Free Two Wrongs Make a Marriage by Christine Merrill Page A

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    Thea groaned in exasperation, but Spayne gave a satisfied smile. ‘Well, do the best you can with it, boy. I am sure it will come to you after dinner and a good night’s sleep.’ Then he looked from Jack to Thea expectantly. ‘Now you must go and refresh yourselves. I am sure the journey from London was tiring, and you will have things to discuss between yourselves that do not concern an old man. I shall have the cook send something to your room.’ With that, he picked up the book upon his desk and settled himself into a chair by the fire, giving every indication that the interview was at an end.

Chapter Six
    ‘T hat went better than I’d hoped,’ Jack said, pushing his plate away and wiping his mouth on a napkin. They’d withdrawn to the rooms allotted to them by Spayne, which were adjoining suites in the master wing of the house. By the time Thea could be changed from her travelling dress, the servants had brought them an impressive display of cold meats and a wine that proved Spayne’s cellars were as old as his title. Then they’d arranged it neatly on a table in her sitting room and departed as quickly as they had come.
    The single rose in the vase between them was most likely a commemoration of their recent wedding. It gave Thea a sick feeling to think that their complete privacy was given with the assumption that the newly married couple would be wishing an early bedtime and no help preparing for it. She could not decide which bothered her more, the false intimacy or the idea that Jack had been unsure of his welcome. If he had expected the earl to throw them both into the street, it was irksome to think that he had led her into it with no warning. ‘You anticipated trouble?’
    ‘Not really. But then, I am never sure of Spayne. His whole plan is so outlandish it is a continual shock that he chooses to stick to it.’ Jack looked back at the door, as though he could see through it, and back to the ground floor. ‘In fact, everything about him is a surprise.’ He seemed not so much frightened as honestly puzzled by the way things had gone. ‘I keep waiting for him to wake up and see things for what they are.’ He looked back at Thea and smiled. ‘Or to wake myself and find that it has all been a strange dream. It would make far more sense if I were to find myself back on the gallows, feeling the rope tighten as the stool was kicked out from under me.’
    His expression was open and unguarded, almost innocent, compared to the worldly assurance she was used to seeing from Lord Kenton. It came upon her with the same sudden tug and loss of breath that he was describing, that she might be seeing the real Jack Briggs. For all his big talk and roguish threats, he did not seem to be such a bad fellow. He was just as handsome as Kenton, but with a vulnerability that she had not expected. And he displayed a sincere affection for his benefactor. ‘Spayne seems to allow you much latitude in your behaviour.’ She had expected to find something akin to servitude. But what she had witnessed in the library was closer to partnership between the two men. It might even have been considered friendship.
    ‘When he rescued me, I had not expected that, either. For weeks, I waited in apprehension, expecting to find the hidden trick that would land me in a worse spot than I’d occupied.’ He smiled at Thea. ‘Since I’d already faced the hangman, it took some doing to guess at a more grim scenario.’
    ‘You might still be hung, drawn and quartered,’ Thea offered. ‘That is the punishment for treason, is it not? Or perhaps they will only hang and behead you. I am not sure if it signifies. But impersonating the son of a peer must have some punishment more severe than death.’
    Jack gave her a pained look. ‘Thank you for a possibility I had not yet considered. And please remove the look of hope from your face. Consider that Spayne might be punished as well for his part in it.’
    ‘That would be a shame,’