to single ladies.’
His look of surprise quickly changed to one of amusement. ‘So, the lady also took the time to become acquainted with my name? I must profess myself flattered on top of everything else.’
Diana’s lips twitched. ‘Pray do not be too flattered. Upon returning home yesterday, my groom assured me that he would have come to my aid, had not Lord Garthdale already done so.’
‘Ah, so that was the way of it. Well, since you now have the advantage of knowing my name, I think it only fair that you tell me yours.’
Diana had wondered how she would answer this, if she saw Lord Garthdale again and he should ask. Not only because she felt it would be rude to continue to deny him, but also because there was a good chance that they would meet in the social world to which they both belonged. But if she told him her name was Diana, it might be enough for him to make the association when she was eventually introduced to him, even though her veil prevented him from seeing her face, and the huskiness of her voice from recognising the sound of her real one. For that reason, she had decided to narrow the risk as much as possible. ‘You may call me Jenny,’ she told him.
‘Jenny?’ He looked at her. ‘Nothing more?’
‘Nothing more. Just Jenny.’
‘I assume there is a reason you don’t wish me to know your full name?’
‘There is, but it is nothing of import.’
‘I wonder,’ Lord Garthdale said. ‘I could think you a famous courtesan looking for a new protector, but I doubt you would trouble yourself with a groom if that were the case.’
Diana’s cheeks warmed at the inference, but she didn’t look away. ‘A logical assumption, my lord, and correct since I am most certainly not a courtesan.’
‘Perhaps a widow, then, living away from London. One who, upon returning to it, wishes to take a lover and arranges it through discreet meetings with gentlemen in the park.’
Diana felt her colour deepen. ‘You seem to think my motives for being in the park are all quite immoral.’
‘On the contrary, I am merely trying to ascertain why a young woman would ride in the park so heavily veiled that it makes it all but impossible to see her face, and be unwilling to reveal anything more than her first name.’
‘Perhaps I lead such a boring life that keeping gentlemen guessing as to my identity is my only source of entertainment.’
He smiled, but shook his head. ‘I don’t presume to know you…Jenny, but I doubt you are easily bored. I suspect you are a woman of breeding and intelligence, and one who finds pleasure in whatever she does. But I do think you are hiding something.’
For Diana, the pleasure abruptly went out of the game. ‘You may be right, Lord Garthdale. In which case, you will understand why I am reluctant to disclose my identity to you.’
He glanced down at his hands, seemingly in thought. ‘If I gave you my word that I would not disclose your secret to anyone, would you answer me differently?’
‘No, because I would be a foolish woman indeed to trust a stranger with so important a matter.’
‘I do not go back on my promises.’
Strangely enough, Diana believed him, but it made no difference. ‘You are able to say that now when you have no knowledge of who I am, but that is not to say that you wouldn’t be compelled to do so in order to honour a promise made to another. Now, if you will excuse me—’
‘Jenny!’
The sound of her name on his lips made her stop. The way he said it made her tremble. ‘My lord?’
‘I really don’t care what you’re hiding. As strange as it sounds, I don’t even care who you really are. But I would like to see you again, even if it is only in the anonymity of the park like this.’
‘But why? As you say, you know nothing of me. And I am sure your time could be better spent.’
‘Perhaps, but I have time enough to do the things I must. This I do for myself, and I have already agreed that it makes no sense. Unfortunately, there is something about you that intrigues me, and makes me curious to know more.’
Diana gripped the reins a little harder. ‘Curiosity is not always a good thing.’
‘No, but the lack of it makes for a decidedly boring existence,’ he said, nudging the bay closer. ‘It is not my intention to make you uncomfortable, Jenny, but if I agree not to press you for details, will you agree to ride with me in the mornings for as long as you are in London?’
Diana hardly knew what to say. She certainly hadn’t planned on anything like this happening, hadn’t thought she would be called upon to further what had started out as a harmless deceit. And while she had been able to support it for two mornings, to continue it now, when she knew it was a lie, would remove all pretence of innocence. Could she do that?
Did she want to?
‘I do not understand what you hope to gain by this, Lord Garthdale,’ Diana said, stalling.
‘Perhaps your eventual agreement to tell me more about yourself.’
‘And if I choose to say nothing?’
His smile was sardonic. ‘Though disappointed, I shall no doubt find the strength to go on. If you wish to tell me nothing, I shall have to be content to ride with you and to enjoy whatever conversations we have. There is, however, one request I would make of you.’
Diana caught her breath. Would he ask her to lift her veil? ‘And that is?’
‘That you even the stakes. For all I know, you are a titled lady, and I can hardly be Lord Garthdale to you when you are Jenny to me. My name is Edward.’
It was the strangest conversation Diana had ever had. She gazed up at the man sitting calmly in the saddle beside her, a man who had asked for nothing beyond the pleasure of her company without the slightest knowledge of who she was, and realised that she rather liked the idea. ‘It is a peculiar request, Lord Garthdale, and one society would most certainly frown upon.’
‘True, but if neither of us is to tell them, how are they to find out?’
Truth be told, it was unlikely anyone would find out, Diana admitted, if neither of them was inclined to mention it. And whatever his true motives for wishing to spend time with her were, they could not be furthered without her complete agreement to the plan, which effectively put her in control of the situation.
Diana looked up at him again, studying the lines and angles of his face, and wondered if any man had ever looked at her so intently. She knew that he was curious to see who she was; curious to discover the details of her physical appearance. What man alive did not wish to see the face of a veiled woman? But she didn’t think curiosity accounted for all of his interest. It didn’t invoke the kind of yearning she saw in the depths of his eyes.
But what could a man like this possibly yearn for? He had no need of clandestine meetings in the park. If he wished to speak to a lady, he simply went up to her and engaged her in conversation. So what was it about her that inspired
