Page 32 of Not Quite a Lady
The rejection was so immediate that Lily blinked. ‘But I have not explained – Oh, you are worried about not having an evening suit of clothes, but I am sure one of the fashionable tailors can outfit you in a trice, and naturally I would pay for it as I am asking you to oblige me.’
‘No.’ Jack crossed one leg over the other, sat back in the chair and looked as unmoveable as a granite boulder.
‘Why not?’ she demanded.
‘If you feel I am under an obligation in return for my food and shelter, beyond the amount for my lodgings which I am paying to Mrs Oakman–’
‘You arewhat?’ Lily uncurled her legs and sat up straight.
‘You said that you would charge me what I was paying to the Green Dragon. I am giving it to your housekeeper.’
‘But…that was not what I meant, you exasperating man. I meant that I would take it out of whatever the trustees and I decide to invest with you.’
‘I dislike being in debt.’ Jack spoke calmly, but his eyes werethe hard flint colour she had learned to recognise as a sign of anger.
‘We will talk about that later.’ Lily was not used to backing down from an argument, far less losing one. ‘I would like you to escort me because I would feel more comfortable with a male escort.’
‘Or you wish to demonstrate that you can muster one? Will Lord Randall be there?’
‘I have no idea whether he will or not. I would simply like to show that I am not moping around pining for him.’
‘I am sure you can adequately demonstrate that without my assistance. Buy a new gown perhaps? Or I am sure the crown jewels of some minor duchy must be available at a price?’
‘I will not dignify that with an answer,’ Lily retorted. ‘You are just set on being disobliging for some reason.’
How is it possible to be head over heels in love with a man who makes you want to throw the fire irons at him?
‘I am busy.’
They sat in silence, Lily fuming, Jack watching her from beneath hooded lids. ‘Please?’
‘No.’
‘I will pay you for your time.’
‘What?’ Jack sat up abruptly. ‘I’ll bedamnedif you do. There are names for men who hire themselves out to ladies, and none of them apply to me.’
‘Oh for goodness sake, Jack. You are as prickly as a hedgehog! I want your escort to a social event, not your…your…body,you conceited man.’
And that was as brassy a lie as she was likely to come out with in many a long year, she recognised as soon as she said it.
‘Very well.’ The mobile mouth quirked into a smile.
Lily narrowed her eyes suspiciously and tried not to recall what those lips had felt like on hers.
‘One hundred guineas.’
‘How much? That is outrageous!’
Jack shrugged, still smiling. Obviously he thought she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted and was prepared to call her bluff.
Lily bounced to her feet in an affronted swirl of skirts. ‘Out of the question. Since you are so disobliging I will go without you.’
She marched towards the door, forgetting the long skirts of her riding habit, and tripped over her own feet, somewhat spoiling the effect of her exit. She paused at the head of the stairs, chin up, ‘And minor duchies do not have crown jewels.’
‘Schleswig Holstein,’ a mocking voice called after her.
Lily slammed the door and retreated with as much dignity as she could muster.
