Page 6 of Not Quite a Lady
‘You will be reporting him to the magistrates?’ It was hardly a question.
‘No. Why should I do that?’
‘Attempted rape?’ he suggested softly.
‘Oh.’ Lily found she was blushing scarlet. ‘No…I mean it was not like that. Not really.’
The man did not speak, but his glance at her torn gown waseloquent.
‘Lord – I mean, that gentleman, is my fiancé. We had a misunderstanding. It was my fault, I should not have gone with him alone in his carriage.’
‘It wasnotyour fault. He had no business to treat you like that. Don’t let me hear you say that again.’ Anger throbbed in the quiet, deep voice.
‘I doubt we shall meet again,’ Lily said with a touch of frost in her voice. ‘So the question is academic.’
She had the sudden feeling that if she did not stand up to this man she would simply succumb to whatever he wanted. Which was preposterous, as all he appeared to want was to protect her.
Herfroideurmade him smile, transforming his face, making him look younger. Late twenties? she wondered.
‘I should introduce myself. My name is Jack Lovell.’ Lily half expected him to add something, a hesitation seemed to hang in the air, then he added, ‘From Northumberland.’
‘Lily France. From London.’ She held out her hand and it was enveloped in his.
‘What a pretty name, Miss France.’
‘Thank you, Mr Lovell. You are a very long way from home. Are you on business in London?’
‘I am seeking investors.’
The waiter appeared and slid a cup in front of her. The fragrant steam curled up to her nostrils, comforting and blissfully ordinary.
‘Investors? What for?’ Lily twisted round, interested, Adrian momentarily forgotten.
‘Steam engines. For a coal mine. Not a very fascinating subject for a lady, I’m afraid.’
‘But it is,’ she protested. ‘I am most interested. Are you an engineer, Mr Lovell?’ That might explain the muscles.
‘An amateur. I own the mine.’
‘Then you will be concerned with canals as well perhaps?’ She took a sip of chocolate. ‘I have investments in several canal companies, but I do not know about any canals that far north. Do you send coals by sea to London through Newcastle or are you supplying industries close to hand?’
Jack Lovell’s expression made her smile. ‘I have trustees,’ she explained, ‘But I like to be involved in the investments. My father was a tea merchant, not a manufacturer, so I know more about importing than manufacturing and very little about mining.’
It was such a relief, she realised, to be able to speak openly about her family and their business without having to pretend they had nothing to do with the squalid business of making money.
‘We supply sea coal for London mainly. I want to reach more industry, but there are not the canals close enough yet.’
Lily drank her chocolate, thinking. ‘Why do you need the steam engines? For pulling up loads of coal from the shafts or for pumping out water?’
‘You do know what you are talking about, don’t you? It usually takes me half an hour to get to that point with a potential investor.’
He smiled at her and she found herself smiling back, basking in the praise. Her trustees took it for granted that she would study her facts, and everyone else subscribed to the fiction that women had no brains to speak of. She was unused to compliments on her knowledge.
‘I need them for pumping and ventilation. Lifting would be a bonus.’
‘Well, I have to admit you have now reached the limit of my understanding of steam engines,’ she confessed. ‘Tell me…’
‘No, you should not be here, in this place with a strange man. Now you have recovered a little I will call you a hackney carriage.Finish your chocolate, I will be back in a moment.’
