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He laughed harder. “You’re not even a little bit curious.”
“Lord Somersworth—”
“Ethan.”
“Lord Somersworth. We are not going to be that familiar.”
“Your mother would say otherwise. She wants me to pursue you, which considering our first meeting, means she is either excited to have her daughter wed to an earl or just anxious to see you wed at all.”
Natalie’s mouth fell open as she gave him a shocked stare, and he knew he was right. “I don’t fight for much,” Natalie said while she threaded her fingers into his elbow. “But I will not wed you.”
Her comment wounded, though he admired her pluck. “Don’t hold back on my account.”
She let out a long breath. “Did I offend?”
“Only a little.” He helped her onto the bench of his phaeton before he circled around to sit in the driver’s seat. “But I’ll let it pass. I didn’t ask you to marry me, only to allow me to court you.”
She gave him a curious stare as he settled next to her, pressing his thigh intentionally against hers. “Explain.”
He didn’t intend to tell her the truth. “I’m certain I can win you over after some time. I just need the chance to prove I’m not who you think I am.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve seen your true colors. All of them. They’re still on my shoes.”
He grimaced and then laughed despite himself. She had a point. A woman of merit would not want a man like him, even if he did have a title. “All right, then. You don’t wish to wed me. But…” How did he proceed. “But spend some time with me.”
“Lord Somersworth, it’s pointless and—”
He needed a new tack, and he needed it quickly. His uncle would meet Natalie at some point in the near future and they had to appear as though they were truly courting. Red wanted something and he needed to find out what it was and what she’d give for it. Did she want to subvert her mother’s obvious plans? Her uncle’s?
“Allowing me to court will help you in your season, and it would help me too…”
“Help you? How?”
He cleared his throat. Perhaps a partial truth might do him good. “I also have an uncle who would like to see me matched. Interest in a woman like you would aid me in appeasing him…”
He snapped the reins and she turned to him. “Wait.”
He slowed the horses again.
“What do you mean, precisely?” She tapped his arm, her green eyes searching his. Her fingers on his arm had his muscles tightening in awareness.
“What I said. My interest in you would help us both.”
“So…you’re not…you don’t actually want me, then?” Was that a bit of hurt shining in her eyes?
He straightened up. He didn’t like the idea of hurting her. “No. That isn’t what I said. Only that I don’t need you to marry me, simply allow me to court you for some time in order to aid us both. What happens after that…”
He wouldn’t actually say he planned to marry her. He couldn’t lie to her, for some reason, the way he could with others.
“We’re not getting married,” she asserted again.
“So you’ve said. Multiple times.”
“But,” she said, dropping her voice as though they weren’t riding down a country lane all alone together, “there is something…”
