“Is that right?” She beat down the urge to flee to Broad Chalke as fast as her horse could carry her. “I do not require a new suit.”
“Oh, but you do. Most definitely.”
“But I haven’t any funds.”
“My treat. We cannot have an associate of the Beau Monde Highwayman dressing like a gin row derelict.”
“Your offer is too generous. I cannot accept.”
He turned to face the road. “I insist. And when a highwayman insists, you’ve no choice but to stand and deliver.”
Dread swept over Morgan. How would a tailor not notice her, uh, physique? How could she possibly maintain a lie when stripped nearly naked in broad daylight? She stewed for two miles in an ever-deepening morass of dread. When they came upon the edge of Salisbury, her dam of dismay broke.
“Can this not wait until our return to London? Surely the tailors there are superior.”
Steadman lifted his chin in challenge. “Still fighting me? A detrimental strategy, boy.”
“But…”
“Look, Mr. Brady. I shall be as frank as possible.” He waved a hand at her disheveled coat. “You are a fine young man just coming into the flower of his youth. You will need a suit to woo a woman. You cannot woo a woman dressed liked a failed gravedigger. I have seen better suits on corpses.”
At his goading, her dismay tipped into annoyance. “A suit? To woo a woman? I thought you saidthe lookwas morethan sufficient for that task. Were you wrong then or are you wrong now?”
He grew a half-grin. “Welcome back, Morgan. I thought I’d lost you.”
“You failed to answer my question. About which time you were wrong.”
He shook his head. “I was wrong neither then nor now. The purpose ofthe lookis to attract a woman’s interest, nothing more. Holding her interest requires a larger strategy, a longer game.”
“But you said not three days ago that the rumors of your amorous activities were a fiction. Were you lying then or are you lying now?”
“I tell the truth.”
“Have youevertruly wooed a woman, then? Anyone at all?”
When he looked away and fell silent, remorse bubbled within her. She had clearly touched a nerve. After perhaps a minute, though, he began speaking.
“One.” His tone was uncharacteristically restrained. “I have properly wooed one, a long time ago.”
Sorrow dripped from his confession, drawing Morgan closer. She shouldn’t pry, but her heart ached to know what had happened. What kind of woman had captured his heart? What manner of magnificence did a woman possess that could win the devotion of the Beau Monde Highwayman? Against her better judgment, she decided to press the interrogation, but gingerly.
“Might I ask, did she reject you?”
“No.” His tone grew more melancholy still. “But others intervened to rip us apart.”
The need to offer him comfort overcame Morgan. She began to reach for his hand before remembering her façade. How would a man lift the spirits of a downhearted friend?
“Well,” she said while mustering false cheer, “I haveneverwooed a woman. As you have wooed one, might you offer me advice? Other than finding a better suit?”
Steadman lifted his attention from the road ahead to meet her gaze. His frown gave way to a sad smile, but a smile, nonetheless. “I can tell you the ways to fail. For I have tried them all. Bravado, arrogance, self-aggrandizement, domination. These are false trails leading to misery for the subject of a man’s affection.”
Morgan counted herself lucky. No man had ever taken enough interest in her to leave a wound. “I shall avoid those behaviors, then. But might I rephrase my question?”
“I suppose.”
She drew a deep breath. “What would you do to rectify your mistakes? If you met another woman worthy of your attention?”
“A good question.” He set his jaw and stared at the horizon. “To begin, I would not try to win her regard with flashes of fire and gales of manliness. I would find her in the still, quiet moments and speak to her of small things. Of meaningful things. Of sacred things. Through a collection of such moments, I would find the hidden and closely guarded trails to her heart. I would follow such a trail to approach gently and with reverence. In the fullness of time, she might find the desire to let me love her. And to love me in return.”
