Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (176 page)

Scott

'It's bad, isn't it?' Julia said once they were alone.

Paine nodded slowly. 'I had hoped against hope that you were merely an accessory to Oswalt's master plan, whatever it turned out to be. I had hoped your ruination might save you from him.'

Julia took his hand. 'We did our best in that regard.'

She tried for levity, but this was too serious. She didn't have to be told that she'd been upgraded in Oswalt's plan from a virginal accessory for a debauched man's cure to a key lynch pin. If Oswalt meant to seize the estate ostensibly on her behalf, he'd want her, virgo intacta or not.

Paine paced the length of Peyton's room. It was well past the time to be in bed, but he was restless, his body full of energy with no outlet and his mind a riot of options he repeatedly sorted through and discarded.

'What would you do, Peyton?' he said at last, halting briefly in front of the fireplace.

Peyton waved the question aside. 'That's irrelevant, Paine. You're not me. I can't advise you in this.'

'That's no help,' Paine snarled.

'Not my fault.' Peyton straightened up from his slouch in the big wing chair by the window. 'What do you want to do, Paine? She came to you for one thing and you've done what she asked. You don't have to do any more.'

Paine furrowed his brow. 'Are you suggesting I should just walk away?'

Peyton gave a casual shrug. 'There's really only two choices here, you know. You can

away or you can

stay with her.'

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Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

'I know that and I can't walk away. She'll be ruined or sacrificed to Uswalt's cause or both,' Paine protested.

The option to leave Julia to her fate was reprehensible.

'I've squired her around the ton, declared to have feelings for

Peyton nodded. 'It was part of the plan. Julia agreed to it, knowing full well those declarations were not necessarily real. She seems to be a smart girl, Paine. She knew what she was doing.' Peyton splayed his fingers on his thighs in thought. 'But if letting Julia find her own level is so unpalatable to

then your choice is clear.

You see this out. But have you thought what that means or where that ends? I should ask what your feelings are for the girl. Do you like her?'

'Yes. I like her a great deal.' Paine let out a breath.

He supposed that was the real issue he'd been contemplating since

news had arrived. He couldn't

lose Julia. He wanted Julia for his own. This was the conclusion he'd been dancing around all night. He didn't want to go back to a life without her in it.

'You'll have to do more than make her your mistress,'

Peyton cautioned.

'Of course,' Paine shot back, irritated that Peyton thought so little of him that he had to be reminded of a gentleman's duty. 'I'll ride to Lambeth Palace for a special licence as soon as the hour is decent.'

'Then congratulations are in order. You're about to become a married man,' Peyton offered.

have me.

He parted from Peyton, his mind lighter. The thought

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of a special licence did bring a sense of peace. He had a path to follow now, a path that led to Julia if he was successful. But he was not

enough to think a piece

of paper would solve all their problems. Unless the contract between her uncle and Oswalt was broken, no one would legally recognise his marriage. And then there was Julia's own reaction to the situation. Would she want to marry him? Would she understand he wanted to marry her for reasons that had nothing to do with the conundrum they found themselves in?

'The chit was seen at the Worthington Oswalt

threw down the note he'd received from Julia's uncle in disgust. He strode back and forth in front of the line of his assembled henchman, including Sam Brown. The office at his

warehouse was warm and fetid,

crowded with the men who worked for him. They were shuffling their feet nervously and twisting their caps. As well they should be.

They'd failed miserably. Of the men who'd ridden with Brown to catch them in the Cotswolds, one still limped, one still had an arm in a sling and the other would bear a life-long scar from his run-in with Ramsden's knife. The others had failed to confirm Julia's return to London except for noting that Dursley House had started sporting a knocker on the front door.

'Damn you all! What do I pay you for if some incompetent nincompoop finds her first? How is it those cousins of hers noticed her before you did?'

Oswalt ranted.