Page 53 of His Wicked Secret
Jonathan let out a weary sigh. “Andwhyare you angry?” he asked as he reached for her pole, intending to bait it for her.
“Because Gillian and I were about to share battle stories, and you and your band of merry men ruined it.”
“Battle stories?”
“About lovemaking. One can’t do that if the very gentleman she slept with is sitting right next to her, now can she?”
Jonathan nearly spilled the bucket of worms as her words sank in. “Now see here. We never…” Then he considered her words. “You mean Pembroke and Gillian…?”
She nodded. “But you mustn’t tell James. He would be ever so embarrassed. And apparently it wasn’t the first time. That would be the night of the hellfire club.”
He harrumphed.So Pembroke has managed to woo his lady.He gestured to her pole. “Do you want me to bait it for you?”
“I can do that.” She pulled her pole out of reach and lifted her silver hook up.
Jonathan sat back, watching her eye the worms with hesitancy. She reached down to pick up a juicy-looking little fellow. He studied her face and soon realized with surprise that it wasn’t disgust that made her hesitate, but the act of spearing him on the hook.
“I’m terribly sorry,” she said as she placed the worm on her hook. Then she cast her line out expertly into the water. Jonathan’s mouth opened in shock.
“What? Have you never seen a lady fish before?” Audrey asked.
“Not with the ease you just did.”
“It shouldn’t surprise you. You remember who my brother is. I am no stranger to riding, hunting, or fishing, but I do hate killing an innocent creature. It makes me sad, even to bait a hook.”
“You’re too softhearted,” he replied in a quiet voice.
She turned her hard brown eyes upon him. “Do I sense judgment for my feminine weakness?”
“Far from it. Having a soft heart is a virtue, not a sin. And it’s not a trait restricted to females. Men can be that way as well, just as women can be as hard as any man. Venetia Sharpe, for example.”
Audrey’s eyes sharpened. “Oh? How so?”
Was that a hint of jealousy in her voice? Lord, he hoped so. “Well, she is quite aggressive when it comes to getting what she wants.” He set about baiting his own pole.
“Aggressive toward you?” Her tone was entirely too nonchalant.
“No, thank heavens. But she does have her eye on Pembroke.”
“James? Oh dear, she’s quite wrong for him. Venetia is a decent woman, but she’s far too socially ambitious. James desires a quieter life and would be exhausted trying to keep up with someone like her. No, Gillian is perfect for him, assuming he can overlook her being a servant. She is the daughter of an earl, after all.”
“Anillegitimateone,” he added, curious to see how she would respond. He and Gillian were enough alike in their circumstances of birth that he felt Audrey’s reaction would be a good indicator of where he stood with her.
“Does that matter if he loves her?” Audrey gave her pole an experimental tug before she tucked it into a special notch in the boat’s side, where it could sit without being held.
He cast his lure out into the water and reeled it in a short ways before he set his pole in a notch as well. “You truly don’t think it matters?”
Audrey reached up to her bonnet, untying the ribbons and removing it. Small pink and white ribbons were threaded through her hair, matching her outfit. The morning light made her hair shine. He immediately pictured the way it had looked spread out over the pillows as she lay next to him in bed.
“You must think me some spoiled child, to assume I think that birth matters. I understand that you have a general mistrust of highborn ladies, but not all of us are heartless title seekers. Some of us…” She looked at him meaningfully. “Someof us would be quite content without a titled man as our lord and master.Someof us like quiet gentlemen who would treat us fairly and equally.” She said this with such a hopeful conviction that it made his heart ache.
“And you are one of those women?”
Audrey tilted her face back to let the light shine on her skin. “Yes, I am.”
“There is nothing wrong with that.”
She looked at him, as if it was his turn to be interrogated. “Do you think a woman should be her husband’s equal?”
