Page 20 of Leap of Faith
“Well, to begin with, you said you would consult your solicitor and review the will. Is there any hope for breaking this guardianship?”
“Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any question that my name is writ upon the will. It was also my father’s name, but as to which viscount was intended, there were no specifications. Furthermore, the cost and time of objecting to the guardianship would, as I suspected, take longer than it will for you to attain your majority.”
“And what of my sisters? Will they be under my care after my majority?”
“Unfortunately not. But let us cross that bridge once we are closer to your time. I do not mean to be a tyrant.”
“But you do mean to keep us in London!”
“Your sisters all seemed very pleased by the prospect,” he said gently.
“You have turned them up sweet, have you not?” she accused.
“I merely asked them what they would wish to do,” he said with infuriating calm. “What is the harm in them enjoying a few months in Town?”
“Harm? I do not have unlimited resources, as you must know, my lord.”
“No, but I do.”
“I will not be beholden to you any more than we already are! Why would you take this upon yourself?” She looked up at him when he did not answer, and his eyes were twinkling down at her. The urge to wring his neck was very strong. “Well?” She barely resisted the urge to tap her foot. “Can you tell me that a determined bachelor with a reputation such as yours wants to squire five provincial ladies about Town?”
“Why not?”
She narrowed her gaze. “Is this some gentlemanly code of honour that compels you to perform this unwanted obligation?”
“I cannot deny some truth in that, but simply, it amuses me.”
Faith was aghast. A burst of anger so strong and unsurprising that she had to check herself. “Amuses you, my lord?”
“Indeed. Town has been sadly flat of late.”
“So against my wishes, we are to provide entertainment for you?”
“Most ladies of quality would be thrilled. I daresay most gentlemen would consider it my duty to see you well settled. But, yes, thrusting five young beauties—even just three of them at once—on thetonwill cause me no undue amount of satisfaction.”
“So much so that you are willing to foot the bill?” It would serve him right if she went on a spending spree!
“My mother would say it a much better use of my funds than many other ways I could spend it!”
Faith could only imagine his spendthrift ways. Despite their sheltered upbringing, she’d still heard of the ways gentlemen of fashion wasted their blunt: gambling, sporting pursuits, hunting, women. “Just so,” she replied tartly, not approving in the least of imagining him with the latter!
“Are you concerned you all might enjoy yourselves? Or that you or your sisters might make excellent matches? You are very becoming when in a rage.”
“You need not practice your flirtations on me, my lord, if that is your intent.”
“When I flirt with you, you will not doubt it.”
Her face burned with mortification while he looked amused and wicked. How did she always come off worse in all of these arguments, and he made it seem like he was being perfectly reasonable?
He was determined to make her lose her composure. Well, she would not give him the satisfaction! To make matters worse, he moved disconcertingly close to where she would be obliged to look up at him, but she stared at his neck cloth instead. He took her chin and gently forced it upwards, looking into his fathomless green eyes.
“Pax, my dear. It will not be so terrible, you know.”
A pithy retort had been on the tip of her tongue, but Faith had never been so near to a man in her life. Her body betrayed her. Her ears started to pound, and her heart started to thrum and flutter in her chest, while her brain and voice ceased to function. All she could do was stare at him, dumbstruck.
He smiled down at her, which transformed his already too handsome face into something otherworldly. Apparently, he was not as affected as she, which was a very good thing, she tried to convince herself. For he was able to speak with annoying calm.
“Does your silence mean you agree? I think you’ll find it very agreeable. Stop fidgeting so much about taking care of your sisters, and allow me to bear the responsibility for you. You are not so old, you know.”
