that it won’t be much longer before he—”
She broke off, her throat clogging with tears. Sedgewick reached out and patted her hand. “There, there, my dear.”
Camilla smiled at him waterily. “You are very kind. None of this is your problem, and you have been the kindest of men to listen to me.”
“But what are you going to do?” he asked.
“I must tell them the truth.” She sighed. “Lydia thinks that we can stave off Aunt Beryl’s questions and barbs, but I don’t see how. I am certain that she will ask me all sorts of things about my fiancé that I won’t be able to answer. Things one should know. She will want to know what family he belongs to and how he is related to this person or that. I would be bound to get caught in a lie, and that would be even worse than telling everyone that I am not engaged. And what sort of excuse can I give for his not coming with me? I mean, it is a family crisis, and he wouldn’t let me travel down here all by myself. But I don’t think that I can bear to confess that I lied about it all and have Aunt Beryl look at me in that pitying, superior way she has. And Grandpapa—what if it upsets him so that he dies? It is just too awful to contemplate.”
She stood up abruptly, setting her cup down on the table with a clatter, and began to pace agitatedly about the room. “If only I could think of some way out of it! I have been cudgeling my brain for days. All the way down from London, I could think of nothing else. But I came up with nothing…nothing!”
There was a long moment of silence, then Sedgewick said quietly, “What if I thought of a solution?”
Both Camilla and Benedict swung toward him in astonishment.
“What the devil—” Benedict began.
“What?” Camilla asked, hope rising in her face. She started toward him eagerly. “Do you mean it? Have you really thought of a way out of my predicament?”
He nodded. “Perhaps. If you are willing to risk it.”
“I would do anything!” she exclaimed rashly. “Just tell me what it is!”
“What you need to do is arrive at Chevington Park tonight with a fiancé.”
“What?” Camilla frowned, confused. Had the fellow not understood what she had been telling him? “How could I— Who—”
Sedgewick smiled and nodded toward the other man in the room. “Benedict will be your fiancé.”
CHAPTER THREE
CAMILLA GAPED AT Sedgewick.
Across the room, Benedict expressed her fears more forcibly. “For God’s sake, Jermyn, have you run mad?”
“Not at all. If you will think about it, you will see that it is the perfect solution.”
“I see that it is perfect insanity,” Benedict retorted. “If you think that I am going to become engaged to that…that…”
Camilla turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling dangerously. “To that what, Mr. Benedict?”
“Come, come, Benedict, you are usually not so slow,” Sedgewick told him lightly. “Of course, I don’t mean actually engaged. I am talking about a pretense of it. You will ride to Chevington Park tonight with Miss Ferrand. In the morning, you shall meet her relatives, talk to her grandfather and so forth. You stay a few days, then you say that you have to get back to the city, and you leave. The Earl will be reassured and happy, the dragon of an aunt will be routed, and you…well, you will spend a few days at Chevington Park, which I understand is an elegant country house.”
Benedict narrowed his eyes and started to speak, then pressed his lips tightly together. He turned away, growling, “You are as silly as she is. It is impossible.”
“Why? You are well able to act the part of a gentleman, aren’t you?”
Sedgewick’s gray eyes twinkled. “A trifle rude, perhaps, but then, some lords are.”
“Oh, I don’t need a lord,” Camilla stuck in. “Simply a gentleman will do.”
Benedict turned on her. “Don’t tell me that you are actually considering such a harebrained scheme!”
Camilla had had no intention of agreeing to Mr. Sedgewick’s plan. However, Benedict’s sneering tone made her decide that it was worth thinking about after all. Her chin came up, and she glared back at Benedict defiantly. “Why not? It would suit my purposes. And however rough your manners are, you do speak like a gentleman. We might be able to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes for a few days—as long as you avoided talking to everyone as much as possible. I will pay you for it, of course. Wouldn’t that be a better way of making money than thievery? And it will answer my problem. It will make Grandpapa happy, and then, later, I can just pretend that I realized that we should not suit. Or better yet—” her face brightened “—I shall say that you died! That would be perfect.”
“Perhaps for you.”
“Well, only insofar as my family is concerned, of course.”
“It would be a trifle awkward, don’t you think, if they happened to meet me again a few months from now?”
“Don’t be absurd. Why should they meet you?”
“I could run into one of them on the street in London. I am free to walk in London, despite my lack of gentility.”
“Oh. Well, in that case, I suppose I shall have to stick to the story that we broke it off.” She sighed. “Pity. The dying story would have been much more dramatic.”
“You’re right,” Sedgewick agreed, his expression disappointed, though his eyes twinkled merrily. “However, I suppose we shall have to be content with the plainer tale.”
“Would everyone kindly stop talking this nonsense?” Benedict burst out. “I am not going to pretend to be your fiancé. I can’t believe that you would even consider it. It is obvious that you are drunk.”
“I am not!” It was true, Camilla acknowledged to herself, that she felt very warm and cheerful, and that her mind was a trifle, well, fuzzy, but she had merely been relaxed by the rum punch. It had not influenced her thinking. “I am open-minded enough to see the value of Mr. Sedgewick’s idea. It would work admirably for both of us. You are simply too stubborn to go along with anything that anyone else says.”
“I am glad that someone appreciates my endeavor,” Sedgewick said lightly, taking out his snuffbox and expertly flipping it open with one hand. “Pinch, my dear Benedict?”
The other man let out an inarticulate growl. “Obviously I am the only person in this room with any sense.” He stalked toward the door and opened it, then turned back. “It doesn’t matter what you two bedlamites cook up, because I am not going along with it!” With that parting shot, he walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Sedgewick and Camilla stood for a moment, looking at the door, then turned toward each other. Sedgewick gave her a long, considering look, then asked quietly, “Are you willing to do it?”
Camilla gazed back at him, wide-eyed.
