She rolled her eyes. “Pompous, then.”
He gave an exasperated sigh. “I apologized, didn’t I?”
She stepped back. “If you’ll excuse me, I have plans to dine with a friend this evening, and I have no desire to be late.”
Before she could move past him again, he held up a hand. “Miss Theodosia—wait. I have a proposition for you.”
She reared back. “I beg your pardon?”
Realizing the implication, Richard quickly clarified, both hands now raised. “Not that sort of proposition. I assure you that it is entirely respectable.”
Eyeing him warily, she replied, “Go on.”
He lowered his hands. “My sister, Olivia, is in need of a companion in London. I was wondering if you might consider accepting the position.”
Theodosia didn’t even hesitate. “No, thank you.”
“You didn’t even consider it.”
“I didn’t need to,” she said. “I’m quite content here in the country, running my estate. But thank you for the generous offer.”
He stepped closer, his voice softening slightly. “It would elevate your standing in Society. Being a companion to a lady of rank would open many doors.”
“I have no interest in those doors,” she replied. “I value my independence far more than the approval of a drawing room full of strangers.”
“So you’d rather stay here forever?” he asked, incredulous. “Tending to ledgers and managing tenants until you grow old and forgotten?”
Her eyes flashed. “Yes, I’d rather that than be paraded through parlors as someone’s ornament. I have work here. People who rely on me.”
“Do you not have a man of business?”
“I do,” she said slowly, clearly beginning to lose patience, “but I choose to oversee matters myself.”
“Then delegate. Let him run it in your absence,” Richard pressed. “Surely a few weeks in London would not bring your estate to ruin.”
She drew herself up, hands clasped tightly in front of her. “Why, exactly, are you so invested in this?”
“Because…” Richard began, then met her gaze with something approaching sincerity. “Because I truly believe that you and my sister would get along rather well.”
It wasn’t a lie. If anything, it was the only truth he could safely admit aloud. Both women were obstinate, headstrong, and entirely unafraid to speak their minds.
He continued. “Olivia is opinionated. As are you,” he added. “And she’s in need of distraction, something… or someone to take her mind off her present difficulties.”
Something flickered behind Miss Theodosia’s eyes—curiosity, perhaps, or a quiet pang of empathy—but it passed so quickly, he couldn’t be certain.
“I have never been to London,” she admitted.
“Then come,” Richard said, taking a small step closer. He kept his voice low, careful, less like a demand and more like an invitation. “See it for yourself. You needn’t stay long. If you hate it, you may return to your estate. No obligation. No pressure.”
He saw her weighing the offer, her fingers tightening slightly around the folds of her shawl. She was not a woman easily swayed, and he knew that now, more than ever, every word mattered.
“And I would be traveling,” she said, “under your protection?”
“Yes,” he replied, holding her gaze. “I would see to your safety personally. As any gentleman would.”
Miss Theodosia tilted her head as she studied him. “How very curious,” she said at last. “One moment, you burst into my home, accusing me of harboring a mysterious gentleman, and suggest I am lying to protect him. The next, you invite me to travel across the country with you, as though we are… friendly acquaintances.”
Richard’s jaw tensed. He had no ready answer—at least, none that wouldn’t reveal the carefully concealed layers of manipulation behind his proposal.Because I need you as bait. Because I don’t trust you. Because I think you know more than you claim, and this is the only way I can keep you close.
