Page 34 of The Seduction of an English Scoundrel

“Not until yesterday.” He stopped, as if realizing what he’d said. Teasing her was one thing. Cruelty was another. “I didn’t mean that as it sounded.”

“Well, it’s true.” She paused, feeling a twinge of guilt. It was disconcerting to be treated like a fragile porcelain figure. She wished she deserved it. “I do have some inner fortitude, Sedgecroft.”

“All I meant was that the ton has taken notice of us,” he said more carefully. “That was our first aim. Give me your arm again.”

Why didn’t she refuse? she wondered in chagrin. If he were a pirate captain who ordered her to walk the plank, she would probably comply. She was only too happy to cling to his muscular forearm, never mind what disaster loomed ahead. This was probably why her parents had warned her to marry Nigel. To protect her from herself.

“Sedgecroft, not a step farther. This pavilion is famous for the seductions conducted within.”

He guided her forward, a man on a mission if ever Jane had seen one. “I am well aware of that.”

She blinked. “Then be aware that I am not going in.”

He half turned to fix her with an imperious frown. “Stop dawdling, Jane. I need you. Come here right now.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“If my eyes have not deceived me, my sister Chloe just disappeared into the pavilion with a young cavalry officer who is a shade too forward for his own good. You might want to keep me from committing an act of violence.”

“Are you certain it was Chloe?”

“No.”

No, because he’d been too busy making sure Jane was safe from the hungry wolves to pay much attention to anything else. No, because Chloe was not supposed to be here today, and if she had gone to the pavilion, it was in brazen disregard to his orders.

“I’m not certain it was her,” he said, a note of panic in his voice. “But I don’t intend to take any chances either.”

Jane stared at the red-brick pavilion with its four slender white turrets stretching skyward, a tribute to a fairy-tale castle of olden days. “Rumor has it that the pavilion’s secret passages provide perfect trysting places for the duke’s more amorous guests.”

“Yes, Jane,” he said in a mildly patronizing tone. “I doubt Chloe went inside to admire the stonework.”

“Wait a moment,” she said, eyeing him in open suspicion. “I thought you told me you had locked her in her room.”

“A locked room to a Boscastle is not an obstacle,” he said grimly as the fragrant grass ended at a wide paved walk. “It is a challenge, a stepping-stone to misadventure.”

“She always looked like such a sensible girl,” Jane said, shaking her head. “I rather liked her the one time we met at the foundling hospital.”

“Sensible?” He snorted. “One never knows what hides beneath the surface.”

Jane bit the inside of her cheek. She could not bring herself to look into those perceptive blue eyes, not with the secret she was hiding from him. “Um, no. I suppose not.”

“That is one of the reasons I like you, Jane,” he said. “You are a very straightforward, sensible female.”

Oh, dear. If he only knew how serpentine, how insensible she had proven to be in the past two days.

“I wish you could exert some influence on Chloe,” he added.

“I’m sure she is sensible at heart,” Jane murmured, nibbling her lower lip.

“That is because you are sensible.”

“Stop making me sound like such a paragon.” She was going to scream if he kept heaping these undeserved compliments on her head. “It is embarrassing.”

“That is exactly what I mean,” he said, nodding approvingly. “I do not recall such honesty in a woman and I happen to value honesty,” he went on, as if the point had not been drummed into her heart. Her dishonest, perfidious heart.

“I wasn’t aware that honesty was a quality a man like you admired in the opposite sex,” she said in a faint voice.

“Well, among other things.” And they both knew what other things he valued by the ghost of a wicked smile that crossed his face. “Perhaps you can set an example for my sister.”