Page 29 of A Stormy Season

Jane interjected. “Mr. Watley found a brick, after much searching, and used it to knock the massively large guard unconscious. Then he commandeered the carriage that was waiting out front. With Mr. Watley around, I never really felt as if my life was in danger.”

The way she was looking at him made it impossible to look away. Was Jane truly as impressed with him as she seemed to be? Certainly, his wife of three years had never looked at him like that—an expression of both admiration and longing.

Then Jane glanced away, and he wondered if he had only been imagining things.

Both Henry and his wife were quietly watching them.

He had better be careful before assumptions were made about his and Jane’s future. As much as Luke had enjoyed dancing with her the evening before, feeling things he hadn’t felt in a very long time, he knew he needed more time to sort through why he had been so attracted to Anne, why he had married a woman whose motives others saw through. If he didn’t figure that out, he might end up making the same mistake again. And he wasn’t sure he could survive, with his sanity intact, a marriage in any way similar to his first one.

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Luke said, “but I believe I must go home and get cleaned up.”

“You and Jane are a very welcome sight, believe me,” Mrs. Gilchrist said, smiling.

As he stood to go, a servant announced, “Mrs. Stapleton and Miss Cuthbert calling on Mrs. Gilchrist and Miss Jane Gilchrist.”

“Oh dear,” Mrs. Gilchrist said softly, a look of slight agitation on her face.

Jane said, “Penelope doesn’t want to say it, but Mrs. Stapleton and Miss Cuthbert are the biggest gossips in London. And this visit proves they saw us arrive half an hour ago.”She frowned wryly.

“I should go and reassure them that . . .” Mrs. Gilchrist seemed to be at a loss.

“If you think they care for our wellbeing you are mistaken,” Jane said.

“Perhaps we should invite them in,” Henry said. “Perhaps we can head off the worst of the gossip before it starts. They may not know anything.”

The servant was still waiting. Finally, Mrs. Gilchrist said, “Show them into the sitting room. I shall be there in a moment. Then have tea brought in.”

The servant bowed and left.

Gossips. What would this mean? Would Jane’s reputation be ruined because she had been out all night with him? Would it even matter to the gossips that they had been kidnapped?

With a sinking feeling, he knew it wouldn’t matter, and yes, Jane’s reputation would be ruined.

Chapter Ten

“You know I don’t care about my reputation,” Jane said stoutly, her forehead heating. “Let those gossips say what they will. Any man who is frightened off by them is not worthy to marry me.”

Taking tea in the drawing room, sitting opposite Henry and Penelope, Jane had been home from her kidnapping adventure for only one full day and already her brother and sister-in-law were predicting her reputation’s demise.

“You know that is not sound reasoning,” Henry said, as he and Penelope gazed at her with grave looks of concern.

Penelope added, “A gentleman will not know the truth of the matter, and as a gentleman, he will not ask for an explanation.”

“Pish posh,” Jane said, clutching her arms, her fingernails making red indentations in her skin.

Henry said, “Luke Watley is meeting with me this afternoon, and I suspect he is coming to speak to me about marrying you.”

Jane felt the words physically as the breath went out of her lungs. “Marry me? Why?” But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wondered why she had not thought about it sooner.

“Your reputation may not recover from this,” Penelope said gently.

“The two of you were alone together all night, Jane. You know what that means.”

“But it’s preposterous. We were taken against our will, afraid for our lives. There was nothing untoward at all between us. He even had a head injury.”

“But it is the noble thing for him to do,” Henry said, giving her quite a severe look.

Of course Luke Watley would do the right thing by marrying her. But she didn’t want him to marry her only because it was the right thing to do, to save her reputation. She wanted to be married for love’s sake, and only for love.