Page 40 of A Lady of Conscience

”But how exciting it sounds! Just like a Penny Dreadful.”

James gripped the reins hard. Highwaymen were frequently featured in the cheap, penny fiction of the day. Rather than villains, they were often portrayed as heroic figures. It was the furthest thing from the truth.

“Hardly that,” he said. “My grandfather was a scoundrel who left my father in very bleak circumstances. There was nothing exciting about it.”

Her smile dimmed. She was quiet a moment. “Were you named after him?”

“I was,” he acknowledged grimly. “My great-grandfather and my parents had hoped I might restore dignity to the name.”

“I’m confident you have.”

“I’ve certainly given it my best effort.” He turned the subject. “What about your name? Did you inherit it from a disreputable ancestor?”

“No, indeed. But my parents did like it very much. My father says it’s straightforward, just as I am. The same, backwards and forwards. What you see is precisely what you get.”

“I like what I see,” James said, looking at her.

Hannah’s cheeks turned petal pink, just as he’d hoped they would. She bent her head, briefly shielding her face from his view behind the brim of her straw bonnet. “I don’t know how to reply when you say such things.”

“Would you rather I didn’t say them?”

“No, but…I should like to better prepare myself.”

“Next time I compliment you,” he said solemnly, “I’ll take care to give you adequate warning.”

She peeped at him from beneath her bonnet brim. “Now you’re being absurd.”

He returned his gaze to the road. “I’ve never been accused of that before.”

“I don’t expect you have. But I stand by my assessment.” She folded her hands neatly in her lap. Her gloves were dyed to match her pelisse. “We were speaking of family scandals.”

“Of which mine has many and yours has none.”

“That isn’t at all true.”

“No?”

“My parents’ elopement was a scandal.”

James recalled hearing something of the old gossip about Hannah’s parents when Charles and Kate had been courting. It was said that Captain Heywood had met his wife in London—a young beauty who, at the time, was rumored to have been betrothed to a duke. Some antiquated busybodies still maintained that the captain had kidnapped her and spirited her away to the country to be his unwilling bride.

“A nine-day scandal, if that,” he said. “Elopements aren’t in the same class as blatant criminal activity, even if they do inspire the London tabbies to talk.”

“Not only the elopement,” Hannah replied. “My father is a fearsome shot.”

His mouth quirked at the seeming non sequitur. “Captain Heywood’s reputation with a pistol is much admired. I wouldn’t call it scandalous.”

“Some might.” She dropped her voice to a confidential whisper. “He once killed a gentleman who was threatening my mother.”

James flashed her a sharp look as he guided the horses around a curve in the road. This was news to him. “When is this supposed to have happened?”

“It was years before I was born,” she said. “Our housekeeper, Sara, confided it to me. She was my mother’s lady’s maid at the time. She said that my father put a bullet in the man’s brain. And that my mother’s wolfhound, Basil, bit the man for good measure.”

James’s brows lowered in a repressive frown. “Your housekeeper was very wrong to have mentioned it to you.”

“Why?”

“Because it isn’t a proper thing for a young lady to be hearing.”