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‘Never mind that,’ she said, making a dismissive motion with her hand. ‘You said you were going to tell me how you met my father.’
‘So I did.’ He regarded her thoughtfully. ‘After allowing you to escape me, at the Swaffhams’, I indulged in a fit of despair that lasted almost two full days.’
‘Really?’ She curled her feet up on the sofa and made herself comfortable. ‘Go on.’
His eyes flew to where his coat, still slung over her shoulders, gaped to reveal a hint of her figure, then rested for a few seconds on the rapt expression on
her face.
‘I took myself off to Farleigh Hall. And strode about the estate, hacking at the undergrowth with my cane, cursing the fates that had me falling for the only woman I’d ever met who was completely immune to me. And then I began imagining one of those bucks who’ve been hanging about you finally breaking through your indifference and persuading you to marry him instead of me. Then I realised that it was not as far from Farleigh Hall to Much Wakering as it is from London to Much Wakering, and I could do no worse than start all over again with you, by going to visit your father and asking for his permission to pay my addresses to you on a formal basis. Once I had that, I thought, you would have to see that I was in earnest. That you would have to at least think about me as a potential husband, and not...well...’ He ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I do not know how to describe the relationship we’ve had so far. But I knew that it would be the devil’s own job to change it from what it had been to the kind of conventional courtship you deserved.’
She swallowed. It took only two days to reach London from Much Wakering. That left a lot of time unaccounted for.
‘Should I enquire where you were for the rest of the time?’
‘I have just told you,’ he replied with a touch of impatience. ‘I have spent the entire time in Much Wakering, trying to persuade your father that I would make you a suitable husband.’
‘He argued about it?’
‘I made the error,’ he said, ‘of assuming he would be flattered to think an earl...’
‘Two earls,’ she corrected him.
‘Oh, God, you can just picture it, can’t you? I went up there all full of myself, announcing my intention to make you my wife, boasting of my titles, my lands, my income...’
She couldn’t help it. She giggled. ‘He n-never set much store b-by such things.’
‘I am glad you find this amusing,’ he snapped. Then sighed. ‘But there. A more intelligent man would have known it was the wrong approach to take with your father from the snippets you had told me about your childhood. All those scientists and inventors thronging his house, then the way he appeared to think the Ledbetters were suitable people to introduce you to London society...’
‘Oh, my goodness. What did he do?’
‘He looked at me over the top of his spectacles and said it was all very well, but he would never give his consent to let you marry an idiot. Told me you were a highly intelligent girl, used to using her mind, and that a stupid man would never make you happy. Then he wrote something on a sheet of paper and told me he would consider my suit if I returned with the correct answer.’
‘Oh, how wonderful.’
‘It bloody well wasn’t. It was in Greek!’
She had meant, how wonderful that her father had not just granted the first man to ask for her hand permission to marry her, but had set him a test. She’d begun to think he did not love her overmuch. But he did, in his way. He wanted her to marry a man who would make her happy.
How fortunate she was in him. Many parents, from what she’d gathered during her time in town, had ambitions for their daughters which did not take their happiness into account at all.
Lord Deben began to pace up and down. ‘I did not attend university. I was educated at home. I have a passing acquaintance with Latin, but my father saw no need for me to learn Greek. He wanted me to learn how to manage my estates and behave like a gentleman, that was all. I was in flat despair. I considered going to Farleigh Hall and employing my secretary to translate it for me. But then I thought your father would consider that cheating. So I asked if I might borrow a lexicon and set about attempting to decipher the symbols, at least.’
