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“Is that so, Miss Partington? Sadly, I am a busy man and do not spend as much time enjoying such pursuits as I might like.”
“Then that must change, Sir Aubrey. Indeed, I have noticed you looking decidedly preoccupied these past few days and can only think that your work is too absorbing. It will profit you nothing if you are so joyless you cannot find balance in your life.”
“Balance, Miss Partington?” He glanced at her. “I think when we want something sufficiently we can find any means to justify it. Right now, I cannot justify pleasure when my reputation is besmirched by the rumors flying about me, and which I can’t believe someone as percipient as you have not heard. I’m surprised you would be seen with me.”
He’d hoped to repel her. At least put her off her stroke with the reference to his dubious reputation. To his dismay, her look of cloying self-satisfaction turned impassioned.
“Do not think I am swayed by evil, unfounded rumors. You have enemies, clearly, Sir Aubrey, and if they can be brought down, you will be vindicated.” She reached out a hand, which he did not take, pretending a need to control the horses. “You are a brave, good man and soon all the world will know it!”
He grunted. “Your sentiment is unfounded, Miss Partington. I am not a good man and you’d do well to remember it. See the concerned look in your cousin’s eye as we approach? It is fully justified. I am a rogue and you’d do well to steer well clear of me. Now, good day. I apologize for my ill mood. Your sister would be wise not to enter into discourse with me if she’s of a timid nature.”
* * * * *
Pique replaced Hetty’s trepidation after Araminta jumped down from the phaeton, saying brightly, “Hetty, dearest, perhaps you should politely decline the offer of a ride with Sir Aubrey, since he says he fears he’s not to be trusted to be civil and is bound to upset you in his present thunderous mood.”
Just wait until they we’re out of sight. Hetty managed to quell her response to the surge of feeling that powered through her when Sir Aubrey helped her up beside him.
For the moment she would not playact for the benefit of her sister and cousin, who might have been curious as to why the pair departed, stone-faced and staring straight ahead, but she would say her piece when the chance presented itself.
By the time they rounded a bend, she’d prepared a spirited defense, but Sir Aubrey caught her off guard.
“You don’t look like the sort up for that kind of lark, Miss Henrietta.” He slanted a cold look across at her. “When am I to be revealed for the vile seducer you have unwittingly made of me?”
Of course Sir Aubrey thought she’d set out to trick him into marriage.
“Oh, sir!” Hetty cried, wringing her hands. “You bear no blame whatsoever. It was entirely my doing, nor did I enter into the charade with anything other than a desire to save my skin, for I was certain you were going to slit my throat that first night.”
The confused horror with which he regarded gave her made her gut twist. It was easier, she found, to look at the passing equipages on the sandy circuit rather than at him but at last she had to answer his inevitable question.
Sighing, she turned to face him. “When Cousin Stephen caught me watching you at Lady Kilmore’s ball, he warned me you were a dangerous man. He insinuated you had a secret that was so terrible you’d do anything to keep it.”
“A secret? Pray go on.”
Hetty didn’t want to go into the details right now. They both knew what they were. She shrugged. His eyes bored into hers with flinty purpose and how she wished she had the words and means to turn them limpid with love. She’d grown used to fond caresses and loving looks. His cold anger was more terrible than anything she could have imagined. Haltingly, she went on. “After I was in the lady’s mending room I took a wrong turn, which led me to your chamber. The door was open and I was curious, for I’d recognized your cane—”
“My cane? How did you know it was my cane?”
“Well, it’s very distinctive and I’d admired you from afar for a long time so I knew it well.” She bit her lip. “But until that night I’d not known you’d kill to protect your secrets—”
“Kill? Good god, you know very well I said it in jest. Nor have I any secrets!”
“Well, you can’t blame me for believing at the time what was said of you. When I lost my way and saw the door to your chamber open, curiosity got the better of me. Then you returned—”
He grunted then said in tones laced with irony, “And I was so fearsome you told me you were a lady of the night.”
Hetty raised her eyebrows as she looked at him. “In case you’ve forgotten, sir, your shirtsleeves were covered in blood. You told me you’d just killed a man. I’d been given the impression you were hiding a secret so terrible you would kill to protect it so I simply agreed with your assumption I was there on legitimate purposes.” She cleared her throat. “Well, as legitimate a purpose like that can be if I were supposedly a lady of the night.”
His scowl had deepened. His horror was patent. “Dear God, you really thought I might murder you. I’d just fought off a dog that was about to tear my throat out. I was in a foul mood, I do not excuse that. But for you, a respectable young lady, a virgin, to be so terrified you’d succumb to my less-than-loving advances…”
He could not go on and Hetty, who was becoming increasingly distressed by his response, said quickly, “But they were loving. And you were transformed from the frightening, angry gentleman who’d found me moments before into a lover who showed kindness and consideration. The whole experience was even more thrilling than I’d expected.”
“Good God, you succumbed because you were terrified of me!” She drew back at his angry bark. His face was suffused with rage. “You did not love me. You feared me! You just admitted it! It was the only reason you had anything to do with me.”
In a small voice Hetty said, “I came back to you…for more, didn’t I?”
“Ha!” He shook his head and his lip curled. “I’d ruined you already. What choice did you have? You were led by your innocence and your fear.”
“No, sir, by my heart—”
