“He spoke like you, yes,” the man countered.
“What colour were his eyes?” Ursula asked, but sighed in defeat when the man merely shrugged.
“I don’t know, I didn’t notice, and that’s a fact.” Clearly growing bored with so many questions, the man looked impatiently at them and shifted his weight as though eager to be on his way. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes, please don’t send any more,” Ursula replied snippily. “I don’t know who the sender is, and the flowers are certainly not welcome. Please don’t put yourself to the time or the trouble.”
“But I have already been paid to send tomorrow’s,” the man protested.
“Then keep the money to one side, with the card. If the man returns and wants to know why the flowers haven’t been delivered, please give him my card and tell him to call upon me at his earliest convenience. If he doesn’t come back within, say, a week, then keep the money and make a profit,” Trenton ordered.
“Please don’t send any more,” Ursula added. “I really don’t want them. They are making me nervous because I don’t know who is paying you for them.”
The man looked at her somewhat sympathetically. “Then I shall refrain from delivering again,” he replied briskly.
Satisfied that they had done all they could for now, Trenton thanked the man and escorted Ursula back out to the curricle. Once she was settled aboard he turned the conveyance around, but headed in the opposite direction to Adelaide’s house.
“Do you want to go for a drive before we head back?”
Delight coursed through her at the prospect, not least because it meant she could spend a little time with Trenton. She nodded enthusiastically and settled back against the seat, a little awed at just how much she loved to be with him. Although she warned herself that it would be best if she kept her distance from him, there was no harm in taking a short ride in the carriage with him, was there?
As they trundled along, she tried to keep her gaze off the road beneath them. She had never ridden in a curricle before and it was as worrying as it was unnerving. They were so high off the ground that she was positive they were going to tip over at any moment, but of course they didn’t. Instead, they rode through one street after another until she began to relax against the plush seat to savour the sights and sounds of London. Being so high gave her an entirely different perspective to the one she had walking along the crowded pavements. It gave her the rare opportunity to study her surroundings without having to think about every thought and movement, and it was wonderfully liberating.
“Are you warm enough?” Trenton murmured, smiling at the delight on her face.
“I am fine, thank you. This is wonderful,” she enthused. Unabashed, she grinned openly at him before she turned her attention back to the passing scenery.
“I often come this way when I want some time to myself to think,” he confessed with a smile when they were many miles from Adelaide’s house.
“It’s wonderful just to be free for a while,” she replied. She threw him a somewhat rueful glance. “I have to confess that I haven’t seen much of London while I have been here.”
“Have you not? Why?” he asked, startled by her confession.
“I have seen a lot of people’s drawing rooms, ball rooms, music rooms, but nary a theatre or any of the sights. I have yet to see the Tower of London properly, and have only glanced at Covent Garden while passing on the way to a ball.”
“Then we shall endeavour to change that before you return to Yorkshire,” he declared firmly. “I should be honoured if you would allow me to show you the sights while you are here.”
If only so I can spend some time with you and further our acquaintance without the prying eyes of the ton watching, he added silently.
Now that he had spent some time in her company, he wanted to know all there was to know about the girl who had grown into a stunningly beautiful woman. It was a little strange to think of Ursula, the somewhat shy young girl he had adored from afar for so long, blazing a trail across London. If he was honest, he wasn’t entirely happy about it. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her in London; far from it. As far as he was concerned though, the only suitor who was going to show her the sights of London was going to be him. He didn’t want anyone else to spend any time with her and if the gossips began to speculate about them, so be it.
“Would you allow me to escort you around the sights while you are here?” he asked again when she didn’t appear to have heard him.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded when he saw her hesitate. “I promise I shall be a good guide.”
“I would love you to,” she replied honestly. “I just don’t want to cause you any problems by being seen out with me.”
“We are old acquaintances,” he countered. “What difficulty could there be in my showing you London while you are here?”
“Well, your fiancé might not like it,” she replied with an air of reluctance. Even saying the words hurt. It was ridiculous really because Trenton had never been hers in the first place. She was aware that her voice betrayed the emotion she struggled to hide but she couldn’t take the words back.
“Barbarella?”
“I am not suggesting anything untoward in your offer,” she added quickly. “It is just that you are engaged and, well, nobody knows me. As far as anyone is concerned, I am a single, unchaperoned female.” She gestured to the curricle they sat in. “Knowing London and its strictures, I am probably committing several scandalous faux pas just sitting here like this with you.”
“Well, I don’t know about
you but I see no reason in giving any gossips the opportunity to object. People will talk about others behind their backs, you know, no matter what they do. People will often criticise others, just because they can. They even talk about people who are generally considered to have done nothing worth talking about. I don’t think you should concern yourself over gossip given that you are due to go back to Yorkshire shortly.”