Page 79 of The Governess and the Rogue

He smiled slowly in return. “We can do whatever we like,” he said. “All this belongs to me.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“I think she’s rather perfect for you,” Kate said, walking alongside Jack in the Beasley Park rose gardens.

Jack strolled at her side, with the aid of his cane. It had been two days since he’d taken Bea to the Priory. She’d loved the place, just as he’d hoped she would. And he’d been giddy as a schoolboy showing it to her, seeing it with new eyes because she was with him.

No longer had the estate seemed something to settle for. A provincial prison where he would unwillingly retire after leaving the army. It had instead seemed to be filled with possibility. A place that could be a home. That could one day lodge a family. A place where—with the right person at his side—Jack might be happy.

They’d walked through most of the house, until his aching knee had forced them to stop for tea. After that, they’d ridden over the grounds. He’d even managed to coax Bea into a trot. The picture of her face, illuminated by a radiant smile, had been plaguing him ever since.

“She has a tart tongue when she dares use it,” Kate went on. “She’s bold. Some might say fearless. She’s good with the children, but not too rigid. She rides.”

“She rides,” Jack agreed. “She’s gaining more confidence every day.”

“And she’s not a spendthrift. We had the devil of a time convincing her to charge anything to your account at the dressmaker’s yesterday. In the end she could only be persuaded to a new riding habit, a dinner dress, and a gown for the ball. I tried to explain to her that she would need much more than that. There are day dresses to think of, as well as her wedding clothes. She had better purchase those in London. Unless…” Kate hesitated. “And I may be speaking out of turn, so do feel free to stop me.”

“What?”

“It’s only that… I have the distinct impression that this is all something of a ruse.”

Jack stopped where he stood. He failed to conceal a wince. He already knew that James suspected something was amiss. But no one else had had the temerity to express their qualms to Jack directly.

It figured that it would be Kate. She knew him too well.

Jack nevertheless affected a not-very-convincing tone of indignation. “A ruse? Are you serious?”

Kate sighed. “So, it’s true, then,” she said. “The engagement isn’t real.”

Jack made one final effort to deter her. “You’re talking nonsense.”

“Not only me. James is suspicious. So is Ivo. Both of them asked me outright⁠—”

“If my engagement is a fake one?”

“Which it is,” Kate said. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of telling either of them. They never did understand our little schemes.” Her brow puckered. “Not that I understand this one any better.”

“Kate—”

Taking his arm, she directed him to the bench beneath the arbor. “You may as well confess, Jack. The whole affair reeks of one of your larks. There’s only one thing wrong.”

Jack scowled at her as he sank down on the bench. “Which is?”

She sat down beside him, resting a hand on her belly. “The two of you are too dashed compatible. Which either means that Miss Layton has agreed to this escapade—which is already enough to persuade me that she’s your earthly ideal—or that somewhere along the way the two of you have unwittingly fallen in⁠—”

“Enough,” Jack snapped. “Enough, Kate. I won’t hear a word about her.”

“Don’t bite my head off,” Kate shot back. “I like the girl!”

“So do I,” Jack said. “But things are delicate.”

Kate’s brows elevated nearly to her hairline. “You’re not saying that you have…? But that she hasn’t…?” She looked at him with an expression of complete incredulity. “I don’t believe it.”

Jack supposed he should be flattered that his sister had so much faith in him. But it was poor consolation given his present predicament. “Believe what you will,” he said. “So long as you say nothing to Bea—or to James or Ivo.”

“You’re forgetting someone else,” Kate said. “Two someones.”

Jack grimaced. He didn’t need his sister to remind him.