Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (149 page)

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Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

of honour. She trusted him with her future and that of her uncle's. That trust was based on precariously little beyond instinct. Instinct had convinced her that her best hope in eluding Oswalt was to take Paine's advice and not return to her home. That same instinct now had her making a mad dash across country before dawn in the hopes that his family would take them in and cloak them in protection.

Instinct had led her down a slippery slope with Paine and not all of it was about her problems with Oswalt. For better or worse, she'd allowed herself to see Paine as more than a means to an end. She had yet to decide how foolish that choice had been.

She had known girls back home who had become infatuated with young men from the village and in their infatuation had constructed entirely unrealistic pictures of the objects of their affection, only to be disillusioned later when their fantasies failed to come true. Had she done that with Paine

In her panic, had she

been so desperate for a hero that she'd fashioned one out of whole cloth and put the guise on Paine, determined to make it fit?

The mistake would be an easy one to commit even without the duress of her situation. He was sinfully handsome and had all the makings of a Gothic hero: a man with a scandalous past, a man decent women were warned away from, the perfect creature waiting to be redeemed by love's healing power.

The bit about 'waiting to be redeemed' was the problem. Julia couldn't imagine Paine waiting for re-

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demption, no matter what story

concocted to tell

the
ton
about them. She shot a look at Paine from beneath her eyelashes. He wasn't asleep either, although his eyes were shut. There was a tenseness to his body that belied his otherwise restful repose. He was waiting for something right now, but redemption wasn't it.

Paine

seemed quite content with his

life, sutras and all. When she'd walked into the gambling hell and seen him striding towards her, all causal confidence in his rolled-up shirtsleeves, seemed a man who was supremely at ease in the world around him.

found his place. Julia thought it highly unlikely that anything or anyone could entice Paine to give that up. 'Normal7 living would hardly be appealing to a man who enjoyed 'splitting the bamboo7.

Perhaps normalcy was the reason behind his aversion to the
ton.
Such a lifestyle like the one available to him as a traditional younger son was bound to be too confining for a man of his ilk, its rules too foreign to him.

The choice to remain aloof from society had also forced him to stay aloof from his highly respectable family.

choice, and not all that different from the choice recently made.

Of course, she might be reading too much into that in her desire to see the similarities between her and Paine. Again, the niggling worry arose that she was fashioning a hero out of a man who did not wish to be cast in that light. He simply might not like his family.

The choice to remain aloof might have been an easy one.

She knew very little about his family besides the few

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Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

facts floating about the
ton
that new-come debutantes were allowed to hear and the information she had read from a dry page of
Debrett's.
His brother was the Earl of Dursley, of course, and Paine was the third of three sons. On top of that, there was the scandal that seemed to follow Paine everywhere like a calling card. Julia had known precious little of the details when she'd decided to seek Paine out, only that he had been involved in a quarrel twelve years prior over the virtue of a woman. Julia did not know for sure. The had

escalated into a duel and become a public spectacle. The rest was murky after that. She knew only that Paine had been exiled when the duel had been exposed to the authorities. Since then, she'd learned from Paine that the quarrel had been with Oswalt.

She wondered what it was costing him now to go home and face his family. Certainly, he'd made something of himself during his time abroad. But the past was a potent demon and it could not be easy. Yet, he'd done it without any hesitation for her sake. She had not suggested it; indeed, she hadn't even been fully aware of the imminent danger she faced in London.

Julia gave up any pretence of resting. She sat up straight against the leather cushions. 'Why did you do it?' she asked.

Paine's eyes opened quickly, alert and blue, giving every indication that she'd been right. He hadn't been sleeping either. 'Do what?'

'Decide to go home.'

'There was nowhere else to go. The decision was

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painfully easy,' Paine said bluntly. 'I could think of nowhere safer than my brother's house.'

'Will he be glad to see us?' Julia queried, wanting to know what kind of reception they'd get.

Paine gave a wry smile. 'In his own way, I expect he will be. Don't worry, Julia. He'll love you.'

'What will you tell them about me?'

'I shall tell them the truth, although I doubt my brother will be glad to hear of my latest run-in with Oswalt.' Paine's face was grim. 'But he'll help us.'

'Oh,' Julia said quietly. She'd thought for a moment he might tell his family the story they'd made up about love at first sight. It was surprisingly disappointing to hear the real truth spoken out loud. But she nodded as if that was the tack she'd expected all along.