Page 70 of Love and the Shameless Lady

“Why ever not?”

She couldn’t possibly explain. She headed toward the door. “I wish I could go in there and deny that I’m your wife.”

He followed. “Then do so. It’s what Gloriana deserves.”

“Yes, but it would embarrass Miles and Melinda, as they tacitly agreed to it by saying nothing. Why would they make a fuss, seeing as they believe we are betrothed? I don’t want to upset Gloriana’s plans. I just wish she hadn’t destroyed yours.”

“She destroyed nothing,” he said. “I shall continue to woo you.”

Was that what he’d been doing? No, she mustn’t let herself believe that. “Please don’t.” She sighed. “There is a much better solution. Once this is over with and I’m back at the Diving Duck, you can tell everyone I’m dead.”

“What the devil?” Tight lines bracketed his mouth.

She backed away. “Don’t look at me like that!”

“Like what?” he snapped. “As if I think you’ve gone mad?”

“No, as if you really do wish I were dead.”

“On the contrary, I refuse to even pretend you are dead.”

“Why? It’s our only way out,” she said. “Divorce and annulment are impossible, since we’re not actually married, but you can easily say your wife died. No one need know that you weren’t married in the first place.”

“Absolutely not. I don’t want a way out.” Slowly, the tension drained from his face. “Perhaps, if you give me a good enough reason why you don’t want to marry, I’ll cease and desist, and then we’ll consider our options. I don’t promise that, mind you, but it’s your only hope of getting rid of me.”

Confess to him the most mortifying experience of her life? Never.

“Whenever you’re ready, I shall listen,” he said. “In the meantime, Gloriana may well have ruined her own plans, for even if we remain silent, the servants are bound to gossip. The earl’s servants will find out the truth and tell their master.”

That would solve her problem, Daisy thought mournfully.

In the drawing room, they found Miles, Melinda, Gloriana, and the marquis.

“We sent the earl upstairs to dress for dinner,” Melinda said. “Now we’re concocting a story.”

“Don’t include me in your fabrications, Melinda,” Miles said. “I wash my hands of Gloriana.”

“You mean to betray me?” Gloriana cried.

“No, but only because Melinda doesn’t wish me to do so. I shall continue to keep my mouth shut and have asked the servants to do so, but that is as far as I am willing to go. I expect you will suffer miseries with that horrendous bore, and rightly so, although no doubt you will manipulate him as thoughtlessly as you have done us.”

“It’s not that bad, Miles,” Melinda said predictably. “It will be rather fun fooling Lord Hythwick.”

The corner of Lord Garrison’s mouth tipped up. That’s what besotted looks like, Daisy thought wistfully.

“I don’t understand why you’re so annoyed, Miles.” Gloriana indicated Daisy and Julian with a jut of her chin. “Soon enough, they will be married.”

“I dislike lies and deception,” Miles said. “Nor do I appreciate being obliged to require my servants’ participation in the same.”

“Well, you won’t be burdened with me much longer,” Gloriana muttered, her cheeks a blotchy red.

“You have a good imagination, Daisy,” Melinda said. “We must invent a story about who you are, your family, where you grew up, and so on, in case it comes up in conversation.”

“It probably won’t,” Gloriana said. “Hythwick won’t care a jot about the wife of a mere baronet.”

“By God, Gloriana, to speak so before our guest!” Miles said.

Julian put up a hand. “Don’t let it bother you. I’m sure I have even less respect for Hythwick than he has for me.”