“I don’t deserve anything,” James cut in. “No one does. Except perhaps your sister.”
“My sister?” Blackbrook echoed, tensing.
“Yes,” he said, determined to make Blackbrook see the help she needed. The difficulty she was facing. “She’s a unique individual.”
Alexander grinned at last. “She causes trouble wherever she goes. She is a trial to our mama, and to me. She refuses to find a suitable husband. And I wouldn’t change her for the world.”
Nor would James. But he did not say it. He did not wish to arouse Blackbrook’s suspicions. So instead, he ventured, “Perhaps she cannot find a suitable match because there are none that are suitable for her.”
Blackbrook’s gaze narrowed. “Are you trying to tell me something? Do you admire her?”
“Of course I admire her,” he said with a forced lightness.“But both of you? Your lives have changed dramatically since your father’s death. You’re both swallowed up by the shadows that his sudden loss brought. And I think it is time that you stepped out into the light.”
“I cannot,” Blackbrook snapped.
“Then you should understand my predicament,” James replied.
“Will we never do it, then? Escape our fathers?” Blackbrook asked.
“No, I do not think we can.” He snapped up his reins and gave his stallion his freedom.
Racing away from the past. As if such a thing were possible. Suddenly, he knew he had a garden party to plan. His friend might not know it, but tomorrow, Jacqueline would no doubt meet her future husband. And it would all go according to James’s excellent plans.
Chapter Eleven
The Duke of Stone was accustomed to events going according to plan. He arched a brow as he contemplated the small crowd meandering about his garden.
Things werenotgoing to plan. And he was slightly stunned.
After all, how did anyone dare behave differently than he expected? But it seemed that when it came to Jack, nothing was going to go as he assumed.
Something that should not have surprised him at all.
He had invited several people to a small garden party at his London townhouse, expecting to be able to kill multiple birds with one stone.
Efficiency was not to be sneered at.
Jack needed to marry, she needed to marry quickly, and he had his list. He knew that she and his mother had voiced concerns about said list. Yet he was right about most things and still felt he had chosen the best course for Jack given her wishes for marriage.
He had invited her over.
He had invited the gentlemen on the list over, and several other lords and ladies and their progeny so as not to make his machinationstooobvious. And yet no progress had been made.
Well, that wasn’t true.
The whole debacle was proof that no progress could be made at all with his marvelous Jack.
The gentlemen in question peered at her with myopic eyes, tottering about the garden, happily telling her stories, patting her on the hand.
James ground his teeth and felt himself at a loss as he stared at Jack.
To him? She was remarkable. Even now, he resisted striding to her to hang on her next wild comment.
He appeared to be singular in this regard.
At present, she stood, head tilted to the side, listening to Lord Hever ramble on loudly about his gout and the days he used to ride wildly in the North of England. And how he would be happy to take Jacqueline to Ascot soon so that they could look at the fillies and decide who was the sprightliest of the lot. Then…he suggested she test a filly out for him from Tattersalls, as he needed to find a new horse for his granddaughter.
It was an appalling disaster.