Page 106 of The Seduction of an English Scoundrel

“Yes, Jane. Nigel and I must face his parents together and place you under our protection. Unless of course Nigel can persuade Sedgecroft to do right by you.”

Jane smiled. “Grayson has already asked for my hand.”

“Oh. Well, then. You must stay with us anyway, Jane, until the talk dies down.”

“For once, Esther, just for once, I really would like a say in my life. Just a word here and there, mind you. A chance to offer an opinion.”

Esther gave her a level look. “You should not have fallen in love with a Boscastle.”

“I hardly had a choice in that matter,” Jane replied, remembering her first encounter with Grayson, and how her life had taken so many intriguing turns after that. “In fact, I do not understand even now how I lost my heart to him.”

“None of us ever do, Jane. For all my wisdom and experience with handling wayward young males, even I could not resist my sweet Nigel, and every day I thank heaven that his cousins did not manage to corrupt him.”

Nigel had downed two glasses of port before scraping up the nerve to come to the point. The knowledge that Esther was probably listening at the door emboldened him. It also terrified him. He would rather face Grayson blindfolded in a duel than return to the wrath of his pregnant wife.

“There is only one solution, as I see it,” he announced, covertly fanning away the cloud of cigar smoke that Heath had blown toward him.

“Solution to what?” Grayson asked. He was stretched out on the sofa with his eyes half closed.

“To this . . . this mistress mess that Jane has fallen into.” There. He’d said it without actually accusing Grayson again of being the villain who had pushed her into the aforementioned fall.

“I think he ought to marry her,” Heath said.

Grayson sat up. “Really?”

“It would tie up a few loose threads,” Nigel said, hiding his relief.

“Then you think it is an acceptable answer?” Grayson asked, as if the idea had never entered his mind before this very moment. “I could count on you to convince Jane to accept the proposal? Being her best friend, and all.”

“Why, yes.” Nigel was so flattered at being in on a conspiracy with his two cousins he completely lost sight of his original objective. “I will do my utmost to persuade her, providing . . .”

“Providing what?” Heath said, his eyes narrowing.

“I shall have to ask Esther’s advice first, of course. As a mere courtesy to her condition.”

“Does she still wield that rod of hers?” Grayson asked, turning his head.

Nigel flushed; it still stung to remember all the times he had been excluded from the boisterous Boscastle clan. “I hardly know how to react to such a question,” he said in embarrassment.

“I think she still has it,” Grayson said.

Heath grinned devilishly. “I think you’re right.”

Chapter 26

So it had come to this, Grayson mused as he stood in his bedroom window to watch the loading of his traveling coach below. Back to London with the woman he loved. He and Jane would retrace the steps of their scandalous affair in a socially acceptable manner.

Only to end up where they had started. At a wedding altar. Neither one would escape this time either. The two of them would be married to each other if they had to complete the ceremony in chains. Grayson had no intention of letting Jane get the better of him again.

He glanced back into the room where they had become so intimate that his skin burned at the memory. Heaven only knew how many silly dances and picnics he would attend with her before he enjoyed her in his bed again. He felt a bit like the devil chasing after his own tail, but there had never been any doubt that he would catch her.

He wondered whether this balance they had found would last or would fluctuate throughout their marriage. They understood each other now. He had a feeling the days of deceiving each other had ended. Yet he was certain there was not another woman who could unsettle him as Jane did. He was certain she would challenge him mightily in the years to come.

He would not have it any other way.

Jane stared from the coach window at the elegant seaside villa. She felt a pang of regret at leaving the house where she and Grayson had ended their masquerade. Still, it was gratifying to know he had never brought another woman here before. If he had, she might have been forced to insist he sell the place. Now they could return throughout the years for nostalgic holidays.

She sat back against the squabs with a sigh. She missed him, even though he was following in his own vehicle right behind her. She wished she were at his side rather than in the smothering care of Nigel and Esther. They treated her like an abandoned child they had just rescued from an orphanage.