“You may turn around my…Wentworth.”
He faced her, and she stared at him, terribly aware she was absolutely naked beneath the sheets.
“You are blushing,” he said with a measure of amusement. “I still cannot believe I thought you could be a lad.”
She smiled. “I had a very good disguise.”
He took her clothes and wig to the fire so they might dry.
He waved toward the small table and the two chairs by the small window. “Will you sit with me?”
Juliana made her way over and lowered herself into the surprisingly comfortable chair. The earl sat before her, and when he reached over and took her hands within his, a sigh left her, and her shoulders relaxed.
“I do not know why you are hiding, but if you wish to tell me, I will do all that I can to assist you.”
She cleared her throat. “My brother, Mr. Robert Pryce. He gave me your name as a gentleman I could turn to should I find myself in a difficult position.”
The earl frowned, and she saw no recognition in his eyes.
“You do not recall my brother.”
He smiled sheepishly. “We must have met, more than once, too, for him to have recommended me.”
“But you perhaps looked right through him,” she murmured, thinking of how her brother had spoken of the earl’s brilliance with such admiration. “However, I do not think Robert imagined I might have ever needed help of such magnitude.”
“And where is your brother?”
“He is on his way to London from New York. Based on his last letter, he should be here before Christmas.”
“And what did you want from me?”
She hesitated. “A place to stay away from society until my birthday in six weeks’ time. I visited your townhouse, but it was at a time of upheaval. You were withdrawing to the country, your valet had left to be with his ailing mother, and a replacement was needed. I was also given the impression you would not be distracted from your current mathematical problem to meet with me. My situation was desperate…”
“And your ingenuity rose up inside to save you.”
She smiled. “If you wish to see it in such a manner, I have no objection.”
“What made your situation desperate.”
Juliana withdrew her hands from his to lean back in her chair. “A scoundrel was trying to force me into a marriage. The morning I arrived at your townhouse, I had escaped a kidnapping.
“By God!” Wentworth frowned and folded his arms across his chest. “Which bounder did this.”
“Mr. Matthew Chevers.”
The earl’s lips curled with disdain. “He is known to me. I had not thought him so dishonorable.”
“I never suspected his character to be so wormy either.”
Shrewdness glinted in the earl’s eyes. “Why did he try to force you. Are you wealthy?”
“Very.”
One of his brows winged upward.
“Once my brother reaches me and I am five and twenty, no one will be able to force me into any marriage.”
A shudder of distaste went through her, and the earl’s eyes sharpened.
“Do you never want to marry? Or is it only this despicable ass you have such an aversion toward?”
How curious he hadn’t asked of her worth. Almost everyone who realized she was an heiress found a way to ask how much money she had, even though they pretended to believe it crass to speak so openly of money.
“I do not wish to marry.”
He stilled, and curiously, an unfathomable expression settled on his face. “Ever?”
She grinned. “Is that so weird to believe, my lord? I overheard your mother lamenting this morning of your failure on the marriage mart as well. I believe once again, we have something in common.”
He glanced away from her for a brief moment, a small smile about his lips.
“I simply hadn’t found a lady I like. It is not a deep aversion.”
“You were looking?” she asked, considerably astonished.
“No,” he said, humor lighting in his eyes. “I’d planned to do so when I reached five and thirty. That is a good seven years from now. Why do you never wish to marry? I thought this a dream of most young ladies.”
She rolled her eyes, stood, and walked over to the small window, staring out into the sleeting rain. She felt his presence at her back and acting on the impulse, she leaned against his hardened frame.
Juliana closed her eyes, a feeling of contentment sweeping through her when he slipped his arms around her. Being in this small cottage felt like they had shut out the outside world, and it was wonderful.
“My inheritance is left to me by my father, who worked to leave his children legacies. I will not marry a fortune hunter so he might squander my father’s hard work in a few months.”
“Not all gentlemen are fortune hunters.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I was but thinking about the few gentlemen who courted me these last few seasons.”
She felt the jolt of his heart.
“You were out about during the season?”
“Yes. Viscount Bramley is my stepfather.”
“I did not notice you,” he said gruffly.
“I am not that memorable.”
“Rubbish. No one could dare forget your eyes or your voice. I know I will never be able to scrub them from my memories. And certainly not the taste of you.”
Juliana turned in the cage of his arms and peered up at him. “You flatter me, my lord,” she whispered, bestowing a warm smile upon him.
“I only spoke the truth.”
“My father had many dreams, but he died before he could fulfill them. One was to open a grand shop, an emporium with different departments tailored to the middle class. Also, a hospital, he wanted to build a hospital. I mean to see some of his dreams realized.”
“Here, in London?”
“In New York.”
He stilled. “You plan to return home?”
“Oh, yes! I have wanted to now for a couple years. It is the best way to honor him, and the best use of the wealth he left me.” Juliana wrinkled her nose. “Could you believe Mr. Chevers spoke of the barouche he would buy once he controlled my inheritance? That was the limits to his imaginings, a damn coach!”
Wentworth tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear. “Your dreams are good ones, do not let them go. Certainly not for something so ordinary as marriage.”
Her heart warmed. “Perhaps in a few years, once I’ve accomplished some of my plans, I’ll marry a gentleman who has genuine affection for me in his heart and will not mind his wife is a businesswoman.”
“A businesswoman,” he murmured, “a truly scandalous proposition.”
Juliana laughed. “I do not dare think my husband could be a man from the bon ton. My pursuits would only make his life within his society awkward; wouldn’t you agree?”
“If he wants you, none of that will matter.”
The way he stared at her…Juliana’s heart ached, and she wished she understood the expression in his eyes.
So how did she go on now? There were still six weeks before her five and twentieth birthday, and she needed to lie low in disguise to prevent discovery by her stepfather and his son. She would be prey to other men if she tried to find lodgings or work somewhere else. But was she not more at risk when the earl clearly wanted to seduce her?