Jean-Luc said with a wry smile, ‘is the only credible explanation for the suddenness of our union, and the suddenness of our union will come as a great surprise to all who know me.’ He frowned, choosing his words with care. ‘It is not that I am against marriage. It is an institution I have always planned to embrace at some point in the future, but for the time being, it is well known that I am effectively married to my business. Ironically, my passion for my business has largely been responsible for my success, which in turn means that I am rather inconveniently considered a much sought-after marital prize.’
His tone made his thoughts on this state of affairs clear. ‘Yet you have so far evaded capture,’ Sophia said. ‘I cannot believe that you have employed me in order to ensure that you continue to do so. You do not strike me as a man who could be persuaded to do anything against his will.’
‘Not so Simple Sophia after all,’ Jean-Luc said, smiling. ‘You are quite right. It is precisely because I will not have my hand forced that you are here.’
‘Good heavens,’ she exclaimed, startled, for she had spoken mostly in jest. ‘You can’t possibly mean that you are being forced to marry someone against your will?’
His smile became a sneer. ‘There is indeed a woman attempting to do exactly that. Whether she is a charlatan or simply deluded I cannot decide, but whichever it is, she is doomed to failure. I intend to prove to her that her various claims are utterly without foundation. Producing you as proof that I am already married is just my first salvo across her bows.’
* * *
Sophia was gazing up at him, her extraordinary blue eyes wide with astonishment. ‘I don’t understand. One cannot be forced into marriage, not even when—not ever,’ she said, hastily amending whatever it was she had been about to disclose. ‘This woman, she can hardly hold a gun to your head and force you to take her hand in marriage.’
‘But she does have a gun, and she has been holding it at my head since April.’ Jean-Luc laughed grimly. ‘It is loaded, she thinks, with a silver bullet which will be the answer to all her problems. You are the armour I need to deflect that bullet’
Sophia shook her head in bewilderment. ‘I still don’t understand. Why not simply tell her that you won’t marry her?’
‘Because it is not that simple. I’m sorry, I have been living and breathing this farce for so long, and now you are here, I am so eager to put my plans into action that I forget you know nothing of them.’
She smiled, her first genuine smile, and it quite dazzled him. ‘Let me reassure you, I am just as eager as you are to begin. So why don’t you tell me more about this woman who wishes to be your wife. Starting with her name, perhaps?’
‘Haven’t I told you?’ Jean-Luc rolled his eyes. ‘Juliette de Cressy is her name, and she turned up, quite unannounced on my doorstep six weeks ago. Until that point I had never heard of her.’
Sophia wrinkled her brow. ‘But if she was a complete stranger, why did you grant her an audience?’
‘One of the many things which makes me ambivalent about Mademoiselle de Cressy is that she appears, on first inspection, to be eminently respectable. She called with a maid in tow. She had a visiting card. I have an enquiring mind and was intrigued enough to hear what she had to say. When I did, my immediate reaction was simply to dismiss her tale out of hand. In a bid to take the wind out of her sails I told her that she was wasting her time, as I was already married.’
‘I take it she didn’t believe you? Hardly surprising, considering what you have more or less confessed to being known as a dedicated bachelor.’
‘Yes, but it was more than disbelief. She was—I don’t know, it is difficult to explain. At first she was quite distraught, but she very quickly recovered. That is when she produced the legal documents—her silver bullet—which she believed would substantiate her claim. And that is when I realised she was not, as I had assumed, simply a brazen and audacious opportunist who would be put off by the threat of an invisible wife. It wasn’t only that she didn’t believe I was married, you see, it was that she was extremely convincing in the strength of her own case. Of course, the chances were still high that she was an extremely convincing charlatan, but...’
‘It occurred to you that she might simply be, as you said, deluded.’
‘Yes, that is it. Either way, it was clear that she was not going to go away.’
‘And you were faced with the problem of admitting that you had lied when you said you were already married, or coming up with the evidence to back up your fiction.’
‘Precisely, though I did not immediately rush to The Procurer for help. My next step was to test her resolve by telling her that I wished my lawyer to examine the papers she had to support her claim. She handed them over willingly, informing me that she had expected no less. It was clear she had faith in their authenticity, and equally clear that it had not occurred to her that I might simply destroy them.’
‘Any more than it would have occurred to you, I assume?’
‘You assume correctly.’
‘That is reassuring,’ Sophia said, with an odd little smile. ‘So, Mademoiselle de Cressy’s seemingly innocent trust in you was, then, another point in her favour?’
‘It was.’
‘And the documents, whatever they are?’
Jean-Luc rolled his eyes. ‘Most likely genuine.’
‘So you hired me to prove to Mademoiselle de Cressy that regardless of these documents she has, she is, as we say in England, barking up the wrong tree? You cannot marry her, because you are already married?’ Sophia frowned down at her hands. ‘You have gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to call this woman’s bluff. Couldn’t you simply have paid her off?’
‘I offered to do just that, to make the problem go away, but she refused. She said she wanted what was rightfully hers, not blood money. As you will have realised by now,’ Jean-Luc continued, ‘the matter is complicated, and I am aware that you have only just arrived. You have not even seen your room.’
He sat at an angle to her, his long legs tucked under the sofa, which had the effect of stretching his pantaloons tight over his muscled thighs. He might not look like an Adonis, but his build was reminiscent of one. His physical proximity made Sophia uncomfortable. Not unsafe, she was surprised to notice, but—odd. Her pulses were fluttering. It was because he was so close, a warning sign, she supposed, though she felt no inclination to move. ‘All in good time. I take it your plan is to introduce me to Mademoiselle de Cressy sooner rather than later?’
‘All in good time,’ he answered, smiling. ‘My plan for what remains of today is to allow you time to rest and recover from your journey. There is a good deal more to this tale, but it can wait.’
Jean-Luc took her hands between his, a light clasp from which she could easily escape, which meant she had no need to. ‘I will have them bring you dinner in your room, and water for a hot bath, if you wish?’
Sophia couldn’t imagine anything nicer. His thoughtfulness touched her. It had been so long since anyone had thought of her comfort, for in the end even Felicity...
‘That would be perfect,’ she said, desperately trying not to let fall the tears which suddenly stung her eyes. ‘I think I am a little fatigued
