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“I nearly did not find the path to this cottage,” he admitted. “But it was fortuitous. Now, you must tell me what happened this morning.”
Doing her best not to bristle at his ‘must,’ since he had been forthcoming enough to answer her query so completely, Lily ran down the events of her own morning. As she did so, her mind was already turning over his report. She wanted to trust him, she truly did, yet…
There was something happening on Talbot lands. He could be involved. Though he claimed someone had shot at him this morning, that could be nothing more than convenience. It would be very suspicious if everyone else was attacked, and he was not.
Riding alone in Hyde Park, shot at by a hidden party… well, there was no way to prove it, was there? Even before the storm, finding any evidence of such a claim would have been extremely difficult. Now it would be downright impossible. Which meant she was alone in a cottage with a possible traitor.
Though since her friends had sent him looking for her, he would be extremely foolish to harm her. Unless he blamed it on the highwayman. But if he was going to do that, why had he attacked the highwayman?
The circular thinking was getting her nowhere. She needed more information.
Finishing her summation of how she had arrived at the cottage, she automatically turned her head to see his reaction to her account.
Her breath caught in her throat. He had taken off his waistcoat, and the fabric of his shirt was thin enough to see through, especially when he was backlit by the fire. Though she could not see everything, she could see enough to know he was certainly not padding any of his clothing, and he had a smattering of dark hair across his chest.
Why that set her cheeks aflame, she did not know. So the man had hair on his chest. That should not be enough to make her blush and lose her voice. Plenty of men had hair on their chests, but she only reacted to him this way.
She had to get out of there.
“I think the rain is lightening up.”
“It is doing no such thing.”
Though he spoke the truth, Lily scowled. She might have been exaggerating, but it was rude to negate her statement so comprehensively. He did not seem to care. Pure contrariness made her press the point.
“We cannot stay here forever.”
“Not forever, but certainly long enough to let the rain slow, if not stop completely.” The tone of his voice made it clear he would not accept any other opinions, and Lily felt her temper rise.
“Even that might be too long,” she snapped. “The Hatchets will say…” Her voice trailed off, her throat tightening as she thought of the things that vile couple might spread about her.
“There is nothing we can do about them. What we need to do right now is keep ourselves safe until the storm passes.”
“Easy for you to say,” she snapped. “It is notyourreputation at risk.” With her temper flaring, she got to her feet. Truthfully, if he had been more conciliatory, she would not be so frustrated, but he was talking down to her, just like every gentleman had all Season, and it was making her want to be the ninny-headed flibbertigibbet they—and he—seemed to think she was.
She was so tired of men brushing her off, and here he was, yet another one, unconcerned about her and her future, even though she was stuck with him through no fault of her own.
“Your reputation is hardly the largest concern right now.” The condescension dripping from his voice made her want to scream.
Yes, there were a great many other concerns she would like to help with and find out whether her Uncle Oliver still lived, but her reputation was still a massive concern to her! It would affect her entire future.
His complete dismissal of her was infuriating. If she stayed one more minute in these cramped quarters with him, she would surely throttle him. How Elijah maintained a friendship with such a cold, self-centered brute was beyond her, but she had no desire to be trapped with him any longer than absolutely necessary.
She got to her feet and moved towards the door. She would rather walk back to London in a storm than spend one minute more with Captain Nathan Jones.
ChapterSix
Nathan
Standing by the fire, Nathan could only shake his head at the vagaries of women. Not only did they not know the Marquess of Camden’s fate or her friends, the Marquess and Marchioness of Hartford, but she was worried about her reputation? If there was a scandal, they would have to marry, of course, but her reputation would hardly suffer for that. He was a perfectly eligible gentleman. A wedding between them would be quite appropriate for their stations and immediately clear up any gossip.
Besides, they did not even know yet if such a thing would be necessary, so there was no reason to dwell on it.
When she suddenly got to her feet and walked towards the door, he frowned.
“What are you doing?” She could not actually intend to be going out into the rain, and yet it looked like just that.
“Forgive me for not wanting to stay somewhere with a man who does not value my reputation,” she shot back over her shoulder.
