“Dinner will be the usual time, Mr. Whitfield,” Jessica said quickly.
“You’re dining at Stapleton tonight?” Mrs. Harrow exclaimed. “I’ll let Mr. Lewis know to brush off your best suit early so you’ll not be late.”
Jessica rose to her feet. “I am on my way out now, too, so that is excellent timing.”
Jessica collected her bonnet from a hallstand while he stood watching. His arousal had thankfully subsided but his memory of it had not. “I’ll see you out then,” he suggested.
He waved to his housekeeper and gestured for Jessica to precede him outside. He would help her climb into his carriage and see her safely headed for home with her chaperone.
Gideon set his hat on his head as the Stapleton housekeeper joined them. “It’s a lovely day for a carriage ride, my lady.”
Jessica grinned. “Perfect, actually, but I think I should like to walk home instead of taking the carriage.”
Jessica was an energetic woman, and impulsive, too. He worried for her chaperone, who was getting on in years. “What of Mrs. Brown? Will you make her walk home, too?”
“Oh, no. I’ll send her back in the carriage with Mr. Lewis, if I may borrow him for an hour to drive her. Do you mind going home without me very much, Mrs. Brown?”
“Of course not, my lady. I know how you like to stretch your legs.” The housekeeper smiled warmly. “I’m sure Mr. Whitfield will see you safely home.”
Even when it wasn’t proper? After the events of today, it was even more wrong. However, the Stapleton housekeeper seemed to find nothing wrong with Jessica’s plan, and he was very puzzled by her agreement. “She is always safe with me,” he promised.
The housekeeper smiled warmly. “Good.”
Gideon saw Mr. Lewis on the far side of the garden, and when called for, Lewis was quite happy to comply with his request. He doffed his hat to Jessica and even smiled at Gideon, too, for the first time in weeks. Lewis promised to bring the carriage to Mrs. Brown if she would but wait a few minutes in the shade.
Gideon and Jessica left the housekeeper behind on a bench. He put his hands behind his back as they walked along. “Strange that. Mr. Lewis must be over his mopes at last.”
“I hope so, too,” Jessica murmured as she suddenly claimed his arm. “I have missed our walks.”
He had, too. Perhaps he should follow behind at a distance. However, she’d said Lord James had returned, and he could be loitering in the garden in the hopes of catching her alone. He would not like her to be surprised by the appearance of a fortune hunter while she was unguarded.
They moved beyond the first enclosure, taking the usual path toward her father’s estate. Jessica, wearing a sunny smile and full of excitement, glanced about happily. “How far shall we walk today?”
“You are walking directly home, young lady.”
She pouted. “There’s nothing improper about us walking about Stapleton together, and I need to talk to you. In private.”
“Oh?”
She rubbed her brow. “Giddy, I have a problem I can see no easy way to deal with.”
“There is no problem you cannot overcome, Jessica. You are a sensible, intelligent young woman. You know there is nothing that can stop you once you make up your mind. What is the problem, and we will figure out what to do about it?”
She stopped under the shade of an oak and rested her fingers on the trunk, remaining silent a painfully long time. “Rebecca says Lord James has likely come to propose a marriage between us, and I think she is right.”
He looked at her sharply. “You don’t like the idea?”
She looked at him and blinked. “Giddy, he’s so boring, and was obviously in love with someone else just last week. I saw him with Lady Hannah Alexander in London. I thought, like everyone else, they were in love. I never expected to see him here!”
“He’s from a powerful family.”
“His father is wealthy and a bully, I think. Lord James has pockets to let and depends on his father for his living. I suspect Lord Newfield has dragged him here to propose to me simply because he’s desperate for a large dowry and the connection to my father. Lady Hannah has only a small dowry, but her father is not so well liked. If Lord James’ desperation made him in any way attractive as a marriage prospect, I’d never feel this eager to escape my own home. Rebecca says I must refuse him the right way without offending his father, but I worry just saying so once will not be enough.”
He looked at her in surprise. “Rebecca supports your decision to refuse him?”
She nodded. “On this, she and Mother are on the same side—mine. But nothing they’ve said so far gives me hope that this will not cause consequences for Father later.”
He rubbed his hand across his mouth. “Short of being already engaged, I can only suggest being honest with Lord James. If he’s in love with another lady, as you believe, then he is probably equally unhappy to be here now. As a gentleman, he must accept your decision without argument.”