Free Utterly Devoted by Regina Scott Page A

pitchfork.”
    “By someone else,” she protested, leaning toward him as if intent on making her case. “Not by me. Were you so faint-hearted that you could not return to me later?”
    The view down her bodice was enchanting, but he forced himself to sit back, cursing his role as gentleman. “May I remind you that I was wounded?” he replied. “It took some time and a great deal of fabrication to heal my posterior and my brother’s suspicions.” And even as he said it, he realized he had been only partially successful. If Adam hadn’t suspected, Eloise’s name would never have appeared among his effects.
    Eloise was watching with equal suspicion. “Then your family knew about our assignations?”
    “Not everything,” he assured her. “The Darbys have ever kept their own council. Father insisted on it. He had high expectations of all of us. Adam was to be the mighty earl, Justinian the lofty scholar, and Alex the stalwart soldier.”
    “And what of you?” she asked softly.
    He shrugged. “I’m the wastrel. Every family has to have one. You’ll find the rule in Debrett’s.”
    She shook her head. “I sincerely doubt that any book of social etiquette covers that. But even if your family expected no better of you, how did you manage to explain your wound?”
    He felt a grin forming. “I told them I fell from my horse and landed in a bramble patch. Adam was irritated that a Darby would be so ham fisted, Helena was embarrassed of what the other titled families in the area might think if the matter became known, and Mother was sympathetic that her baby had been injured.”
    “Did no one question you?” she asked with a frown.
    “Dr. Paxton pointed out how miraculous it was that none of my exposed skin had a scratch, but no one seemed to notice the discrepancy. I paid my valet to hide the fact that neither my trousers nor my small clothes had a mark on them.”
    Her frown deepened. “So you escaped censure, unscathed.”
    “Why does that disturb you? Neither of us would have wanted to be forced into marriage that young.”
    “No,” she said, turning her gaze to the window. “Of course not.”
    He frowned. “Is that what this is all about? Did you expect me to offer?”
    Her laugh was bitter. “Oh, indeed, no. Not Jareth Darby. Everyone knew you were only after fun. Why would I be so foolish as to believe you cared?”
    Her censure stung. “I cared. I admired you greatly.”
    “Yet you simply left?”
    He doubted she knew how young and vulnerable she sounded. In fact, her manner reminded him of the time they’d first met under the oak. He softened his tone. “I never promised to stay. I thought I made that clear.”
    She sighed. “You may have said the words. I doubt I listened. Your actions made me feel as if I were different from the others I knew you must have wooed. I thought I was special to you. I thought you loved me.”
    He could barely resist the urge to gather her in his arms. Speeches he had used to advantage in the past tumbled through his mind, but he rejected them all. She deserved better. She deserved the truth.
    “I’m sorry, Eloise,” he said. “It was never my intent to hurt you.”
    The carriage slowed then, and she seemed glad for the excuse to break his gaze and peer out. “We are nearing the Fenton Hotel,” she murmured, voice husky with emotion. “You are not staying with your brother?”
    “My usual rooms are being remodeled,” he lied. “Besides, I shall be returning to Somerset shortly, when my business in London is accomplished.”
    She made a noncommittal noise as the coachman climbed down to open the door and lower the step.
    “When may I expect the second test?” he asked as he stiffly rose.
    “Soon,” she said, still avoiding his gaze. “I need time to think.”
    He hid a smile. It appeared his cooperation had been more effective than he had hoped. Perhaps gaining her forgiveness would not be so difficult after all. “Of course. I am at your disposal,