“I have been thinking of writing down a fairy tale. The Cricket Princess and the Mad, Bad Buggy Duke. What do you think?”
“I think it shall be a marvelous tale.”
“It is a ridiculous tale, and you know it.” She adjusted her seat so that she faced him directly. “I thought you’d stayed away because you were steeling your resolve to tell me such.”
“I have no need to steel myself to talk to you,” he said with vehemence. And as the words left his mouth, he realized it was true. She was not an emotional woman, thank God. The fact that she could speak rationally, today of all days, told him that. So he dropped on the nearest seat—the edge of her bed—and breathed a sigh of relief. “Mellie, it will all work out. You just need—”
“If you tell me to trust you one more time, I think I shall hit you.”
“But…um…oh.” He had no counter to that because in his experience, it always did work out. Maybe not perfectly, but well enough.
Meanwhile, she arched a brow at his silence while he felt like an errant schoolboy caught doing mischief. Then she sighed. “Do you imagine that I have grown to adulthood in my father’s house, managed servants and Ronnie, plus stopped my uncle’s interference, by leaving it to someone else to bring things right?”
“Of course not. I’m sure you were the most responsible adult in that household within a year of your mother’s passing,” he said. Then he gripped his thighs rather than reach for her because what he was about to say would not be pleasant to hear. “But that is in the country, and this is London. You have to rely on someone. You’re an outsider here.”
“I can rely on advice, Mr. Anaedsley, without surrendering my reason completely.”
She had a point, but rather than allow her that, he quietly chided her. “We are alone and affianced. You must call me Trevor.”
“Are we?” she challenged. “Are we still engaged? Trevor—” She stressed his Christian name, and not in a nice way. It was more an angry, irritated, frustrated way. “This whole plan is ludicrous.”
“It will work,” he said firmly, though in truth, she had echoed his thoughts exactly. It was a delicate line to tweak theton’s interest without crossing over into total revulsion. The mood of the aristocracy was capricious at the best of times.
“Well, it has already worked for you, hasn’t it? With our engagement, your grandfather will release your money, and you are saved from the duns. Whereas I am to find a suitable alternative to Ronnie while acting as your fiancée and hailed as the Cricket Princess.”
He tilted his head, seeing for the first time how careful she was. Obviously, she’d spent her life having other people see to their needs with never a thought to hers. In short, she expected to be overlooked and so had no qualms in accusing him of such a crime.
“You are far out on that, Mellie. Far, far out.”
She took a moment to study him, then slowly shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Then I shall make it clear. We shall begin with the simplest. Our engagement isn’t real until it is published in the papers.”
She brightened. “Then there is still time to stop this nonsense.”
“No,” he lied, “there is not. Second, I made a bargain with you to see you wed, and I shall stick to it. You insult my word as a gentleman to suggest anything different.”
She rolled her eyes. “Do you suggest that no gentleman has ever gone back on his word? That no bargain was actually a cheat or—”
“I say I am a gentleman, and I would never do such a thing.” He was rather insulted that she entertained the idea. But then she had grown up in the country, and they had all sorts of ridiculous notions. “Besides, I am the one at risk here. I have proposed. You have accepted. What if you change your mind and suddenly post the banns at your church? If you set a date, we must perforce wed. A neat way to trap a future duke, don’t you think?”
Her lips narrowed to a flat line. Obviously, she liked being called a cheat no better than he did. Except her words were entirely unexpected. “You cannot convince me that you would marry me in such a circumstance.”
“Of course I would. Or face the rest of my life as the man who stood you up at the altar for no reason whatsoever. There are some things a gentleman doesn’t do. I have pushed for this engagement, ruse though it is. You have accepted. Unless you murder someone or make me a cuckold before the vows, I cannot in honor refuse to appear on the day you choose.” She blinked at him, obviously mulling over his words. Good Lord, he couldn’t have just given her an idea. Of course not. She was Mellie. She didn’t think that way. But it didn’t stop him from hastily adding, “I am relying on you to not change your mind. To not put my honor to the test in such a malicious way.”
“Do you know,” she said, “I find your gentlemanly code as ridiculous as Ronnie’s romantic one?”
He reared back as if struck, though his reason couldn’t deny her point. “I am insulted to my core.”
She arched her brow. “Truly? Insulted to your core?”
He shrugged. “Well, I should be.”
“Then you understand my point.”
“Of course I do. But you must acknowledge mine. I adhere to my code as firmly as Ronnie holds to his. I have made you a promise to find you a husband, and I shall stick to that no matter what.”
She shook her head, not in denial, but in apparent awe of his stubbornness. “You would attach your honor to finding the Cricket Princess a husband. Do you not hear how ridiculous that is?”