“I wouldn’t suggest it, only . . . well, I feel very comfortable with you,” he admitted and then added wryly, “Believe me, I do not usually go about blurting my troubles to pretty ladies I’ve just met, and yet it seemed the most natural thing in the world to tell you.” He smiled crookedly and added, “I even feel a little bit better for it.”

Suzette managed a smile, but worried her lower lip between her teeth, wondering if she had the courage to tell him what she’d done. She did not feel uncomfortable with him either. He was pleasant enough, and rather charming in a non-threatening, not-at-all-arousing-like-Daniel way.

“And it does seem to me that if you cannot have a great passion, you should at least like and be comfortable with your mate,” he added. “I think we could be good friends with time.”

Suzette sighed and lowered her head. If she could not have Daniel, she supposed she could do worse than Jeremy. Of course, they’d just met, but he seemed decent enough, and at least, having suffered heartbreak himself, he would understand her heartbreak. And it would solve her problems and save her from the wearying business of searching for another possible husband. She just wished she didn’t have to tell him what she’d done. But there was no help for that, she realized, and blurted, “I let my betrothed drive his machine up my strait.”

Jeremy stared at her blankly, one sound slipping from his lips, a confused, “Eh?”

“He drove his nail up to the head,” she explained, using another metaphor she’d learned in her reading.

“Er . . .” Jeremy got out, still looking bemused.

Suzette sighed with exasperation. “He buried his truncheon in my cloven field.”

“Don’t you mean clover field?” he asked scratching his head. “I’ve never heard of a cloven field. You must mean clover.”

Suzette flushed with embarrassment. She couldn’t recall anymore metaphors from her reading and it seemed something more to the point was needed here. “I gave him my innocence, my lord.”

“Oh,” the word left him on a long breath, and then he sighed, “I see . . . Well, that’s . . . Oh dear.”

Suzette lowered her head, awaiting his disgust and rejection, but after a moment he cleared his throat and said, “Well, I will admit I would not like another man’s by-blow. However, I suppose we could resolve that matter by simply refraining from . . . er . . . nailing the clover until we know if you are carrying his child or not.”

Suzette blinked and glanced to him in surprise. “You do not mind? I mean I—”

“You obviously love him,” he said gently. “Your tears say as much, and I surely understand love. Though truly, I must tell you I don’t think he deserves your love if he would take your innocence and then abandon you like this. Certainly, I never would have let my girl go had we gone so far.”