Page 26 of One Night to Remember
“I don’t recall the subject ever coming up.”
“Well, now you know.” She inched in the direction of his curricle. “If you would just let me—”
“No,” he said before she could continue. “Baby is my business. Your brother is yours.”
“Arrogant and overbearing,” she muttered with narrowed eyes. “And to think, this is what I have to look forward to when I marry.”
“You’re not marryingme,” he pointed out in alarm.
“Of course not,” she said with a laugh. “But I don’t imagine earls and dukes to be less imperious.”
That it was true did not make it any less irritating.
“Which are you settling for?” he enquired in a bored voice. “A duke or an earl?”
“I’m down to one name on the list,” she replied sweetly, “and it isn’t yours.”
“You have alist?” He could just imagine a parchment full of Lord This, Lord That, all with a line through their names. It was even more insulting than he’d guessed. Apparently even rich, handsome lordlings could fail to meet Lady Felicity’s exalted criteria.
Someone like Giles would never even be considered.
He shouldn’t care. And yet, to his shock, hedid.
“Who’s the lucky gentleman?” He busied himself with the front axle to hide his irritation. “Sedgwick?”
“No. A spendthrift,” she answered.
“Lord Findon?”
“All but betrothed to Lady Penelope.” At his blank expression, she added, “Wakefield. She’s a marquess’s daughter.”
Giles sifted his memory for the names of the titled gentlemen that visited his favorite tavern, the Wicked Duke. Most of them were Giles’s customers. One in particular could be considered the smithy’s biggest account. “Not… Lord Raymore?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “You know him?”
One could say that.
Raymore was always dropping off this carriage or that. He’d been a valued client for years. Giles clenched his jaw. He would have to congratulate the happy couple on their nuptials as if these moments with Lady Felicity had never happened. Giles would stand right here for the next decade or two, watching Lord andLadyRaymore ride off together again and again.
It shouldn’t bother him. But it did.
“What’s so wonderful about Raymore?” he grumbled. He could guess the answer.
“Wealthy, titled, in possession of multiple entailed properties, sits in the House of Lords,and—” She paused for effect. “—newly back on the market.”
He tightened a wheel bolt. Being right was not always fun. Lady Felicity was an unapologetic fortune-hunter and social climber. Instead of possessing a mere courtesy title, she’d soon be a peer. Married to a rich marquess with “multiple entailed properties.” No mention of whether she actuallylikedthe man.
“You think Lord Raymore will allow his wife to work on carriages?”
“Absolutely not,” she replied, her brown eyes serious. “In fact, he’ll never know it ever happened. Once you win Cole’s race, I shan’t work on carriages ever again.”
Giles frowned. “Even if you’re not married yet?”
“Even if I’m not married yet,” she agreed. But the happiness had left her face. “He hasn’t exactly asked. So far all we’ve shared are waltzes, but—”
“You’re preemptively subjugating your desires to an unfamiliar man who hasn’t offered for you yet,” Giles said in disbelief. “That’s—”
“Strategy,” Lady Felicity finished. “He’ll ask if I can make him believe I’m what he wants.”
