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“Are you sure that is a good idea? The gossips will have a field day if anyone learns of my being in your house unchaperoned,” she declared hesitantly.
Although she reminded herself that this was Trenton, she still couldn’t ignore Brampton’s warning about Trenton and Barbarella, or the gossip they would face should they be seen and discussed.
“But you will be chaperoned,” Trenton countered. “My staff are in attendance.” He looked down at her with his brows lifted. At the moment he didn’t care what gossips saw them. The sooner people connected them, and spread the news the better as far as he was concerned. “What do you expect me to do, compromise you?”
Ursula gasped and avoided looked at him, but his attention was already diverted by passing traffic as the crossed the road. Wisely, she remained quiet.
CHAPTER NINE
“I didn’t realise you lived so close to Adelaide,” she said once she accepted a cup of tea off him and settled back on the chaise in his sitting room.
“Everybody who is anybody lives in this neck of the woods.” He settled down beside her and took a sip of his tea. He allowed silence to settle between them for a moment while he chose his words, then turned to her somewhat cautiously.
“Have you sent a letter to your father yet to inform him that you wish to stay in London for a while?” he asked.
Ursula frowned at him. “No. I have written to father to inform him that I absolutely refuse to marry anyone he chooses, engagement or not, and shall not even be returning to Yorkshire.”
“Have you had any response yet?” He wondered if Jeremiah would insist on coming to London himself.
“Not yet,” she said reluctantly.
“Tell me something.” He didn’t wait for her to nod. “If you met someone you wished to marry, would you accept if he asked?”
She thought about that for a moment. “If I cared about him; yes.”
“Even though it means marriage; the institution you fear the most?” Trenton persisted.
“I don’t mind the concept of marriage, Trenton,” Ursula assured him. “It just has to be with the right man.” Right now she couldn’t tell him that the only man she could consider as a future husband was him.
“So, it is the idea of your father choosing your husband you object to.” It wasn’t a question.
“Well, yes,” she mused thoughtfully. She hadn’t really considered it before. “I should have to care for my future husband a lot to consider committing the rest of my life to him.”
“That’s understandable, Ursula. There are people who have no hesitation in marrying someone for financial reasons, but I am not one of them either.”
Her thoughts immediately turned to his connection to Barbarella, but she struggled to find a way to broach the subject with him without sounding too needy. She tried to remind herself that he had involved himself in her quest to find a husband by agreeing to help her father. Therefore, how could he be offended if she asked him a few impertinent questions? Before she could speak, he broke the silence.
“As far as I see it, my bride has been chosen for me for many years now.”
She went cold and stared at him. “You are engaged?”
“Not yet, but it is only a matter of time,” he replied obliquely, taking a long sip of his tea.
“Is it Barbarella?” she whispered, suddenly wishing that she hadn’t agreed to come with him.
“No, it isn’t Barbarella,” Trenton replied crisply. “We are not here to discuss me. We are here to discuss this situation with your father.”
“You are helping him,” she replied, frowning slightly at his apparent reluctance to discuss his own marriageable prospects.
“I just agreed to keep an eye on you if I saw you in London, that’s all. You do have your aunt to accompany you wherever you go, so an escort isn’t really required, is it? Adelaide has been moving amongst the ton for several years now, and is perfectly suitable as a companion,” he said quietly.
“So why did you agree to keep an eye on me if you knew my aunt was a capable companion?”
“I have agreed to write to your father and keep him informed if there were any problems,” he admitted on a sigh. He was aware that she had landed a glare on him that could have blistered his skin but careful
ly kept his gaze on his tea cup. “I could hardly do that with any degree of honesty if I hardly ever saw you.”
“Well, you have fulfilled your obligation to him now, so there is no need for you to continue. I shall not be returning to Yorkshire and won’t agree to any marriage my father arranges to anyone. What I don’t understand is why my father has suddenly decided I must marry before five and twenty. I mean, why now and not a year ago?”
