The cool, green expanse was very welcoming and Jane had to curb a sudden urge to gallop away.
‘Thank you for thinking of this, sir!’ she said spontaneously. ‘It was a delightful idea!’
Alex smiled. ‘I thought that you might enjoy it, Miss Verey. It is not quite the same as being in the country, but nevertheless…’
‘Nevertheless, it brings a sense of freedom that one seldom finds in Town,’ Jane allowed, her eyes sparkling. ‘It is very pleasant to escape sometimes!’
‘The country has, perhaps, fewer diversions?’
‘Just different ones, I think,’ Jane said, smiling a little.
‘Some might argue that Town is more exciting.’
‘That,’ Jane said serenely, ‘depends on one’s interests. If excitement is derived from creeping through the streets cloaked in black and carrying a pistol-’
Alex burst out laughing. ‘You will not let me forget that, will you, Miss Verey?’
Jane looked at him. Today he was in black again, but with a very different appearance from the disreputable and sinister figure of that strange night. His jacket was cut by a master and fitted without a wrinkle. His linen was a pristine white and his boots had a high polish.
Jane privately thought that he looked devastatingly handsome.
‘How is Simon?’ Alex was asking. ‘Did his suit prosper whilst we were away?’
Jane shook her head. ‘No, indeed, it goes very ill for him. Mademoiselle de Beaurain has told him to take his attentions elsewhere!’
‘I am sorry to hear that. I imagine it must have made him very unhappy.’
Jane looked resigned. ‘Oh, he pretends that he does not care and, indeed, to see him at Lady Sefton’s ball last night one would have believed it! However I think that he feels it very keenly…It is too bad! Everyone is in love with the wrong person!’
Alex cast her a sideways glance. ‘Everyone, Miss Verey?’
‘Oh, Simon with Therese and Philip with Sophia!’ Jane said, greatly daring. ‘Matters so seldom progress in the way one would wish!’
‘Very true. And what of yourself, Miss Verey?’
Jane, who had steeled herself to answer this question suddenly found it more difficult than she had imagined.
‘I?’
‘Who are you in love with?’
Jane blushed and hated herself for it. ‘I am in love with no one, sir. I told you when we-I told you that night at the inn…’
‘Of course,’ Alex said smoothly. ‘I remember! This touches on the matter I wished to discuss with you, Miss Verey. Would you care to dismount? I will ask Dick to walk the horses.’
Jane looked dubious. ‘I am not at all sure that we should. We have been away some time. Mama will be worrying-’
‘I will square matters with her later. I must crave your indulgence, Miss Verey. This is important.’ There was an imperative note in Alex’s voice. He had already dismounted, summoning the laggardly groom with a wave of the hand. As the man took the horse’s bridle, Alex helped Jane down.
‘Walk the horses for a while, would you, Dick? Thank you…’
He offered Jane his arm and they walked slowly along one of the winding paths. There was no sound but for the clop of the horses’ hooves, growing more distant as the groom led them away.
‘I no longer wish to promote the match between Philip and yourself, Miss Verey,’ Alex said abruptly. ‘You mentioned Philip’s affection for Miss Marchment and indeed, I have seen you promoting that romance most zealously! So…’ He shrugged. ‘I am not entirely heartless! I realise that you and my scapegrace brother are very amicable, but scarcely romantically inclined! Whereas Philip behaves as though Miss Marchment is the very pattern of perfection! So I will give the match my blessing!’
Jane felt as though her breath had been taken away. To have connived and schemed for just such an outcome and then to have it put so suddenly into her hands…It was scarcely to be believed.
‘Sophia is indeed the sweetest girl,’ Jane said warmly, ‘and if you are to allow them to wed then I must give you credit for greater sensibility than I had previously thought, your Grace! I am quite overwhelmed!’
‘Thank you,’ Alex said gravely. He was smiling a little. ‘You have not, however, heard the second part of my proposal.’
‘There is more?’
‘Indeed. In permitting Philip to wed Miss Marchment I am no longer able to honour the commitment I made to my grandfather. Would you permit me to explain a little of the background, explain why I wished for the match at all?’
‘Of course,’ Jane said, feeling a little at sea. If Alex was no longer interested in the Verey-Delahaye alliance, why should he need to explain? She was suddenly uncertain where this was leading.
Alex squared his shoulders. ‘I believe that it was our paternal grandfathers who formed the idea that an union between the two families would be beneficial. They were both in the diplomatic service and met in Vienna. Did you know that they had formed a friendship?’
Jane shook her head. ‘My father’s father died when I was but young, sir. I had no idea he planned a grand family alliance!’
‘Unfortunately there was no one appropriate in our parents’ generation,’ Alex said drily. ‘My own mother and father were already married and I believe the other children were either promised or unsuitable in some way! Nevertheless, the grandfathers were not deterred!’
‘They planned to skip a generation?’
Alex smiled. ‘Precisely, Miss Verey! My grandfather summoned me before he died and acquainted me with his plan. I was already married but Philip was still a bachelor and already giving cause for concern with his wild antics. My grandfather knew that your parents had married late and that you were still in the schoolroom. Nevertheless, he suggested that it might be a good match. So I went to Ambergate to find out whether your father liked the idea.’
‘I know.’ Jane said. ‘I saw you.’
Alex looked startled. ‘You
‘Four years ago,’ Jane said. ‘I saw you one night going along the corridor past my room.’
For a moment the memory of the night came back to her: the dancing candle flame, the dark stranger, the legend…Jane felt suddenly resentful, all her bitterness over the arrangement with her father flooding back, reminding her that Alex had sought to use her as a pawn to further his own ends.
‘I suppose you had come to look me over and negotiate with my father as though I were some commodity!’ she said sharply.
Alex winced. He drove his hands into his jacket pockets. ‘I concede that the plan was ill conceived. I was trying to honour my grandfather’s wishes and find a solution to Philip’s wildness. I did not think-’ He broke off, to resume:
‘I must be honest and admit that I thought nothing of your hopes and wishes! Oh, it was old-fashioned of me to wish to arrange a match, but I had the best of intentions. I really thought that it would be the making of Philip!’
‘And so it will be,’ Jane said stoutly, ‘immeasurably more so now that he has been allowed to choose his own bride!’
‘Yes.’ Alex slanted a look down at her. ‘I suppose my reasoning was at fault in thinking that marriage was the means to compel Philip to settle down. He would no more accept a forced match than he would reform of his own accord! Yet now that he has attached himself sincerely to a young lady, he is a changed character!’ Alex shook his head ruefully. ‘I admit that I have made some bad mistakes in this business.’
Jane was prey to mixed feelings. It seemed from Alex’s words that matters were now settled. Philip and Sophia would be permitted to marry and Jane would no longer be obliged to scheme and plan to avoid her fate. She could return to Ambergate, perhaps, and then she would never need to see the Duke of Delahaye again…
‘Of course,’ Alex was continuing, ‘that leaves me with the difficulty of resolving my pledge to my grandfather. Then I thought that if one plan could not suffice, another might.’
