Page 19 of Irresistible
“You may be right, actually. If we know each other at least a little, our scheme will be that much more credible.”
He’d changed his opinion? “I’m glad you think so.” She wanted to ask a dozen questions, but she still wasn’t sure he’d answer them. Perhaps she ought to give him an open invitation to just…talk. “You seem guarded. Is there anything else you’d care to share with me? About your family, perchance? Or where you grew up?”
“I grew up near Stirling.”
“Is that the Highlands?”
“It’s about where the Highlands start,” he said.
“I’ve always wanted to visit Scotland, especially the Highlands. It sounds beautiful.”
“When you’re an independent spinster, you can do whatever you like, including take a trip north.”
“I suppose I can.” She hoped he might say more, but began to doubt that he would. She’d prod once more and then leave him alone. “Your father is the earl?”
“Yes.”
“Any other family?” Twice more, apparently.
He exhaled. “Two sisters, same as you.” Jess had mentioned her two younger sisters at some point during their acquaintance. “I also had two older brothers. One died twenty years ago along with my mother, and we lost the other in July. I also have aunts and uncles and a great many cousins.”
Jess turned her head to see his expression, but it hadn’t altered. His gaze was fixed on the road, and his features were relaxed. He was either unaffected by the loss of his brother or he was exceptionally good at masking his feelings. She suspected it was the latter. “As in two months ago?” Now she understood both Lady Pickering’s and Evie’s reception of him when he’d returned to London last week. She also comprehended why he may have been agitated that first evening at Lucien’s.
“Yes. He suffered an accident. He was supposed to marry this month.”
“His poor betrothed,” Jess whispered. “And poor you. Were you close?”
“I think so, yes.” He was quiet a moment. “Yes, we were. Anyway, I am now the heir to the earldom, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be doing this, unfortunately.”
She heard the regret in his voice. “You’ll miss it.”
He glanced toward her, and she wished he wasn’t wearing the spectacles so that she could see his naked gaze. “I wasn’t supposed to be the earl. I was happy to find something I loved, something that made me feel valuable.”
“Being the earl may be the same.” She touched his arm briefly. “Different, but still fulfilling, I mean.”
“I suppose. In any case, it doesn’t matter how I feel about it. It’s my duty.”
They fell quiet for a few moments. The breeze picked up, and Jess noted there was a blanket peeking from beneath the seat.
“Such a heavy word, isn’t it?” she reflected. “Duty. I have long felt an oppressive responsibility to wed. And why?”
“I would argue that particular duty isn’t the same as mine. I was born to it.” His shoulder twitched the barest amount, but she caught it. “Actually, maybe they are the same. Women are born as women, and their value is often in who they wed.”
She was astonished that he understood. “You wish you weren’t? Born to it, I mean.”
“The truth is that my father isn’t my sire. He raised me as his son, but I am not his.”
Goodness, she’d never expected this sort of revelation. “That was rather wonderful of him.” She assumed that was the case, but what if Dougal and his father didn’t get along? Perhaps that was part of why Dougal didn’t want to be the earl. “Was it? Wonderful, I mean.”
“It was, particularly when you know that neither he nor my mother were Black.” He cast her a wry look.
What he said sank into her brain. Everyone would have known he was not his father’s son. It wasn’t uncommon for a man to claim his wife’s child as his own. There may be speculation as to the paternity, but no one would really know. In this case, it would have been quite clear that Dougal wasn’t his father’s son.
“That sounds especially wonderful, then,” she said softly.
“It was. Itis. My father is a singular person. He made sure no one questioned my birth. I’ve had looks, and I’m aware people talk, particularly in London, but as I’m the acknowledged son of the Earl of Stirling, no one debates it. At least not publicly. I’m confident some have discussed it at length.”
“That’s precisely the sort of thing the worst gossips feast upon.”
