The Honorable Marksley (4 page)

It was inconceivable that she could have mistaken
one man for another. As she turned to face Marksley
she realized how immediate recognition could be. She
had thought that her first, negative impression of the
Viscount Langsford, as R.E. Marksley, could only be
wrong; she had determined to be fair, and the time she
had granted to fairness had been her undoing.

Marksley seemed to find her countenance particularly absorbing.

“You were clearly surprised, Miss Ashton, when I
entered the drawing room just now. Was this an
appointment you honestly expected my charming
cousin to keep?”

“I … had not thought about it.”

His smile was slight. “I wonder whether you are very
clever or exceedingly foolish.”

Hallie skirted the shelves to move away from him.
“Why must I be either, Mr. Marksley?”

“‘Tis very clever of you to ask” To her confusion,
Hallie could feel a blush mount to her temples. “I
would not have thought you his usual fare. But then,
looks can be deceiving.”

“You are speaking of your cousin. You imply that
there must be more to me than meets the eye.”

“On the contrary, Miss Ashton, my first impressions
were entirely favorable. In that, apparently, I am
deceived.”

Hallie swallowed. He did not sound at all fond of his
cousin. But his first impressions of her had been positive. That small encouragement lent her courage.

“I suppose you find it impossible to believe that he
might have deceived me”

“In what way, Miss Ashton? Did he promise marriage?”

Hallie looked away, shaking her head. She could not
tell him that his cousin had pretended to be R.E.
Marksley, publisher of The Tantalus. This man proba bly believed she could not even read. Yet her silence fed
Marksley’s evident contempt.

“It seems your plans have not progressed as you
might have wished.” His smile was cynical. “You shall
not nab a peer of the realm. But you may draw some
Marksley blood for all that”

“I do not want you, sir.”

“And I do not want you … lady. But how much more
appropriate for you to say you will not have me.” There
was anger in his step as he moved away from her. “With
thanks to you, everything I have worked to uphold is
now held hostage. If not for that I would happily send
you and your dyspeptic uncle packing.” As he wheeled
to her, Hallie instinctively clasped the shelves behind
her. She would be compelled to marry someone, yet
this forceful man was no more acceptable than his dissolute cousin.

“If your hands are tied now, sir, ‘twas your cousin
who saw to it, not I.”

“I see. You were not, then, a willing participant in
whatever indiscretion so incensed your uncle?”

“My uncle only heard of an indiscretion relayed to
him by his cousin, Millicent Binkin, who, as you must
have concluded, bears me some malice.”

“Granted, the woman’s eyesight-or her memoryis singularly poor. But did this malicious creature also
invent the incident?”

“No. But she willfully misconstrued.”

“Willfully misconstrued? You’ve an interesting way
with words, Miss Ashton” Marksley surveyed her from head to toe. “I presume propriety is the sole reason for
your family’s eagerness?” When she defiantly raised
her chin, he said, “Yes? But I understood you were
alone with Reggie some time. And he is not usually
slow.” He moved closer. “Tell me, my dear, what on
earth you were doing.”

“We were conversing.”

“Conversing? And the subject?”

“We discussed … land reform,” she said softly and
stared at the floor.

It was strangely pleasant to hear Marksley’s laugh.

“Truly? How enterprising. You must indeed have
exceptional skills in conversation, Miss Ashton, since
that is a subject I could never convince my cousin to
address. But you are clearly a young woman of many
talents”

“Is this your purpose in cloistering me, sir? To insult
me? I thought that you might wish to help, to find some
way to avert an unacceptable outcome. We have little
time to plan, to escape from this-” He interrupted her.

“I suppose it is one way of demonstrating your innocence in this matter. That you would even attempt to
escape”

“I am innocent. And quite serious, sir.” Again she
tilted her chin. Marksley noted the movement; indeed,
he examined her face minutely. Perhaps his perusal was
another test of her character.

“Have you a proposal, Miss Ashton?” He was aware
of the irony. Even had his lips not curved, the humor was
there in his voice. But there was no time to spar with him.

“Nothing-now-other than delay”

“Delay. Ah, I see. So that you might have an opportunity to arrange your affairs with Reggie rather than
myself.” The humor had left his voice. He turned from
her to his desk. “If he had troubled to inform any of us
of his plans, we might reasonably judge how prolonged
such a wait must be. I should imagine two weeks at a
minimum, and possibly as long as two months. A
daunting `delay’ in either case, if one is young…and in
love”

He deigned to bow his head to her, ever so slightly,
with a conviction that Hallie tried to ignore. It had
occurred to her to try to explain herself, to deny that
she felt any affection for his cousin, but Marksley, so
clearly an insufferably superior being, was unlikely to
listen.

When she stayed silent he at last said, “I will surprise
you, Miss Ashton. I am willing to further your strategy
and to assist you in delay, whether for two weeks or two
months, as the case may be. Upon my cousin’s return
you may cry off and marry Reggie or choose someone
else to your liking.”

“They’ll insist on an announcement.”

“Then they shall have it. If the engagement is
announced and the banns are published, that can consume
several weeks at least. Since your uncle’s aim is, pardon
me, a certain legitimacy in the public eye, he should not
object to our desire to forego the speedier license. And, as
we have already faced the dilemma of two men named
Marksley, your family might later claim an error in announcements that failed to distinguish between them.
Voila! We shall at last be freed from this spectacle.”

“You may be freed, sir, but I shall be forced to marry
somewhere. And you seem to believe that an announcement is sufficient.”

“Isn’t it?”

“I fear there will be demands upon us, to meet certain expectations, for appearances’ sake. My uncle is
not easily appeased”

Marksley’s satisfaction fled.

“That should not be necessary,” he said stiffly.
“Surely an announcement of an intention so permanent
is enough of an appearance”

“I do not make these rules, sir.”

“No. But you seem most eager to abide by themonce you have broken them.”

Hallie turned from his glare to face a glass door and
a small courtyard. “My uncle, Mr. Marksley, is certain
that you are a scoundrel. You, sir. Not your cousin, but
you. Should he remain convinced of both your guilt
and your unwillingness to reform-to do right by mehe will have us trapped by a special license within
hours.”

“A special license is not so easily obtained.”

“Believe me, sir,” she said, turning to face him again,
“my uncle would manage. He has been insisting on an
early date.”

Marksley considered her. “Your uncle has taken a
fearsome position for one who cares for his niece.”

“He believes himself to be acting responsibly.”

“By disregarding your wishes?”

“He thinks he knows my wishes. In his view my
actions, as described by Miss Binkin, have spoken for
me.”

“If you were to tell him-”

“You have heard me try,” Hallie interrupted. It was
too painful to revisit this ground. Her uncle was a good,
solid man. He had done his best for her. In the years
after the death of her father, that had not been easy. She
could not blame him for doing what society expected
of him. He had ever been a respectable, conventional
man. That was the source of his strength-and his
weakness. Her one desire had been that he might trust
her instead of Millicent, but in his mind people, especially young people, must be expected to make mistakes. The best she might hope for now was that he
would, in time, forgive her.

“You seem uncommonly intelligent, Miss Ashton,”
Marksley said. “It surprises me that you should see the
rest of this matter so clearly-and yet have initiated it
with such blindness.”

“Blindness?”

“You have not told me what you think of my cousin.
Presumably you found something to admire in him.”

Rather something to admire in you, she thought, but
she turned her attention once again to the garden.

“What I thought of him is of no consequence, Mr.
Marksley.”

“Ah, then I must imagine you were swayed by his
looks and title. Love at first sight, as the poets would have it. He is a presentable young man. In fact, I
believe he has earned a precious sobriquet. Brummell
himself is said to have bestowed it. They call him the
Gorgeous Langsford”

“To distinguish him from you, sir?”

He laughed shortly.

“You wound me, Miss Ashton. Indeed, I am not gorgeous, nor am I Langsford. My point, however, was that
it is possible to see something quite lovely and yet be
blind to its true nature”

Given his cousin’s behavior, Hallie had no reason to
disagree. But from the way Richard Marksley was
looking at her, he might just as easily have been commenting on her own shortcomings.

“You are bitter, Mr. Marksley. Apparently you neither respect nor like your cousin. Do you covet the
title? Or simply detest the man?”

“Neither, as it happens. ‘Tis true Reggie has done little that anyone might find worthy of respect. I would
have to include compromising young women among
his more reprehensible acts.” One dark eyebrow rose.
“It is also true that I do not enjoy his company or seek
his favor. We are very different.” He shrugged. “My
cousin … tries my patience. But I do not detest him.
There are usually a few points to commend in even the
most flawed of human beings.”

“That is a relief, sir. I had suspected, from your manner, that there was no hope for me”

She thought he was tempted to smile, but she could
not be certain, and his gaze moved away from hers.

“You would not be the first to have been mistaken in
my cousin. There is, however, the not inconsiderable
matter of how you acted upon first impression.”

“I see I make no progress with you.”

“On the contrary. Have we not progressed to the
point of announcing our imminent marriage?”

Hallie found she very much resented his condescension.

“We are agreed, then?” she asked coldly.

“We are … resigned, Miss Ashton. We have been so
ever since you entered this room alone with me. And
for the next few weeks I shall endeavor to be available
to court you. I hope you will pardon me, however, if I
am not as openly demonstrative as your Reggie. I am
capable of attempting to right some wrongs. I am not
capable of dissembling to that extent”

Hallie’s hands tightened against the muslin skirt of
her gown. “You have an admirable sense of duty”

“Merely adequate, I assure you, for the quantity of
demands presented. Yet for some reason, in speaking
with you, I have been reminded of my mother. She
would not have wanted any female, no matter how
unworthy, to suffer at Reggie’s hands. She suffered
enough at his grandfather’s.”

The comment begged a question. But Hallie knew he
had no intention of explaining, at least not to her, lowly
creature that she was.

“Despite your … generosity in this instance,” she
managed, “few would have been as quick to term someone ‘unworthy.”’

That watchful element returned to his gaze. “I must
study your own character more closely then, Miss
Ashton,” he returned sharply, “so that I might improve
myself. But come,” he indicated the door, “we have
been away long enough. At some point this drama must
begin. It might as well be with your Miss Binkin.”

“I do have one suggestion, sir, before we do so “

“And what would that be?” His expression was
pleasant but shuttered. Hallie had the desire to shake
him. She could tell she had been added to a list of obligations; she was but one more task to be crossed off in
due course.

“It might appear odd that you never use my name.”

“Yes, of course. And what is that name, Miss
Ashton?”

She paused a second, tempted to tell him the whole.

“Harriet. But everyone calls me Hallie.”

“I am honored to be included amongst everyone …
Hallie.” He did not invite her to share the familiarity of
his own name. The omission was deliberate. But perhaps he was right; she would not know him long
enough to warrant its use.

“There is another matter, Miss … Hallie.” As she
turned to him, now close to him as she neared the door,
Hallie looked directly up into his eyes. They were a
deep, dark brown, intelligent and kind. Marksley was a
reserved man, but not by nature cold. Were it not for
this inauspicious beginning, Hallie sensed they might
have been friends.

“I believe it important that we be the ones to control this exercise. Not your uncle and certainly not my aunt.
Henceforth, we may not always have the opportunity to
discuss how best to proceed. I should hope to consult
with you, but I have no doubt we will continue to be
chaperoned. Add to that our own disinclination to spend
much time together-” He paused. “I am asking for
your trust, to make judgments when required, as there
is no question that they will be. I am thinking of us
both. If we are to manage the next few weeks without
being hauled to the altar without warning, we must be
perceived as acting in concert. We must be cautious.”

She examined his face, which spoke so sincerely of
a desire to deal responsibly with future difficulties. She
did not doubt him. Richard Marksley would not presume upon the position and power society granted him.
He had neither the interest nor the inclination to take
advantage of her. He and his cousin could not have differed more.