Jane Austen: Blood Persuasion by Janet Mullany

Author:Janet Mullany
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-10-03T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Raphael held open the carriage door, bowing, and Jane stepped inside, remembering only just in time to bend her head and save her ostrich feathers.

He stepped inside after her, closing the door, the carriage creaking and tilting with his weight.

“Pray say nothing of fine feathers,” Jane said. “I assure you they are a nuisance.”

He sat opposite her and laid a pistol on his knees. “If this were a normal evening, I should compliment you on your looks.”

“You may do so if you wish. I cannot stop you.” Oh, for goodness’ sake, Jane, stop flirting. “But this is hardly a normal evening. Generally a gentleman does not accompany a lady in a carriage with his weapon exposed so.” Worse and worse. “I beg your pardon, I am nervous and given to bawdy talk at such times. It has got me into trouble upon numerous occasions and earned me many a severe scolding from my sister. She says gentlemen do not marry a woman who talks so, yet she, who would not recognize a double entendre if it hit her on the head, remains unmarried still, so . . .” She came to a halt.

He leaned forward and laid his gloved hand upon hers. “Come, we shall be friends.”

“Very well,” she said. “But tell me, Raphael, I wonder that you have traveled all this way, at some danger to yourself on a continent at war, and after taking the Cure, to be with William, knowing what his presence and his influence could do.”

“I do not wish to become Damned again, as I have told you, but I wish to be with my brother. After all these years, he is all I have left. But why did he abandon you after creating you?—that is, if you do not mind telling me. It seems unlike him. But I find I must learn my brother’s ways all over again.”

“He had good reasons to do so, for he was charged with the protection of the Prince of Wales.”

“And little good that did him.” His gaze, which had darted from her face to the darkness outside the carriage, returned to hers. “I am astonished.”

“He wishes to make amends now.” She shrugged. “I know I injure him by my refusal, but I feel I have no choice.”

He looked outside again. “Every day I pray it will not happen, yet I fear my metamorphosis is inevitable.”

“I, too, and this is why I have made a bargain with William.”

“And yet he has arranged for us to be alone in a dark carriage.”

“I know. And we are both in a celibate state, but I am sure we can resist temptation for this very short ride.”

He held up a hand and shifted to the other side of the carriage, snuffing the air, then shook his head and returned to his former position. “I thought . . . it is a good thing I am charged with your protection, for it keeps me occupied.”

“I shall ask you something, and you need not reply unless you wish to.

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