Last Dance in London (Rakes on the Run #1) - Sydney Jane Baily Page 0,99

most excited. She wants me married and producing an heir forthwith.”

“But I am a common mopsey,” she whispered.

“What the devil!” He leaned forward. “Why would you say such a thing? There is nothing common about you — well, yes, your birth, but apart from that, nothing. As for being a mopsey, only someone in need of spectacles would ever say such.”

“Lord Chandron said—”

“He’s an ass, and it’s a pity he wasn’t swept away in the flood with his charming wife.”

“That’s a wicked thing to say,” she said without much forcefulness.

“They were wicked people,” he retorted, then sat back. “Anyway, you’re as lovely a female as any I’ve ever known.” Her cheeks pinkened again in a manner he liked. “Most women I know don’t truly blush,” he added. “They put on rouge powder to have permanent red cheeks that fool no one. Not like you, with your rosy hue coming and going for various reasons.”

He waited and watched.

“There now, it’s deepened. I suppose I’ve embarrassed you with compliments.”

“I suppose you have,” she agreed.

“Anyway, I suggest you settle in for the journey.”

Nodding, she leaned her head back and even closed her eyes. After a minute, however, she opened them. “I cannot believe you were leaving London without telling me, especially after ordering me to remain in Town. Most thoughtless of you.”

“On the contrary, I sent you a note about my involuntary departure this very morning,” Jasper said. “If you hadn’t been out pawning things, you would have received it.”

“I would have found out too late to go with Sarah, who left early for Great Oakley.”

“Naturally,” Jasper confessed. “That was my hope. Since I had to run due to your troublesome behavior, I didn’t want you creating more problems at Lady Macroun’s party.”

She made a face at him.

“Do you want me to believe you are slipping out of London to avoid being questioned about a pawned pin? I doubt it. I saw for myself the jealous husband having caught wind of your indiscretion. You don’t think the hounds chasing you from your home have anything to do with your being an infamous rake?”

He crossed his arms. “Absolutely not. This is because of you. Anyway, I don’t dally with married women.”

She pursed her lips and blinked.

“Hardly ever,” he amended, “and not recently. Lady Neville was months ago. There is really no need for me to fish in that pond when there are so many willing widows around.”

“Miss Tufton was not a widow, nor Lady Arabella, nor Lady Violet.”

“No.” He rubbed his chin as the carriage approached the Hanwell toll and all points west. “More’s the pity, too. What a mess that is. She eviscerated me in the papers.”

“Which one?” Julia snapped.

“All of them,” Jasper returned, feeling sorry for himself. “I fail to see how my breaking it off so neatly could get me into as much trouble as if I’d ruined each and left them with their skirts up and their hopes down. I tupped not a one of them.”

An arched and doubting eyebrow from Miss Sudbury caused him to disclose the reality. “I didn’t. I swear it. After you and I were almost intimate,” he said the words carefully, hoping she deemed them polite.

But she frowned. “Almost?”

“I only mean that your sister stopped the finality of the act. Anyway, after that day, Lady Arabella no longer held any interest for me, neither did Lady Violet despite them both being diamonds of the first water. All I can think of are your soft, full breasts, and the way you opened your thighs to me, and the sweet sounds you made when I touched you and nibbled upon you.”

“I see,” Julia said quietly, and he was glad he’d told her the truth. However, by her scarlet cheeks he ought not to have been so blunt.

“If only you hadn’t turned out to be a thief,” he added, breaking the sudden tension in the carriage. “I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“You’re not in any mess,” she insisted blithely.

“All of London thinks I was helping myself to Lady Rampley’s bloody brooch!”

She lifted a shoulder in an unimpressed shrug. “You are an earl, as you keep reminding me, and you have no reason to steal. Just remind anyone of that exact fact should they come knocking at your door, unless they are angry husbands. Besides, why would the bon ton think you capable of stealing anything?”

“I pulled it from my own damned pocket!” he reminded her. Like a fool. Then he came to a terrible conclusion. “You placed it