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Trenton sighed and studied the carpet. “I think that is something you need to discuss with your father.”
Ursula studied him carefully. Strangely, she rather suspected he knew something about that too.
“Adelaide has said that I can stay with her for as long as I want to.” Strangely affronted, she pushed to her feet. “I think it is time for me to go now. After all, you are a gentleman with a questionable reputation and I am an unchaperoned female.”
She tried to keep the hurt out of her voice she really did, but failed miserably. This time though, she wasn’t sure whether the hurt was because he was keeping secrets about her from her, or he was to marry next year but didn’t feel inclined to tell her who his intended was. Either way, she wasn’t going to divulge any more information about herself no matter how charming he was.
“What?” Trenton demanded in outrage. “Who told you that?”
“Nobody,” she replied hesitantly. “I have just heard gossip.”
“Don’t believe anything Brampton tells you, Ursula.” His suspicions were proven correct when she began to look guilty. “What has he been telling you?”
Ursula sighed. “The gossip is that you were caught in a compromising situation with Barbarella, and then refused to marry her.”
“Rubbish,” Trenton scoffed; outraged that she could think such a thing about him was true. “I did not get caught in a passionate clinch with Barbarella. She tried to coerce me to meet with her in a secluded corner of a host’s study one day, but I arrived with my good friend Hugo. One thing Barbarella dislikes is to have her schemes thwarted. She spread it about that I had offered for her but then had the audacity to try to blackmail me into doing so.”
“How awful,” Ursula gasped. “She could have destroyed your reputation.”
“I know. Unfortunately, Barbarella is indulged far too much by her adoring father, who blindly accepts everything she tells him without question. He was a little surprised when not only myself, but several other members of society told him about her objectionable behaviour. He was backed into a corner and forced to ensure that Barbarella stopped her scheming. I warned him that I had witnesses who would stand by me and confirm my innocence. I assured him that unless he wanted his daughter’s scheming to come to light amongst the ton, he was to stop her spreading any further nefarious gossip about me.” He pierced her with a stare. “Clearly she hasn’t stopped but has elicited the help of Brampton instead.”
“So you didn’t pay her father to keep her quiet?”
Trenton burst out laughing. “Just what did Brampton tell you?”
She had the good grace to look a little sheepish, but told him everything, including the suggestion that Trenton had met with Barbarella in the woods.
“I wouldn’t trust my horse with that woman let alone my virtue,” he scoffed and threw her a rueful look. “You really should trust me more, you know.”
“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” she replied somewhat abashed.
She had heard of Brampton’s reputation from Aunt Adelaide, so should have believed that Trenton wouldn’t be as ghastly as the rogue suggested.
As the fire crackled and popped beside them, a decidedly intimate atmosphere settled over them. She watched him place his tea cup onto the table in front of them and turn toward her.
“Now, about your father. I shall report to him that you are fine and looking after Adelaide after a fall. I shall also inform him that you will return to Yorkshire in time for Christmas.”
Ursula took a breath to argue only to close her mouth with a snap when he placed his hands comfortingly over hers. “He needs to know, Ursula, that you are not avoiding marriage. Given what has happened, I don’t think that you should run away from circumstances here though, after all trouble may follow you.”
“Circumstances here?” she repeated, unsure whether he meant their association or the mystery of the secret admirer.
“Us,” he whispered. “We need to find out where this is taking us.” He waved to the empty space between them. “I cannot go back to Yorkshire just yet because I have some business to conduct. I shall not be available to return to Yorkshire myself until the end of next month. However, I should be obliged if you would allow me to escort you back there in time for us to spent Christmas together.”
“I am not sure,” she replied cautiously. She would love to be able to spend Christmas with him, but couldn’t see him in the small sitting room in her father’s house in Yorkshire. Nor could she imagine spending the festive season somewhere as austere as Hoghampton Hall. Not as mere acquaintances anyway.
“Let’s see how you feel when the time comes,” he replied and captured her chin in his fingers so that he could turn her to face him.
“I need to wait and see what father does. I may not be able to return to Yorkshire if he casts me out,” she murmured.
“I can promise you, with absolute certainty, that he won’t do that, Ursula,” he whispered. “I will not allow it.”
“You won’t be in a position to intervene if the time comes,” she replied.
“Trust me, Ursula. That’s all I ask. Trust me.”
There was something dark and meaningful in his eyes that intrigued her but all she could think about was how his head was lowering toward hers. She sighed with an air of inevitability when his lips laid siege to her senses. This time though, things were different. The air shifted between them and thickened, drawing them closer than ever before.
His hand slid into the hair at the back of her head scattering pins everywhere, but she didn’t pay them the slightest bit of attention. She was too busy clinging to his broad shoulders, lost in the wondrous sensations he was creating within her. She knew that she shouldn’t allow matters to go further than they already had, but it was so very tempting to forget about everything and just savour the feel of being loved by him.
