A Study In Seduction(76)

“I’m deeply obliged to you, my lord. I… May I ask if the offer still stands?”

“For one more week, yes, though Lydia gives no indication of changing her mind.”

“This is why you’ve come to me?”

“I hope you might be able to talk some sense into her.”

“My lord, please have patience. Lydia is… different, you know. She always has been. She did not have a normal childhood, though of course she would make an excellent wife and do nothing to—”

Alexander held up a hand. “You needn’t vouch for Lydia, Mrs. Boyd. I am well aware of her qualities.”

He paused as the truth of the statement struck him. Everything about Lydia complemented him—her intelligence, her wit, her passion. Even her stubbornness suited his nature, as if it were a gentler echo of his own inflexibility. And her genuine goodness, her kindness, reminded him with every heartbeat of what he should strive to be.

“Lydia has many traits that I deeply admire,” he continued. “However, my offer does not stand much longer.”

“Of course not. I’ll speak with Lydia straightaway, my lord. Thank you ever so much. You honor our family with your consideration.”

Alexander took his leave and returned to the foyer. As he was putting on his coat, he stopped and glanced toward the stairs. Jane stood on the bottom step, her hand curled around the newel post.

Alexander straightened and buttoned his coat.

“Did you mean it, my lord?” Her voice quavered. “You really want to marry Lydia?”

He nodded and approached her. Her green eyes swam with tears, which made him uncertain what to do.

“You dislike the idea of me marrying your sister?” he asked.

Her tears spilled over. She shook her head.

“Then what is it?”

Her chest hitched as she swiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand. Alexander gave her shoulder an awkward pat, discomfited by her reaction. He suspected Jane couldn’t imagine someone taking Lydia away from her, that the very idea caused her pain.

“You would continue to see Lydia as often as you like,” he said.

She sniffled.

Alexander reached into his breast pocket and removed the locket. He took Jane’s hand and put the necklace in her palm, closing her small fingers around it. “This belongs to you. Lydia always intended for you to have it. If she does accept my offer, I’ll be most pleased to have you as a sister-in-law.”

Jane’s fingers tightened on the locket as a fresh course of tears spilled down her pale cheeks.

“It’s not that I dislike the idea of you marrying Lydia.” She gulped. “It’s that I don’t want her to marry you.”

She turned and ran up the stairs, leaving Alexander staring after her in utter bewilderment.





Chapter Twenty-One




He told me you refused.” Her grandmother’s voice shook with anger. She stood beside the windows of the drawing room, her hand clutching the knob of her cane. “Why would you do such a thing?”

Lydia twisted the folds of her skirt. Mrs. Boyd had been waiting for her when she returned from a brief meeting with Talia at St. Martin’s Hall. Her heart ached at the discovery that Alexander had gone to her grandmother without her knowledge, even as she could not deny a thrill at the evidence of his persistence.

The man wanted her to be his wife.

“You know quite well why I refused,” she told her grandmother.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Lydia! Have you forgotten your position? That you were responsible for ruining your own future? That once Jane leaves this house and begins her own life, you have nothing?”

“I could… I couldn’t agree to his proposal without telling him the truth.” Lydia forced away the tears beginning to fill her chest, to choke her throat. “He has… has a reputation, I know, his family does, but he’s a good man. He has a good heart. And if he were to take a wife who…”

“A wife who what? Who is a mathematical genius? Clearly he finds that an asset rather than a detriment. And have you thought about what this could do for us?” Mrs. Boyd moved closer to Lydia. “Everyone with whom I have spoken has been conciliatory about the viscount. Oh, several have mentioned the scandal, of course, but really, Lord Northwood is not to blame for that. His own reputation remains intact, as long as one does not punish him for the sins of his parents. Which I am not inclined to do.”