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‘It’s all very well saying that now—’ said Hugo.
Prudence’s heart began to flutter. Because Gregory had turned to her and was looking at her in exactly the same way he’d looked at her when he’d kissed her, that second time, in the shrubbery.
‘You can say whatever you like, Hugo,’ said Gregory, without taking his eyes from her. ‘I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else any longer.’
Chapter Fifteen
Her heart plummeted. She’d so hoped he’d been going to say he’d decided she was more important than winning the wager. Instead he’d more or less said that nobody’s feelings mattered but his own.
‘I have learned a lot of things during the course of this week,’ he said, turning to Hugo. ‘That I am every bit as resilient and inventive as any of my ancestors. I got myself to Wragley’s in disguise, located the false ledgers, and subsequently fought my way out. And then I extricated Miss Carstairs from the clutches of a pair of villains, survived the consequences of a robbery which left us penniless, and faced down a farmer with a gun.’
‘I say, it does sound as though you’ve had an adventure,’ said Hugo, with what looked like a touch of jealousy. ‘You should be thanking me.’
‘Yes,’ he replied, looking a little taken aback. ‘I suppose I should.’
‘That wasn’t what you said before,’ Prudence pointed out. ‘You practically accused me of being in league with Hugo to make you lose the wager,’ she said bitterly.
‘What?’ Hugo sat up straight. ‘You thought I’d stoop to cheating?’
‘Well, you did procure that vile creature I hesitate to describe as a horse, and the most broken-down vehicle it has ever been my misfortune to drive. Can you wonder that I thought you were attempting to prevent me from even reaching Wragley’s in the first place?’
‘Oh, that,’ said Hugo with a dismissive wave of his hand. ‘That was just in the nature of a jest. You are never seen out on the road except in a spanking rig with the most magnificent horseflesh between the shafts. I thought it would be fun to see you brought down a peg.’
‘Hence the clothes, too?’
Hugo grinned, completely unabashed. ‘That’s it. Though you have to admit the disguise I provided did the job, didn’t it? Neither Bodkin nor Miss Carstairs suspected for one minute that you’re actually a duke, did they? And you should have seen how inventive I was with reasons for your disappearance from London. Just as the Season was getting started, too. Everyone wanted to know where you were.’
‘The only person who might have been really worried by my absence,’ said Gregory repressively, ‘and might have had the gall to demand answers, would have been Jenkins. And I’d already sent him to Ely to make sure I’d have a change of horses at all the posting houses en route. But never mind all that now,’ he said, turning to Prudence. ‘I admit when we first met I was so fuddled that I couldn’t believe anyone but Hugo could be responsible for what was happening to us. And, yes, I was still obsessed with winning at that point. But the moment I knew you really had been the victim of a crime I decided to bring you straight here. Which meant forfeiting the wager.’
Oh. Now he came to mention it, she did recall the rather determined look that had flashed across his face when he’d said he was going to bring her here straight away.
‘Surely you can tell that by the time we reached that barn none of that mattered any more?’
She recalled the way he’d held her all night. He had not only kept her warm, but had made her feel safe. Cherished.
He seized hold of her hands. ‘What matters now is the future we can make together.’
A maelstrom of conflicting emotions surged through her—hope, longing, suspicion, fear. They brought tears to her eyes.
‘We cannot make a future together.’
It wasn’t what he really wanted. Why, Hugo had said he’d rather cut off his arm than marry again.
‘What? What are you saying?’
‘That I cannot marry you.’ She reached inside herself for the little speech she’d prepared. ‘We only met because of the sordid, money-grubbing plot hatched by my aunt and that vile man she married—’
‘Which I can easily thwart. They cannot very well accuse you of having loose morals once you have married a duke. They wouldn’t dare risk the notoriety and expense of challenging your grandfather’s bequest with me at your back, either.’
‘But I am not,’ she said grimly, ‘going to marry you.’
