Oh, Cherry Ripe

“My lord,” she called after him.

He stopped, but his jaw seemed clenched and his posture had an iron look that said, I am firmly giving you up. “Y-es?”

“Nothing,” she said softly and went into the schoolroom. This was ridiculous, she told herself. What was wrong with him? He had no right to claim her in any conceivable way. He didn’t know that she was anything but a woman who had to make a living as a governess at the mercy of the family that hired her. He thought her a governess, and it hadn’t stopped him from taking her to his bed! He was the one who took off for London without a word. He was the one who thought her beneath a marriage proposal …

And he was the one who commanded all her thoughts and all her feelings!

* * *

James was pacing like a lunatic. It was already five minutes past five o’clock, and wasn’t that just like the brat to keep him kicking up his heels? However, just as he was beginning to worry that something had gone wrong, he saw her slowly steering her horse through the sparsely wooded field at the back of the inn. She jumped nimbly down and, reins in hand, started walking towards him.

“Well, ’tis about time, madcap!”

“I got here as fast as I could. Sky seemed to be hanging around the stables. I had the devil of a time trying to get away without his seeing me.”

“What difference does it make whether he sees you leave or not? For pity’s sake, Cherry, even a governess may have personal time off, and you are Miss Elton of Elton Grange.”

“Oh, James, you don’t understand,” she clasped her hands fretfully.

“I don’t understand? Dunce, it’s you who has lost your reason. Look, m’girl, you don’t know who Westbrooke is!”

“What sort of a thing is that to say?” Cherry returned, puzzled.

“You didn’t take the time to find out who your stepmama matched you with. Well, let me tell you, had you known, you would not have run away!”

“Oh, really?” Hands went to hips. “What makes you so cocksure, you wretched thing?”

“I ain’t blind, Cherry-girl. I saw the way you looked at him,” James replied a bit pugnaciously.

“I believe you are mad,” Cherry returned, wagging a finger at him. “Must be the fresh country air—it has gone to your head!”

“Stupid little madcap!” He laughed amiably. He held her shoulders then just to keep her from jumping about. “It is Westbrooke … don’t you see? It is Westbrooke.”

“What is Westbrooke? What are you trying to tell me?”

“You are engaged to marry him, dunce. He has just returned from London, where he went to check in with his intended bride, only to be told she is ill above stairs. He returns here, where he makes eyes at you. It is all really funny when you think about it.”

Cherry was struck dumb. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t move, and she couldn’t speak. She stood like a stock until James shook her a bit and called her name. She clutched at him as though she were falling and needed him as a lifeline. “Are you telling me that … that Lord Westbrooke has asked for Miss Elton’s—my hand …?”

“Precisely.” James was well pleased with himself.

She recalled the night they had met when he was in his cups. So that was what it was all about? He was supposed to meet his fiancé the next morning! Ha! “That means I am actually engaged to Lord Westbrooke …” She was speaking more to herself than to James.

“Again, precisely.”

“Hush. I must think.”

“You should be happy. Any dunce can see you both want each other.” James frowned.

“Well, I am not happy. James, I have deceived him. If I honor the engagement, he will never know if I am marrying him for the right reasons. I want him to know it is for love, for you are quite right, I love him—desperately. Oh James, I must leave for London immediately. I will have to quarrel with him and get myself dismissed. And the twins … I shall take them aside and tell them all.”

“Hmmm. Problem there—you really shouldn’t leave the twins in the lurch.”

“I won’t be. Freddy will look out for them in my absence. I shall find them just the sort of governess they need … someone like Polly … and will make certain she is hired for the twins.”

“Yes, but they love you, Cherry.”

“Don’t you think I love them? I do. I shall never give up visiting with them if my plan doesn’t work, and if it does …” She screwed up her mouth and wrinkled her nose.