Page 38 of A Deal with the Rebellious Marquess
‘Not that version of events,’ Jasper said sternly. He and Orion had engaged in serious discussion on the train trip to London. ‘She will run your complete version of events when the time is right. She will want to interview you tonight. You must tell her about Hendricks and the extortion, just like you told me. Then she will want to go out and get proof. When that is done, the story will run.’ And Orion would be named. He would have to own up to his part in the debacle, but at least it would be honestly and fairly presented and the backlash for the family would be mitigated. For the Marquessate of Meltham it would be a survivable scandal thanks to her.
After two hours of work, the presses began to hum and Fleur made the rounds, congratulating the press crew on their effort. At last, she came to join him and Orion. ‘We’ve got it all under control.’ She smiled as she wiped her hands and took off her apron. ‘Now, you need to live up to your end of the bargain.’ She gave him a sly smile that was part coyness, part seriousness. ‘I stopped the presses for you, you’d better have a great story for me. Come upstairs to my office and we’ll talk.’
After a day of not having enough time, of wanting time to slow so that the train delays would not prevent them from arriving in time to beat the presses, it seemed to Jasper that there was suddenly too much time—too much time between Orion having a chance to tell his story and his being able to have Fleur to himself, to ask her the questions that mattered most to him. It took all of his willpower to sit patiently and quietly—two things he was usually very good at—while she listened and Orion got the lion’s share of her attention.
She finished questioning Orion and set her pencil down, turning her gaze in his direction, an appreciative smile on her face. ‘You were right. The story is bigger than we thought. I can start tracking down leads on Hendricks right away. We’ll need proof before we can print.’ A palpable tension crackled between them, neither of them sure what to say next.
Jasper cleared his throat. ‘Orion, take the coach back to the town house. I’ll find my own way home. Mother will be pleased to see you and you can see to getting our trunks unloaded.’ To Fleur he added, ‘We came straight from the station. I didn’t want to risk waiting too long.’
When Orion departed, he asked, ‘Will you be all right? You made an enormous sacrifice for me tonight.’
‘You also made one for me. You could have hung me out to dry, let me run the story and then sued the paper for slander. You could have ruined me, could have had a nice piece of revenge,’ Fleur said. ‘But in truth, I don’t know how the board of directors will respond. They will be disappointed. I will have to answer to them. Still, I will have a better story, later, so I am hopeful that they can be pacified with an exclusive interview from Lord Orion Bexley himself.’ She gave a tired smile and for the first time, Jasper noted the faint circles about her eyes.
‘You’ve been working late.’
‘I didn’t want to be home alone. I don’t think I’ve even unpacked yet.’ Her gaze flickered over his face, doing its own assessment. ‘How are you, Jasper? Are you holding up?’
‘I am doing much better now that I’ve seen you.’ He reached for her hand, the first contact they’d had in days, his gaze steady. ‘I missed you, Fleur. Rosefields didn’t feel right with you gone. I spent a lot of time thinking about you, about what a great team we made—and still make. Not just in politics or in bed, or in problem solving, but in life.’ His grip on her hand tightened. ‘I want to pursue the possibility of that life with you, Fleur.’ He watched a flurry of emotions scuttle across her face, none of them the emotion he hoped for. It would be so much easier if she simply responded by throwing herself in his arms. Instead, her answer was in the form of a question.
‘What exactly are you asking me, Jasper?’ Her green eyes were sharp and wary.
‘I am asking you to marry me.’
Chapter Twenty-One
What did one say when a fantasy came to life? This was madness, something that was both possible and impossible and she didn’t know how to respond. ‘After only six weeks? Jasper, are you sure?’ She could feel herself trembling with shock and delight, and surprise and, yes, with uncertainty.
‘I am sure, but perhaps you are not?’ Jasper seemed disappointed with her response. Dear heavens, she was hurting him all over again in a different sort of way. She seemed doomed to hurt him. He made to disengage his hand, but she held on, refusing to let him go.
‘It’s not that. I am overwhelmed by the asking,’ Fleur said hurriedly. ‘Perhaps too overwhelmed to think straight.’
‘I love you, Fleur.’
Her voice shook a little at hearing the words for the first time from him. ‘I know you do. I saw it in your eyes tonight. You came to save me, not yourself. That was an act of true love, an act that was entirely selfless.’
‘I want you to be my partner in all things and I want to be yours. I want a life with you in the country at Rosefields, children with you, the family we both want.’
Fleur nodded, unable to speak against the emotion conjured by his words and the images that went with them. He offered her everything she craved and true partnership to go with it. She understood implicitly that partnership had made tonight’s outcome possible. If he’d not compelled her into partnership with him, if they’d remained opposing enemies, tonight could have hurt them both—exposing his brother in an unfair, incomplete light in a way that cast aspersions on him and the family, as well as hurting the paper’s reputation. But the honesty of their partnership, their trust in each other, had prevented that two-way disaster.
‘It would be easy to say yes, Jasper. But I am not sure it would be right or fair to either of us to jump headlong into this.’ She paused. ‘I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I’ve been back. This week, I had everything I thought I’d been searching for. I had justice for Adam, validation of my hold on his news empire, recognition. And it wasn’t enough. Those things didn’t fill me. They were things that were important to Adam and, without him, they were no longer important to me. I still think the values that Adam championed are important—literacy and access to information as cornerstones to a society that practises real equality.
‘I still want to fight for those things, promote those things. But I don’t know if I need to do it at the helm of a news syndicate. I certainly couldn’t run the syndicate from Rosefields. It is too remote. But maybe I am ready to give all of that over to someone else and start fresh with those efforts on a more local level. Perhaps I should take a leaf out of the Huddersfield Banking Company’s book and focus on regional literacy efforts close to home at Rosefields.’ She leaned close. ‘Do you hear what I am saying, Jasper? I just don’t know what the right direction is for me. I have to work some things out about what I want and how I want them before I can invite someone into my life on a more permanent level.’
Jasper smiled. ‘That doesn’t sound like no.’
Something warm blossomed in the vicinity of her heart. Perhaps that was what hope felt like. ‘It’s not “no”. It’s “I need a long engagement”. I think you do, too. Between the newspapers and Parliamentary legislation, we have a big year ahead of us, Jasper, plenty of time and ways in which to test our partnership.’ She could feel relief sweeping him and she let herself be drawn into his arms until she was on his lap. She reached for his glasses. ‘I’m looking forward to most of it.’
‘What part are you not looking forward to?’ Jasper teased, stealing a kiss.
‘Meeting your mother. I’m not on her list.’ That would be one more item they’d need the year to sort out.
‘You’re not on the list...yet. But you will be.’ Jasper grinned. ‘So, this time next year, you’ll marry me?’
She twined her arms about his neck, letting her fingers play with his hair. ‘Yes, but I have conditions. I want a small ceremony at Rosefields, family only. No big celebration. Just something intimate. Quiet.’
‘Perfect.’ He laughed against her lips. ‘Just as I imagined it. Until then, we’ll have one whirlwind of a year.’
One year later
