“No, but she’s also none of our business.”
“She’s a friend. That makes her our concern. I want her to have a loving marriage. A meeting of minds and hear
ts.” Her voice lowered. “A marriage like ours.”
“Oh, hell, Sidonie, what am I expected to say to that?” He turned at last to find her watching him with a pleading light in her eyes.
She looked so disarmingly earnest. “You could say you’ll help me to throw Marianne and Elias together.”
He took her hand. How could he cling to his displeasure? “My darling, Elias needs to marry an heiress—and quickly. He must view Marianne as an easy solution to his monetary woes. She’ll be better off with Desborough whose regard is at least sincere.”
“I don’t believe that about Elias,” Sidonie said stubbornly.
“You know Peter left the Thorne finances in complete disarray.”
“Yes, but I also saw the way Elias and Marianne looked at one another last Christmas.”
“That was months ago.”
“And how they looked at one another at the Chetwell ball last week.”
“You’re a romantic.”
“You made me one.”
Impatience firmed his lips. “If I get involved in this mess—and I’m not saying I will—I’ll lose any chance of convincing Baildon or Desborough to work with me. They’re men of influence.”
“If they keep alienating people like Cam and you, I suspect their influence isn’t going to last.”
“Perhaps. But I have plans for that Hampstead land.”
“You’ll find somewhere else.”
“Your confidence is reassuring.”
“I can’t see a clever man like Elias being poor forever.”
“I admit I was struck with his acumen when he worked with Cam on that canal scheme. And he’s quick to find possibilities in new ideas. I hear he’s involved in using steam to power transport.”
Sidonie’s smile was wry. “Be careful. You’ll talk yourself into agreeing with me.”
A short laugh escaped him. “The Thornes are reckless by nature. Elias’s dabbling in science could merely be another symptom of inherited rashness, like Peter’s gambling.”
She sighed and dropped in a discouraged slump onto the window seat. “I like Elias. I like Marianne. She needs a chance to discover who she really is. Her father’s brought her up to be the feminine ideal. Quiet. Calm. Biddable.”
A smile tugged at Jonas’s lips. “You make her sound a complete bore.”
Sidonie didn’t smile back. “I fear if she marries Desborough, boredom is all her future holds. You have to admit she was amazingly brave when Cam married Pen.”
“Cam and Pen are meant for one another. They always were. Even a thickheaded fellow like me can see that.”
“But in finding one another, they hurt Marianne.”
He shifted to sit beside her. “You want everyone to have a happy ending.”
This time she did smile and when he took her hand, she leaned her ruffled dark head on his shoulder. Her sweet scent filled his senses and he kissed her crown.
“Of course I do.” She paused. “Do you really want me to ask Elias to leave?”