don’t think it is proper,’ Papa insisted, which made Verity want to sink through the floor with embarrassment. To her further dismay, Captain Everard’s stunned expression changed to one verging on amusement. What must he think of them?
‘What would you suggest that we do?’ the captain asked. ‘I feel inclined to agree with you that she should not travel alone and...’
‘Captain Everard, I will be thirty years old in March,’ she said. ‘Thirty. Older than some bottles of wine.’
‘You look considerably younger,’ he replied, then addressed her father. ‘Sir, what would you do if a pretty lady who barely looks four and twenty argues that she is safe on the mail coach?’
‘Overrule her, naturally,’ Papa replied.
‘Papa!’ Verity exclaimed, at a loss.
There they stood. Mama whispered in Papa’s ear. He brightened, nodded, avoided Verity’s glance and spoke to the captain.
‘Captain Everard, would you consider something a little radical?’
‘As long as it does not involve mayhem.’
‘You are all hopeless,’ Verity said.
‘Just careful, daughter,’ Papa replied. Verity saw the love and concern on his kind face. ‘Captain, would you agree to... Augusta, what does one call such an ad hoc proposition?’
‘An Engagement of Convenience,’ Mama said, as calmly as if she had suggested a turn about the garden to look at roses in July.
‘What?’
Silence reigned supreme in the Newsomes’ hall, Verity too stunned to say more, Mama and Papa nodding at each other in evident satisfaction and Captain Everard... She could not define his expression.
Papa recovered first. ‘I would have no objection to that,’ he said. ‘What say you, sir?’
Verity tried again. ‘But...but... Papa, besides being unheard of, this isn’t necessary.’
Drat Captain Everard. Why did he have to lean close enough to whisper in her ear?
‘Beg pardon, Miss Newsome,’ he whispered. ‘Too many years around big guns have made me slightly hard of hearing. Could it be that you do not wish an engagement that would be temporary in nature?’
‘Oh, I...’ Hands on her hips, she glared at him. ‘See here, sir, this is unnecessary.’
‘I think it would please your parents,’ he said.
The captain turned to her father. ‘As I see it, such an engagement would suffice for the trip to Norfolk. I can escort your daughter to Hipworth Hall, assure Sir What’s-His-Name that this is my fiancée and I am headed back to sea. Perfect.’
‘Have you all lost your senses?’ Verity asked, which meant the three of them started to laugh.
Captain Everard made it worse by taking her hands in his. ‘It’s completely unexceptional. You’ll get to Norfolk, your parents won’t worry and...’
‘Captain!’
Then he delivered the statement she had no argument against.
He squeezed her fingers gently. ‘...and I can do a final service for an excellent officer gone too soon.’
‘Oh, but—’ she said, even though she knew the matter was now closed.
‘Perhaps you had better...er...pack.’
He smiled then, a huge smile that transformed his face. If she hadn’t been so irritated with him, she would have enjoyed the sight.
‘Or rather I should say, go and pack, my dearest love.’
They left at the ungodly hour of six in the morning. Joe had no difficulty with early times. From the looks of his soon-to-be travelling companion and sudden fiancée, the matter was thornier. Miss Newsome was obviously not a cheerful riser.
‘I gather you are not a lark,’ he said and regretted his good cheer the moment the words tripped off his lips like happy sprites and crashed to the floor, victims of a frown and a pout.
She did have lovely lips, full and nicely chiselled. Wiser now, he knew better than to venture another comment, positive or negative. Some people needed an hour or two to accustom themselves to a new day. On the other hand, he felt like a wrung-out rag after eleven in the evening. Make that ten. She would find out soon enough.
Over breakfast, the Newsomes and Joe discussed the matter of an engagement ring while Verity ignored the three of them. She turned her attention to her baked egg, but soon gave up. Breakfast might be her favourite meal, but this morning it was gall and wormwood.
‘I don’t have anything even for short loan,’ Joe confessed.
‘You can tell anyone who asks that this is a quite recent engagement and you haven’t a ring yet,’ Mama said.
Verity raised her eyebrows. Obviously she was not one to indulge in prevarication.
He couldn’t disagree with her reluctance. ‘Perhaps, Mrs Newsome, but too many lies require extreme vigilance in keeping a story straight.’
‘And you know this how, Captain?’ Verity asked, all sweetness.
‘Miss Newsome, my darling, affianced dear, I was eight years old once, as hard as that is to credit. I recall a painful spanking from my mother.’
Good God, where was his conversation coming from? Not a single member of his crew would recognise him.
Miss Newsome seemed to take pity on him then. ‘Very well. We can say it is an engagement of recent origin,’ she conceded, after a sigh of theatrical proportion.
‘Which is precisely true,’ Captain Everard said, keeping his expression bland. ‘Only a mere ten hours ago I was a free, unencumbered man.’
Miss Newsome burst out laughing. She looked in the captain’s eyes and he gazed back, perfectly calm. This was no fleet action, but he was beginning to enjoy himself.
‘Oh, for goodness sake. We’ll be late,’ she said. ‘Eat your eggs, Captain.’
‘I’d better be Joe to you, Verity,’ he told her.
* * *
It appeared that a fair number of Weltby’s citizens were either travelling this morning, too, or liked to see people off on a journey. To Joe’s eyes, most seemed to have no specific purpose at all.
‘Does everyone in Weltby bail out at Christmastime?’ he asked, genuinely puzzled. ‘What do you make of this, Mr Newsome?’
Augustus Newsome regarded the crowd and turned back to Joe with a bland expression
