“Nor should you be.” He knew very well how Laura felt about work. She’d informed him the first day they’d met that being a gentleman—or a lady, for that matter—was no excuse not to do what one needed to survive. “All the same,” he said, choosing his words with care, “I’d rather you didn’t spend your days toiling in the kitchen. After we’re married, you must employ more help. A maid or two, and a footman.”

“Alex—”

“Don’t quibble. I may not be landed gentry, but I’m no pauper. Fifty or sixty pounds per annum in servants’ wages isn’t likely to bankrupt me.”

“It’s not that. Indeed, if things go according to plan with Hayes’s Perfumes, you won’t have to lay out any money on my account at all.” Her ebony brows drew together. “Would you like me to go with you to the vicarage?”

“Riding pillion on my horse?” He half smiled. “That would be charming—though unadvisable, I think.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. Will you be coming back directly?”

He shook his head. “I need to find accommodations in the village. A room at the inn. Something. Best to keep this looking as aboveboard as possible.”

“It’s a little late for that. The whole village is already brimful of gossip about you being a villain, and my being your unwitting victim. It can hardly get any worse.”

“Let’s not tempt fate, shall we? You and your family have to live in Lower Hawley. You’ll be here long after I’m gone. It won’t hurt to try to right the ship before I leave.”

“Ah yes. Your plan to marry me and then quietly disappear.” She smoothed her hand over his waistcoat. “I have more to say on that subject.”

His breath hitched. These little proprietary touches of hers would be the end of him. “Say it, by all means.”

“Not now. It requires a longer conversation than can be had in a pantry cupboard.” She hesitated, her fingers toying absently with one of his buttons. “I can’t ride behind you on your horse, but there’s nothing to say we can’t walk together to the vicarage.”

“In this heat?”

“It would give us time to talk.”

He covered her restless fingers with his hand. “Is it that important?”

Laura gave him an odd, measuring look. “Yes. I believe it is.”

Laura kept pace with Alex as they made their way along the curving path that led through Talbot’s Wood. It ran parallel to the road and had the benefit of being partially shaded by the branches of the trees. The heat was still oppressive, but less so than it might otherwise have been.

She wondered if he regretted agreeing to walk the distance to the vicarage with her rather than ride. He’d been quiet since they left the cottage.

Not that she could blame him.