Page 42 of Oddity of the Ton
“To fit in?”
“I’ve neverbelonged, you see. I don’t speak, or behave, like other women. I don’t eventhinklike them.”
He suppressed a laugh. “From what I understand of Society ladies, Miss Howard, if you wish to think like them, then you need to cease thinking at all. And I’d advise against that.”
She withered under his laughter and tried to withdraw her hand. But he held it firm.
“My intention wasn’t to make fun of you, Miss Howard,” he said. “You must never change the way youthink. But I can advise you on how to navigate your way through Society.”
Her eyes sparkled with hope, and for a moment, the barriers to his heart were in danger of being breached.
“Would you take the trouble to do that?” she asked. “Forme?”
“It’s no trouble,” he said. “You only need convince the world that you’re one of them.”
“I’vetried,” she said. “I try so hard to behave and speak like others—but it never works.”
“Then let me teach you,” he said. “And a lesson is always best undertaken in a practical manner.”
Her eyes flared with apprehension. “Practical?”
“I must teach you in the very environment in which you wish to survive,” he said. “In public.”
“In p-public?”
“Yes,” he said. “Such as in the park. We’ll have enough privacy to discuss the principles without being overheard, then you can put those principles into practice when we encounter others.”
“You want to takemefor a walk in the park?”
He would have laughed at the astonishment in her voice had he not recognized the tragedy. The poor creature clearly couldn’t comprehend the notion of anyone wanting to spend time in her company.
“Yes,” he said. “I can think of nothing more pleasurable.”
And, at that moment, he genuinely couldn’t.
She gave a shy smile, and he couldn’t help a prick of pride at the notion that he’d played a part in her recovery.
“Is there anything else you require, Miss Howard?” he asked. “It seems, at the moment, that I have the most to gain from our arrangement.”
She shook her head.
“Do you wish to marry eventually?” he asked. “To have a home—a family of your own?”
“Ahome, yes,” she said. “And…” She colored.
He caressed her hand, as if to coax a further response from her. “And?”
“I want to be loved,” she said. “But all young women want to be loved, don’t they?”
“In my experience, young women want to bemarried, not loved,” he said, “preferably to a wealthy man with a title—the grander the better.”
She withdrew her hand. “That may be the case with the young womenyoupursue. ButI’mdifferent.”
She spoke with an edge to her voice. Was this timid little thing admonishing him?
“Not so different, Miss Howard,” he said. “Had any duke kneeled before any woman in Society last night, she’d have accepted his offer of marriage—as you did.”
She drew in a sharp breath, and his newly found conscience needled him at the distress in her eyes.
