Page 10 of As the Earl Likes
“I’m paying you to,” he said meaningfully, his gaze filled with hope.
She could not ignore the substantial sum he’d offered. “How long are we to keep up this farce?”
“Until the end of the Season.” He cocked his head briefly. “We’ll set a wedding date for the autumn or winter.”
“Won’t your parents insist on a June wedding?”
He gave a slight nod. “They may try, but we’ll tell them you’ve always had your heart set on a fur-trimmed gown and cloak.”
She put a hand on her hip and stared at him. “Have you thought of every detail?”
“I’m trying to,” he said with a grin.
“What sorts of events will I need to attend?” This was not only important with regard to the wardrobe she needed. She needed to prepare herself.
He sobered. “First, there will be a betrothal ball.”
A ball. Where she would be the focus of everyone’s attention.
“You do know how to dance, don’t you?” he asked.
“Yes.” Though she rarely had occasion to do so, and when she did, it was a raucous reel or a line. She’d almost no experience with sedate dancing, and she’d never waltzed. “Though I don’t waltz.”
“That’s fine. We should be able to avoid doing that. Unless you want to learn? It’s not difficult compared with other dances, provided you can move in time to the music.”
Jo thought of one of her new friends, the brand-new Viscountess Somerton. She could waltz—apparently—and Jo knew her to be absolutely incapable of discerning the time of music.
“If it’s the same to you, I’d just as soon not bother dancing at all, if possible.” It was too…exposing. Everyone would be watching them. And wondering why he was betrothed to someone like her.
Her resolve faltered. What was she thinking?
She nearly balked. But five hundred pounds!
“We won’t be able to keep from dancing entirely, especially at our betrothal ball, but I’ll do my best to keep it to a minimum. Do you have any other requirements?”
“You didn’t finish telling me what events I need to go to. I presume I have to attend at least a few events before you even announce the betrothal, else we will have to tell everyone that we met at the Siren’s Call.”
“We did meet at the Siren’s Call,” he said with a frustrating chortle.
“Are you going to be serious about this? You are planning to fool your family, friends, and the entire ton.”
He coughed, straightening his features. “I am serious. My apologies. I am just so happy—a relieved kind of happy—that you are going to help me. I can’t tell you what a load this will be off my mind for the next couple of months.”
“You are willing to undertake a great deal and pay a large sum for what amounts to a temporary alleviation of your frustration.” She studied him closely, trying to see past his façade, for she’d always known there was more to Sheff than met the eye. “What do you really hope to gain?”
“Peace.” He answered quickly and firmly, with a soft but urgent tone that made her want that for him. “You don’t need to attend any events. What about the Phoenix Club? Isn’t your mother a member?”
“Yes, and as it happens, I will be at the assembly there tonight. Your sister talked me into going.”
“That is even better,” Sheff said, his blue eyes gleaming in the afternoon sun. “We will dance and promenade, and I will call on you tomorrow to propose marriage.”
“The Season’s fastest courtship,” Jo muttered. She took her hand from her hip and let it fall to her side. “That is how it begins. How does this end?”
“As I said, you’ll cry off because you just can’t marry a rogue. No one will blame you. In fact, I could do something scandalous so that you really don’t have any choice. You will be cheered and supported.”
“And you will be vilified.” Just like his father. Sheff couldn’t want that. She’d seen how his father’s behavior affected him. And now she wondered if that was part of the secrets about himself that he kept buried.
Sheff shrugged. “I’ll be a duke someday. My reputation will recover.”
