His happiness was due to his reveling with Joanna. If he’d had any sense, he’d have found a thousand reasons to avoid her, but instead, she was coming to the manor at four, and he was giddy as a schoolboy.
He went to the foyer and was about to climb the stairs to his bedchamber when, from the landing up above, Roxanne said, “There you are! My maid notified me you were home early. May I flatter myself and claim it’s because you missed me?”
He felt as if she’d dumped a bucket of cold water on him, and he forced a smile. “I was bored and restless in London, so I left.”
She sauntered down, and as he watched her, his mind was awhirl over the miserable prospect of their pending engagement. Was he ready for it to be official or wasn’t he?
In Joanna’s presence, he suffered such delightful affection, and when he was with Roxanne, he suffered no heightened feelings at all. In fact, whenever he bumped into her, he was temporarily confused, as if he couldn’t deduce why she was there.
Love and deep regard had no bearing on matrimony, but shouldn’t there be a tiny bit of elevated sentiment? If there wasn’t, was it wise to proceed?
He wished he had an older uncle with whom he could debate the issue. His closest chums were in the navy and away on their ships, so he couldn’t confer with any of them. One of his good friends was Luke Watson who’d mustered out after his brother had died. He’d ascended to his family’s title and had become Lord Barrett.
Jacob wondered if he shouldn’t ride to Barrett and have Luke set him straight.
Or what about Caleb? A man who owned a gambling club had to have a shrewd assessment of human nature. Caleb might provide excellent advice that would send Jacob in the right direction.
He was illicitly dallying with an inappropriate girl, and it was skewing his perception. He wasn’t the first dolt in history to immerse himself in such an unsuitable, but fulfilling fling, but it was spurring him to sever a perfectly rational betrothal. It was a betrothal his mother had arranged before she’d perished, so it seemed to carry more weight than it might have otherwise.
Roxanne had traveled from Italy to be his bride, so how could he ponder reneging? What did it say about his character? Why should the match be more imperative merely because it was organized by his deceased mother? What was his duty toward her? What was his duty toward Roxanne? What was best?
He had absolutely no idea, and he was incredibly flummoxed over how to resolve it.
She arrived at his side and took his arm. “I was about to have breakfast. Have you eaten?”
“I just finished.”
“Will you tarry with me while I eat too? I’d like to hear about London. It’s been ages since I was there.”
He hid a grimace. “I have two interesting tidbits to share. Let me join you so I can tell you what they are.”
She grinned, so he had to grin too, and they headed to the dining room where he would have to pretend to be a devoted fiancé.
Margaret was dressed to go down to supper, but her attire wasn’t nearly as fancy as it had been on recent evenings.
For once, there were no guests coming. Roxanne had exhausted every person in a ten-mile radius who could round out a guest list, so it would be just Jacob, Roxanne, Kit, and Margaret. She didn’t like Roxanne, and Roxanne and Kit didn’t like each other, so meals with them were never pleasant. They bickered constantly and spewed innuendo Margaret didn’t understand.
With her proposing to Sandy—and his accepting—she was happier than she’d ever been, but until he talked to Jacob to receive his blessing, she had to swallow down her secret. Sandy wanted to pick the moment when he would approach her brother, so she was nervous as a cat in a lightning storm.
She had no doubt Jacob would be amenable. He’d known and liked Sandy since they were children, and Sandy was the glue that cobbled the estate together. It definitely wasn’t Kit who kept things running smoothly, but the delay was so difficult to endure! She wished Sandy would get on with it.
She wandered over to the window and stared down into the garden. It was dusk, and she could see across the park to the woods on the other side.
To her amusement, she noticed a couple snuggled in the shadows under a rose arbor, and she focused in, curious as to who was flirting. From how furtive they were being, she suspected the amorous pair shouldn’t have snuck off.
When she recognized who it was, she gasped with dismay and muttered, “You idiot. You blithering, negligent idiot.”
She watched in horror as Jacob dipped down and kissed Miss James. What was he thinking? What was he doing?
He wasn’t free to seduce Joanna James—or any other woman for that matter. He was about to engage himself to Roxanne, and while Margaret wasn’t keen to have him wed their cousin, it was a plan that had been in place for over a year.
That very instant, Roxanne was in her own bedchamber and dressing for supper too. Margaret wasn’t sure of the view Roxanne had out her window, but she hoped to God it wasn’t the same angle provided to Margaret.
She forced herself to observe until the ardent couple separated, then she whipped away, not anxious for Jacob to glance up and see her spying. Her pulse was pounding, her temper soaring, and she was brimming with regret too.
She didn’t really know her brother all that well, but she liked to suppose he was different from their dastardly father. They’d repeatedly sworn they would never behave so despicably toward anyone. They’d learned too painfully how immoral conduct could devastate a
