“Very well. What would you like to say to me?” she asked, her voice flat and calm. Too flat and calm.

“Can we go over there?” He gestured to a shady spot several lengths away from the coach next to a hedgerow. He could already imagine her mother listening to this conversation and he wanted to spare Jane that.

Jane nodded jerkily.

There was a distinct harrumph from inside the coach as the two walked away. Jane had to lean on his arm a bit heavily. “Is your ankle worse?” he asked.

“It will be fine,” she replied in the same flat voice.

As soon as they came to a standstill near the hedgerow, Jane released him, crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at him. He couldn’t blame her for being angry. He’d left her waiting for him last night. She deserved an explanation.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed. “About last night, I was—”

“Please, Upton. I don’t want to discuss it. I find the entire thing distasteful in the extreme and I’d prefer to pretend that none of it ever happened.”

He searched her pretty face. The spectacles he knew so well covered eyes that were full of anger and a bit swollen. “You can’t mean that, Jane.”

“I do indeed mean it, Upton.”

She was back to calling him Upton and her face was a mask of ice.

“Jane, I’m sorry. I truly—”

“What are you sorry for? I’m the one who should apologize to you.”

He furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“I never came to your room last night. I changed my mind.”

His face fell. “Wh—what?”

“I changed my mind.”

“That’s all right, Jane. I didn’t mean to do this here, but—” He fell to one knee. “Marry me.”

Jane’s mouth fell open. “Upton.” She gasped. “This is really beyond the pale. You think you can fix all of this by proposing to me?”

“I’m not trying to fix it. I’m telling you that I love you and I want to marry you. Please say yes, Jane. Please.”

He could have sworn there were tears in her eyes, but her face quickly reverted to stone.

“No, Upton. Never.”

He searched her face, lowering his voice. “What about what we did the night before the wedding?”

She blushed but anger remained etched in her features. “Yes, as to that, thank you, that was informative, but I don’t want to repeat it and I certainly don’t intend to marry over it. No one needs to marry. I consider it a learning experience only, Upton. Good day.” She turned away from him.

“What the devil are you talking about, Jane? I thought we had something together,” he said as she left him kneeling by the hedgerow.