Page 48 of Three Weeks with a Princess
“Is it working?”
“Apparently,” he said, sitting down.
Smithwell and the footman arranged the tea things on the low table in front of them. After they withdrew, Chloe poured everyone a cup.
“You were all looking quite serious when I came into the room,” Jack said with a smile. “What were you talking about?”
“Whatwerewe talking about?” Chloe said, casting her husband a wide-eyed glance that didn’t fool Lia a bit.
“You remember, my love,” Dominic replied. “We were discussing the best way to introduce Lia to the marriage mart.”
Chapter Eleven
Jack looked momentarily stunned; then a fierce glower descended on his features. Lia couldn’t blame him. After all, introducing her into polite society to find a husband was even more demented than Granny’s idea to make her over into a courtesan.
“I beg your pardon?” he said in a frosty voice to Dominic.
The magistrate gave him a genial smile. “I’d be happy to repeat it if you didn’t hear me the first time.”
Jack set his teacup down with a decided clunk. The amber brew sloshed from the cup into the dish beneath it. “I heard. I merely couldn’t believe my ears.” His narrowed gaze shifted to Lia. “This mad scheme wasn’t your idea, was it?”
His dismissive attitude sent her already volatile emotions careening in the opposite direction. “I suppose you can’t imagine any respectable man wishing to marry me,” she said tartly. “It’s obviously entirely outside the realm of human possibility, given my backgroundandmy lurid stage debut.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at him.
When Jack’s gaze flickered down to her bodice, she hastily uncrossed her arms and pressed her fists in her lap. When he looked back up, there was a slight flush glazing his high cheekbones.
“Don’t be silly, Lia,” he said in a milder tone. “Your stage appearance was ill-advised and a bit provocative, but there was nothing truly lurid about it.”
“You didn’t seem to think that the other night at the theater.”
He blew out a long breath, as if trying to find patience in some deep well and pull it to the surface. “I’ll grant you I was upset, but it wasn’t your fault. Your mother and stepfather should have known better than to expose you so publicly.”
“They didn’t force me, Jack. I did it willingly.” That wasn’t quite true, at least when it came to the breeches role. But she had done what was necessary and she refused to regret it. “Besides, a dedicated actress must be willing to make sacrifices for her art.”
“Good God, is that what you call it? Now get this through your head right this minute, my girl,” he said, looming close. “Your acting days are over, and that’s that.”
She whipped up a finger and jabbed it toward his nose. “Now, you listen to me, Jack Easton—”
He grabbed her hand. “I would be most grateful if you would cease jabbing me in the nose, the chest, or anywhere else.”
She wrenched her finger from his grip. “I can think of a certain portion of your anatomy I’d like to give a good poke right at this moment.”
Jack’s mouth dropped open and Chloe let out a startled squeak. Dominic’s eyebrows lifted in mild shock.
“For heaven’s sake, I meant his backside,” Lia said as her face heated.
It wouldn’t be the first time she’d given him a boot in the posterior. That had been when she was thirteen. Granny had finally allowed her to let her skirts down and put her hair up, mostly because Lia had been pestering her for weeks. Jack had come to take her fishing in the pond at Stonefell, and he’d teased her rather mercilessly about her new, ostensibly grown-up appearance. Though it had all been in fun, she’d been devastated that he still saw her as a little girl. After one flourishing bow too many, she’d dashed behind him, planted her foot, and given him a good shove.
Jack had gone flying into the pond, fishing tackle and all. He’d surfaced a few seconds later, spluttering and stunned. Lia was stunned, too, and horrified that she’d lost her temper. When she started babbling an apology, extending a hand to help pull him out, Jack had burst into laughter. He’d then taken her hand and pulledherinto the pond. Lia had been torn between outrage over the destruction of her new coiffure and amusement over the silliness of it all. One look at Jack’s gleeful, sopping face and laughter had won out. They’d dripped their way back to Bluebell Cottage, once more the best of friends.
Jack’s dark eyes sparked with reluctant humor. “It wouldn’t be the first time, would it, old girl? Please accept my abject apology, Lia. I obviously lost my manners.”
She wasn’t sure she was ready to forgive him. “You certainly did,” she grumbled.
“But he seems to have recovered them quite nicely,” Dominic said. “So perhaps we might discuss the situation with just a little less heat.”
“And fewer threats,” Chloe added.
“I’m frequently forced to threaten Jack,” Lia said. “He won’t listen to me unless I do.”
