“It most certainly was the wrong coach. I haven’t the least notion of any document, and I’ve never had any love for France.”
He closed his eyes. “I’m well aware you are not a part of the spying network we have been playing cat and mouse with over the last few years. My blasted error has ruined everything. For you, for Britain.” He lowered his head. “And when your cousin-in-law finds out what I’ve done . . .”
The silence of the room pressed against my ears. He was right. I could only imagine Curtis’s reaction to all I’d experienced. He was currently in London unaware I’d even left his home, let alone traveled without warning to accept a housekeeping position for a friend. Of course, I planned to write them when I had settled and there was no question of fetching me back.
I cleared my throat. “Your words do have merit, my lord. Curtis can be quite protective of his family. Yet . . .” I glanced up. “He may also be kept in the dark if need be.”
Concern crept into Torrington’s eyes. “Unfortunately, there is more, a great deal more.” He adjusted his position on the chair, and for the first time I thought him genuinely nervous. He forced more of a grimace than a smile as he rested against the seat back. “You see, when the second carriage arrived at the scene of the accident, you’d already removed my mask. I said something to protect my identity that I have now come to regret.”
The dull headache threatened to return, so I waved him on.
His voice dipped into a sort of comical apology. “I, uh, told them you were my wife.”
Chapter 2
“Your wife!” Panic wrapped my heart.
Torrington held up his hand, staving off a slew of searing words poised to spill forth. His face remained a maddening mixture of integrity and arrogance, yet his tone sounded defensive. “I acknowledge what I said was brash and foolish, but you must try to understand. I was inside the carriage and neither you nor your coachman were conscious when help arrived. It was imperative that I protect my identity. I had no idea who they were or what they’d seen. And without your words to refute me, I carried the lie at length, even into the inn and your very bedchamber.”
I drew away from him, cringing as the reality of his declaration echoed into the gloomy corners of the room. What might come about from such a simple statement? My head swam, yet I attempted to push myself into a sitting position. I could not fully digest this development lying on my back. Torrington sought to help me, but I thrust him away, completing the shaky transfer within my own power. “Exactly how many people heard what you said?”
His voice was firm as he flexed his fingers. “Only a few. However, I wasn’t expecting to meet an acquaintance of mine in the receiving area when I arranged for our room.” He looked up. “He knows me. He knows you. The damage is done. I had no choice but to continue in my deception.”
I huffed a cynical laugh as Torrington sat there regarding me like a cursed statue, probably uncertain what to do or say next. He had made a mull of everything. Whatever was left of my failing reputation would be nonexistent in a matter of days. An assignation in the country with Brook’s elder brother . . . Oh, the dratted Radcliffs!
Of course, there were likely few who had connected Brook to my son, but another scandal on my part had the distinct possibility of ruining any chance I had to work as a housekeeper—even for a friend. I had planned so well for Isaac and me. A small country village, space for him to grow in the freedom of anonymity. Now it was all lost. And so close to Dover? This little escapade would not go unremarked.
I buried my humiliation before giving Torrington my own scorching glare. “How do you plan to go about setting this man straight—and the others, my lord?” All at once I had the feeling money would be involved, and a flame lit my tone. “I don’t want anything from you, not a solitary farthing if that is why you are here.”
He seemed taken aback, his gaze flitting between me and the dismal recesses of the room. The ease surrounding his earlier conversation died away. It was only then I took note of his previous words, “Continue in my deception.”
I braced myself. “What precisely did you tell your friend?”
He opened his mouth, then faltered. It was as if a shroud dropped between us. His face fell emotionless, his back stiff. The keen light in his eyes became a probing dagger. He managed to say drily, “I gave him the gossip he was so eager to uncover—a plausible reason for my sudden flight into the area, why I had been in your coach and your room unescorted.”
My eyes widened.
“I told him I was deeply in love and decided to marry you on a whim by special license but a day ago.” He swallowed hard. “And I have no intention of taking back that statement.”
His words burned with far more venom than I could have imagined. Slowly, I shook my head, the heavy ropes of truth binding my chest ever tighter. He meant marriage. To me.
Torrington allowed me a quiet moment before his fingers rested on mine. “I am well aware we are strangers, and I am a poor offering for any lady, but I would ask you to entertain the possibility. Please, do not dismiss me out of turn.” He lowered his voice. “As my wife, your position in society would be secure, your purse full. Though neither of us set out this morning with any idea of such a ridiculous arrangement, I find on further reflection that a convenient marriage might fit both our needs.”
“You seriously mean to continue this, this farce?”
He didn’t flinch. “To the signature on the marriage document and beyond. I care a great deal about my country as well as my two daughters. I won’t attach another scandal to their names. I’ve had some time to think on this while you slept. Marriage is the only way to satisfy not only my vow to the crown, but my honor as a gentleman. I would never leave you in such a fix.”
My chest felt heavy. “You don’t even know me. Rest assured, there will be no scandal, not for you or your family.” Brook’s utter betrayal came to mind, and I found I could barely look at Torrington’s face. “I have already had a child out of wedlock . . . You owe me nothing.”
He turned my hand over in his, his focus following the flurry of shadows across my skin. “I am well aware you are unwed, but if you are concerned for your son, please, do not be. There can be no better situation for him than under my protection at Middlecrest Abbey. He will have opportunities there and, with my financial backing, the ability to achieve more than he could anywhere else.”
I closed my eyes, picturing little Isaac curled up asleep in the other room and what his life would be like as a housekeeper’s son. I could not dismiss Torrington’s proposition so easily. My heart squeezed. My response would affect the rest of Isaac’s life. But could I do it? Could I marry Brook’s brother after their father forbade Brook to marry me? The thought was absurd yet oddly satisfying at the same time. The Radcliff family did owe me, so to speak. How Brook would squirm if he knew.
I narrowed my eyes. After all, I had given up any thoughts of romance or love over the past year. Torrington’s emotionless offer was nothing to me, but what of my independence? I’d worked so hard to find a place where I could simply . . . disappear. Could I bear to lose my freedom as well?