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‘I know exactly what my future holds,’ the young woman said. ‘But I would like to hear what my dear brother has to look forward to.’
Lina watched as the gentleman in question turned slowly, looked her up and down and then raised an eyebrow in question to his sister.
‘Oh, please, Alex? It’s just a little fun.’
‘It’s nonsense,’ he said, starting to turn back to the conversation he had been conducting before his sister interrupted.
‘For me, Alex.’
The gentleman sighed, the long-suffering sigh of a put-upon sibling, and grimaced.
‘Come on, then, let’s get this over with. Impress me with your insight.’
Lina felt herself bristle at his tone and offered her sweetest smile.
‘Step this way, sir.’
Guiding her new customer behind one of the screens, Lina watched as he took a heavy coin purse out of his jacket and handed her the fee. For a moment her pulse quickened, hearing the money jangle as he tucked it away again.
Despite the bad reputation gypsies suffered in England, and indeed across Europe, Lina had never once stolen anything. Just because they say we’re thieves doesn’t mean we have to actually be thieves, her mother had told her time and time again. Proficient at pickpocketing, a skill Raul had taught her not long after she’d started to walk, Lina had never put the training to use.
‘A little about the present first,’ Lina said, looking up at the gentleman from under her long eyelashes. ‘Would you tell me your full name?’
‘Surely you’re meant to be the one with mystic powers.’
‘I tell fortunes, I don’t divine names,’ Lina said shortly, smiling to soften the ice in her voice.
‘Lord Whitemore. Alexander Whitemore.’
A titled gentleman. He probably wouldn’t even miss the money in that purse, it would be small change to him.
‘An influential man, Lord Whitemore,’ Lina said, injecting the silky, dreamy quality into her voice the customers seemed to like so much. ‘A man of responsibilities. You have an estate to run and a sister to care for.’
‘She’s good,’ Lord Whitemore’s sister whispered in his ear.
‘Nonsense. Anyone with half a brain knows a titled man will have an estate to run and you shouted out to the whole fair that I was your brother.’
‘Shall we see what else my half a brain can determine?’ Lina asked.
Lord Whitemore grunted, turning back to her, but allowing his eyes to roam around the rest of the fair.
‘I already know you’re short-tempered and grumpy,’ Lina said, eliciting a laugh from Lord Whitemore’s sister. ‘But I think that is a front, a facade you put up to keep people at a distance. There’s been heartache in your past, a woman.’ Lina paused, but knew she couldn’t help herself. ‘Someone in love with your warm and friendly demeanour?’
‘Indeed,’ Lord Whitemore murmured, looking at Lina properly for the first time.
‘She left you. A wife?’ Lina watched carefully for his reaction. The twitch just above his left eye gave her a clue. ‘No, a fiancée.’
‘I thought you were meant to be telling my fortune.’
‘Your future is affected by your past.’
‘Just get on with it,’ Lord Whitemore grumbled.
‘You’re bored,’ Lina said.
‘How could you tell?’
‘Not now—with your life. You’re stuck in a rut and you don’t know how to get out.’
Taking hold of his hand, Lina made a show of tracing the lines although they meant nothing to her. The skill in telling fortunes lay in reading people, in understanding their facial expressions and reactions.
‘There will be change soon, a great adventure, a new love. Someone who will challenge you.’
‘See, Alex, there is hope.’
The withering look Lord Whitemore directed at his sister wasn’t lessened when he turned back to Lina.
‘Is that everything?’ he asked, standing up.
From the corner of her eye Lina saw the outline of the coin purse inside his jacket and knew soon the opportunity to raise the money to settle her debt would be missed. She hesitated, hating the gnawing pain in her gut, knowing that she would never be the same person again if she did pick this man’s pocket.
‘Do tell your friends to visit us,’ Lina said, stepping forward and pretending to trip over an exposed tree root. She careened into the solid body of Lord Whitemore and slipped her hand into his jacket. Her fingers closed around the soft leather of the purse and for a second she hesitated before withdrawing her hand and patting Lord Whitemore on the chest with her open fingers. ‘Sorry, how clumsy of me.’
His eyes met hers and Lina had to look away as she realised he’d known exactly what she had been up to. Only his confusion on finding his purse still full and in the correct place lightened Lina’s embarrassment a little.
* * *
‘Your trouble is you’re bored, Whitemore,’ Mr Richard Pentworthy, Alex’s brother-in-law, said.
Alex took a long mouthful of local cider whilst allowing his eyes to roam over the people at the fair. Pentworthy was right, he was bored. His life was good, easy even, but there was no excitement, no challenge. After inheriting at the tender age of nineteen he could now run his estate with his eyes closed and hands tied behind his back. His only sister was comfortably married and happily producing bouncing, healthy babies and the women who fluttered and flirted with him during balls and dances all seemed unimaginably dull. Alex couldn’t bear the thought of having to choose one of them as his wife.
No, the only thing that got his pulse racing these days was a visit to the auction house to bid on a promising new horse, or breaking in a lively young colt, that battle for power and mutual respect between animal and rider.
‘There’s more to life than horses and racing.’
‘What are you two talking about?’ Georgina asked as she bustled over to the two men. Perpetually nosy, that was how their parents had described Georgina at the age of five, and Alex was sure she’d only got worse with age.
‘I was observing that your brother is bored.’
‘And lonely,’ Georgina added.
‘He needs a wife.’
‘Someone who will challenge him.’ Georgina pursed her lips. ‘How about Annabelle Mottrem?’
‘Too quiet. And her nose is rather large,’ Pentworthy said. ‘He wants someone at least passably attractive. What about Caroline Woods?’
Georgina rolled her eyes and swatted her husband on the shoulder. ‘The girl is as vicious as a hungry cat.’
‘Pretty, though.’
Before Georgina could launch into a long-winded reprimand Alex held up a hand to stop them.
‘I don’t need a woman. And I most certainly don’t need you two matchmaking for me.’
‘You haven’t done very well these last few years on your own,’ Georgina murmured. ‘We just want to see you happy. Ever since...’
‘Don’t,’ Alex said sharply. ‘Don’t say her name.’
Georgina sighed. ‘Ever since she left you haven’t looked at another woman seriously.’
It wasn’t true. Alex looked. He smiled and charmed and danced with women. He listened to the empty twittering of the debutantes year after year and wondered if they were trained to talk only of the weather, fashion and—if he was especially lucky—the latest opera they had seen. Maybe it was unreasonable to want more, to want excitement and humour and that spark of attraction, but he’d experienced all of that with Victoria and refused to settle for anything less again. True, his liaison with Victoria had ended in a heartbreak even he wasn’t sure he was fully recovered from three years down the line, but at least she’d amused and enthralled him with her quick wit and sharp observations.
‘And you do need to produce an heir...’ his sister said, dropping her voice.
‘But preferably one with at least average intelligence,’ Alex murmured.
‘You do the young debutantes a disservice,’ Georgina reprimanded him. ‘From an early age we women are told that men like us meek and obedient, without strong views on politics or other worldly matters. If you would just get to know one or two young ladies properly, I think you’d find surprising depths.’
‘I’m not sure I want a wife who believes to please a man she needs to blend into the crowd.’
‘I’m not sure you want a wife, Whitemore,’ Pentworthy said quietly.
All three fell quiet as they contemplated the truth behind the words. Alex saw his sister open her mouth and knew he had to say anything to stop her getting her next quip in. Sometimes his sister could be too sharp, too observant, and his character flaws had taken enough of a verbal beating today already.
‘All I’m saying is I could take any woman here today and turn her into the perfect debutante. All she would need is a few fancy clothes, good manners, some passing knowledge of banal topics of conversation and me as her sponsor, of course.’
Georgina sighed and rolled her eyes. ‘Have I ever told you you’re arrogant and insufferable?’
‘Once or twice.’
Pentworthy held up a hand. ‘Wait, wait, wait. I have an idea. A wager.’
Alex eyed his brother-in-law uneasily as he saw the excitement shine in his sister’s eyes.
‘Whitemore, we give you six weeks to turn one of these country lasses into the perfect debutante. The first ball of the London Season will be around then—that can be the test. If she fits in, has a full dance card and doesn’t do anything scandalous, then you will have won the wager.’
‘What are the stakes?’ Alex asked. He knew he should decline right away, but he’d never been able to resist a challenge.
‘If you win, Georgina and I will never mention marriage or try to pair you off again.’
Already Alex felt the smile spreading across his lips. He would be free to accept invitations to dinner without having to worry whether some eligible young miss would be placed next to him, expecting to be wooed.
‘And if he loses?’ Georgina asked.
‘Then he has to seriously look for a wife.’
Alex waved a hand dismissively. Admittedly the stakes were high if he lost, but he wasn’t in the habit of losing and didn’t plan on starting now. How hard could it be? Most of the young women in attendance at the Pottersdown Fair were the daughters of the country gentry. Even if he were unlucky and a servant or shop girl was selected, six weeks was a long time. He was sure he could teach them the basic etiquette for the ballroom.
‘Who chooses the woman?’ he asked.
‘We’ll leave it to chance. Once we’ve agreed and shaken hands, it’ll be the next unmarried woman of an appropriate age to walk past us.’
‘And if she doesn’t agree?’
‘That is part of the wager, my dear fellow. You have to persuade her.’
‘And you’re not allowed to pay her,’ Georgina added quickly.
Alex nodded slowly. There was a small chance the woman or her family might flatly refuse to be part of this, but Alex was charming and eloquent and there weren’t many things he couldn’t persuade people to do. Besides, what young woman wouldn’t want to be bought beautiful dresses and escorted to sumptuous balls?
‘I’m in,’ Alex said, holding out his hand and suppressing a smile as his sister squealed in delight. He shook Pentworthy’s hand, then slowly all three turned to look to see who would be the next eligible young woman to walk past.
He saw the brightly coloured skirt first and with his heart sinking in his chest he slowly let his eyes travel upwards to confirm his fears. Beside him, Georgina was in hysterics, laughing in a very unladylike manner. Even his brother-in-law was chuckling softly.
‘Do you want to give up now?’ Pentworthy asked quietly.
Alex shook his head, but even he knew it would be a stretch to transform the pretty gypsy girl into a member of the gentry. Gypsies had a bad reputation, much of it unfounded, but Alex knew the young woman walking towards him would be more at home dancing around an open fire than waltzing through a ballroom.
Chapter Two (#u509315e6-ab43-5b1a-9c9f-073f014cab12)
Lina eyed the gentleman in front of her suspiciously. ‘You want me to do what?’
He sighed, threw a glance back over his shoulder to where his sister and another young man were sitting, barely able to conceal their mirth, before trying to explain again.
‘My name is Lord Whitemore,’ he began slowly.
‘I got that part,’ Lina said, adding under her breath, ‘I’m confused, not deaf.’
‘The woman sitting over there is my sister. The man with her is her husband. They have made it their aim in life to see me settled down with a wife and no doubt multiple children.’
‘That’s lovely,’ Lina said. ‘But I hardly see how any of this concerns me.’
‘I have made a wager with my sister and brother-in-law that hopefully will stop them meddling in the affairs of my heart for the foreseeable future. You are that wager.’
Ever since Lina had blossomed from a gangly girl into a pretty young woman she had received many indecent proposals both from the men she travelled with and the customers she flirted with at the fairs. She usually found the best way to deal with them was a sweet smile, a swift knee to their nether regions and a quick escape.
She’d just summoned the sweet smile when Lord Whitemore’s eyes narrowed and he quickly stepped back.
‘Not like that,’ he clarified. ‘Goodness, what sort of man do you think I am?’
‘We have been acquainted for less than five minutes,’ Lina said. ‘I have no idea what sort of man you are, Lord Whitemore. Now, if you would excuse me, I have work to do.’
She moved quickly, darting away through the crowds without looking back until she was sure she must have lost him. The fair was getting busier as the morning turned into afternoon and it was easy to hide herself amongst the large groups of visitors.
‘You’re quick on your feet,’ a low voice came from close to her ear.
Lina tried to hide how she jumped as Lord Whitemore’s words tickled her neck.
