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“My nanna, who is most precious to me, is badly ill and is not rallying as she ought to. Meeting my fiancée might lift her spirits and improve her disposition greatly. However, I have no fiancée. Jane was a creature I created for my dear nanna and mother and sisters to stop their incessant matchmaking plots.”
“How wicked of you,” she gasped.
“I thought you would have said ingenious,” he said drolly. “I was desperate, and I assure you, until you are hounded by ladies only interested in your wealth and title, some even working to compromise you into marriage without little thought of getting to know the man beneath the trappings, you would not understand my plight. Yes, my nanna did that because she wanted me to marry the daughter of a viscount. Luckily I escaped.” A humorless smile touched his mouth. “I am, however, not asking you to understand, only if you would be willing to pretend to be my fiancée for a few weeks.”
She stared at him, aghast. “You wish to continue your wild tale?”
“I was actually of the mind to confess it all to nanna, but I was urged by her physician that it would be extremely detrimental to her health,” he said soberly, a flash of grief touching his eyes before his expression became inscrutable. “If the idea of me being engaged and her meeting my fiancée before she…before she leaves us makes her happy and at peace, then I am damned glad I had the foresight to create Jane.”
“And you believe I would be suited for this role?”
“Yes.”
“My lord, I am not a liar.”
“You would not be lying,” he said smoothly.
Outrage flashed through her. “Of course I—”
“I would be paying you to play a part, my good lady, so you would simply be an actress for a few weeks. It is not an extended role. Jane has a family in the country she takes care of and is not very much interested in town life.”
“There is no Jane,” she said with a spluttered laugh, suddenly seeing the humor in the entire matter.
His lips quirked, and his eyes roved over her face as if he saw something he liked. Flushing, Felicity briefly looked away.
“I will excuse away your presence when the time is right, Miss Harrington, and I assure you I will inform my nanna when…if the timing for her ever becomes right. You are not deceiving her but helping me to make her comfortable,” he ended gruffly.
She bit into her bottom lip hard. “And you will pay me to do this?”
“Yes. Half upon agreeing and half at the end. Also, note that you will receive an entire new wardrobe at my expense.”
She glanced down at her gown flushing. “I cannot accept that.”
“If I might suggest—”
She held up a hand to cut him off. “You said your Jane was from the country. I presume that is how you justified her not being in town to meet your family?”
A soft noncommittal grunt escaped him.
“I also presume the reason you look at me and think I might be Jane is that…well I am rather plain,” she said softly, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear. “Should I come to meet your grandmother and family dressed in fashionable finery, that image would not align with the image you painted for them of a simple, country girl you fell in love with.”
He stared at her, and she almost fidgeted under that steady regard.
“Who said anything about love?”
Her eyes widened. “Of course, I forgot gentlemen like you do not marry for love but for connections. However, given Jane is a simple girl with little connections, how else would you justify going against your family’s choices of ladies and being affianced to her if not for love?”
He arched a brow but made no comment. “Your logic was sound. Connections and love withstanding, she is my choice, and that is the only thing that matters. Since you would forfeit the new clothes, I shall double my initial offer.”
“You never named your offer price,” she said with a small smile.
“Five thousand pounds.”
CHAPTERFOUR
Felicity almost fainted. That was a fortune! Her heart pounded so hard she pressed a hand over her chest. “Five thousand pounds?” Oh, no, her voice sounded like an unflattering squeak.
His eyes were sharp and probing on her face. “Yes.”
