Jane Feather - [V Series] by Virtue Page A

flapping into her face. Her cap flew off into the ditch but her charge continued regardless.
    “I think you forgot to pay your shot,” Judith said on a strangled gasp, an almost hysterical laughter suddenly taking the place of her rage.
    “Damnation!” Marcus hauled back on the reins, and the near-demented horse reared to a snorting halt. He turned to look at Judith, who was now doubled over, weeping with laughter. His lip quivered and his shoulders began to shake at the absurdity of the scene. He glanced over his shoulder to where Madame Berthold still pounded, panting, toward them.
    “One of these days, I really will wallop you,” he commented to the gasping Judith, as he reached into his pocket for his billfold. “You nearly had me taken up for a thief.” Leaning down to the red-faced, indignant Madame Berthold, he gave her his most charming smile and poured forth a flood of apologies, blaming the urgency of the moment for his forgetfulness.
    Madame was appeased with a handful of sovereigns that more than compensated for her hospitality, and stood breathless and perspiring in the road as Marcus started the cart again.
    “Now, where were we?” he said.
    Judith had finally stopped laughing and leaned back against the rough wooden seat back. “On the road to Quatre Bras. Where we’re
both
going against the traffic.”
    “So it would seem. We’ll find a priest there.”
    “There must be some other way,” she said, biting her lip. But she couldn’t think of one that wouldn’t ruin everything. How could Sebastian ever forgive her for destroying months and months of planning in the willful pursuit of passion?
    “I took your maidenhead and we were discovered in a situation that would ruin you. In such a circumstance, there is no honorable alternative.” He stated the facts bluntly, without inflection.
    “But have you forgotten, my lord, that I am a card-sharping, horse-thieving, disreputable hussy, living on the fringes of Society, in the shadow of the gaming tables?” Her voice thickened and she swallowed crossly.
    “No, I haven’t forgotten. I’ll just have to wean you away from your undesirable pursuits.”
    “And if I am not to be weaned, my lord?”
    He shrugged. “It’s not a matter for jest, Judith. As my wife, you will have responsibilities to my name and my honor. You’ll accept those responsibilities as your part of the bargain.”
    Bargain? Judith turned away from him, trying to sort out the maelstrom raging in her head. Marriage to the Marquis of Carrington would work beautifully for both herself and Sebastian. Installed as the Marchioness of Carrington, she would have immediate and natural access to the circles frequented by Gracemere, as would Sebastian as the marquis’s brother-in-law. Their position in Society would be assured and their present funds would be more than ample to set Sebastian up as a bachelor in London. He would need fashionable rooms instead of a house; one servant instead of a houseful. Their accumulated money would go much farther. It would mean they could begin to enact their revenge so much sooner than they’d anticipated. And when it was over,Sebastian would be established in his own right. This card had been dealt to her hand; only a fool would refuse out of scruple to play it.
    But Marcus mustn’t know anything of that. There was a lifetime of secrets he couldn’t know. So how could she fulfill her side of this bargain?
    “I know nothing of you,” she said aloud. “Why have you never married?”
    There was silence. Marcus stared across the past and contemplated the truth … and the half-truth that had become the truth. Honor still bound him to the half-truth, for all that the one who could be most damaged by the whole story had been in her grave these many years past. The full truth was known now only to himself and one other. But it was a fair question.
    “It’s a plain and unremarkable tale, but pride is a devilish thing, and I have more than my fair