did you plan to do next?’ he asked. ‘Your plan was a good one in the short term, but dangerous as well! You must realise that your mother in particular is planning an announcement as soon as we reach Town!’

‘Yes…’ Jane was glad to be distracted from her own complicated feelings ‘…I own that was a problem! I had not quite fathomed how to avoid the formal engagement!’

‘No doubt you would have thought of something,’ Alex said, so consolingly that Jane looked up sharply to see if he was teasing her. He was smiling at her, but without mockery.

‘I expect so,’ Jane said dolefully, ‘but now that you know the truth-’

‘Yes, we shall have to think of something else!’

‘I only wanted Sophia to be happy,’ Jane said, still following her own train of thought. ‘That is,’ she added scrupulously, ‘I did not wish to marry Lord Philip, but when it became apparent that Sophia did, I hoped for a happy outcome! Do you think-’ she glanced at Alex hopefully ‘-that you might permit…?’

Alex was looking preoccupied. ‘I shall have to think about it, Miss Verey,’ he said.

Jane left it at that. She wanted to make a push for Sophia’s future, but knew full well that Alex was hardly a man who could be pestered into agreement. Besides, she wanted to escape the leafy shade, for being alone with him was making her nervous. The strength of his arm beneath her fingers, the brush of his body against hers…she was very aware of him and had no wish to betray her feelings.

They stepped out into the bright sunshine and Jane nearly gasped with relief.

‘I see Miss Marchment and my brother ahead,’ Alex said, matter of factly. ‘As you predicted, Miss Verey, they are almost back with the others!’

‘Oh, by all means let us hurry to catch them up!’ Jane said thankfully. She had no wish to prolong this unsettling encounter. Alex, however, appeared to have other ideas.

‘Oh, let us not rush back,’ he said lazily, with an amused look down at her. ‘It would not do for you to go hurrying about in the full sun!’

‘I have my parasol now,’ Jane said pertly, unfurling the lacy white material, ‘and I am no fragile flower!’

‘No, indeed, a most resilient root, Miss Verey, although that is scarcely a flattering description of you! I would never underestimate your resourcefulness!’

Jane tilted her head to look at him. ‘You are speaking in riddles, your Grace!’ she said bluntly. ‘It is most disconcerting!’

Alex gave her a smile that was even more disturbing. ‘Forgive me! I thought, perhaps, that you would understand me, being so accomplished in strategy! I simply meant that though I have seen through your current plan, I would not put it past you to devise another! I must beg you not to do so. You see, I already have one of my own in the devising, and though it will take a little time to sort out, I have high hopes that it will come to fruition!’

‘I hope that it is not along the lines of your other tactics, sir,’ Jane said tightly and not entirely truthfully. ‘I consider them indefensible!’

‘If you mean the kiss, it was not an intentional part of my plan,’ Alex admitted, still smiling, ‘but now that I have found it so effective and enjoyable I may have to employ it again! Now, Miss Verey, tell me if you would protest! That is an interesting test of your honesty!’

Jane’s stormy gaze locked with his but she was not able to respond because of the proximity of the others. She did not like to imagine what they might have read into her expression. The picnic had been neatly packed away and Lord Philip was assisting Lady Verey and Lady Eleanor up into the gig that was to convey them back to the house. Lady Dennery, her face as thunderous as it had been earlier, was standing a little apart from the others and tapping her parasol angrily on the grass.

Lord Philip hailed his brother with a deeply suspicious innocence. ‘Alex! We had all but given up hope of you and imagined that you had spirited Miss Verey away!’

‘Tempting,’ Alex said under his breath, with a limpid look for Jane. He raised his voice. ‘Is everybody ready to go back?’

‘I have been ready this past hour!’ Lady Dennery snapped. ‘Have you no thought for others, Alexander?’ Her contemptuous gaze raked Jane. ‘Or perhaps you were lost in your pastoral idyll with that little-?’

‘Have a care, Francine!’ The Duke’s tone was soft but with an undertone that made Jane jump. For a moment she saw a flash of some vivid emotion in his eyes, before he turned to her with scrupulous courtesy.

‘Miss Verey, do you care to walk back or would you prefer to drive?’

Before Jane could reply, Lady Dennery made a rude and derisive noise and stormed off in the direction of the house.

‘Shocking ton!’ Lady Eleanor was trying not to smile at Lady Dennery’s downfall. ‘I fear it is about to rain, Alex-perhaps you should go to her aid?’

The Duke raised one eyebrow. ‘I am persuaded that Lady Dennery will find her own way home,’ he said easily. ‘No doubt she prefers to be alone!’ He turned back to Jane and his smile was dazzling in its warmth. ‘Miss Verey?’

‘I will drive, I thank you, sir,’ Jane said hastily, although she would indeed have enjoyed the walk through the parkland. She allowed him to help her up into the second gig and squeezed in next to Sophia.

‘Oh, Jane,’ her friend whispered, ‘did you see the look that the Duke gave you? I do believe…and Lady Dennery clearly thinks you a rival! Oh Jane, I do believe that the Duke of Delahaye is developing a tendre for you!’

‘Poor Lady Dennery,’ Sophia said the following morning, as the summer dust settled on the drive behind her ladyship’s coach, ‘she had such high hopes and finds them all dashed! It must be very hard for her-’

‘To be a rich widow?’ Jane asked, a little waspishly. ‘She may not have managed to attach the Duke, but there will be plenty of other suitors!’

She came away from the bedroom window and moved rather restlessly across to the portmanteaux that her maid had already packed. They were all returning to Town that morning, but Lady Dennery would not be accompanying them, for she had been invited to stay with friends in Buckinghamshire and had high hopes of a certain elderly Marquis who would be of the company. Jane felt that the journey back would be rather more comfortable without her ladyship, but it was only a small relief amongst the other matters that preoccupied her.