Not My Idea (A Gentleman of Misfortune Book One (Rough Draft))

Chapter Eight

And there it was: the whole truth. Her bit of pride at stating my mother's health as the reason to wait grated on my nerves. I ran my hand over my face and heaved a sigh. "I am sorry you felt pressured, Phoebe. However, you have to go straight to your parents and explain you made a mistake. I am not about to court you, and certainly not going to marry you because you could not tell the truth."

My decree made Miles brighten. I was eager to put an end to this conversation and then get his secret out of him. "But everyone thinks you will be courting me!" Phoebe said, her tone alarmed. "What will they think if I were to say it was all a mistake? They will believe you had taken a disgust of me."

If I had been ten years old, I would have smacked her for that. As it was, I found myself having to make fists of my hands to keep from strangling her. "If you will not tell them, I will, Phoebe. As I just said I have no intention of spending the rest of my life with you to save you from embarrassment."

"You are the worst person I know! You are so unfeeling!"

Her trembling voice made Miles scowl. "Luke, this is not the behavior of a gentleman!"

I wanted to point out that Phoebe's behavior was not that of a lady and Miles shouldn't be the one chastising me about my decision. Did he want me to marry to save Phoebe's feelings? I spun away to get control of myself before I lost it completely. This was swiftly going from bad to worse, and I had no idea what to do.

"If I might make a suggestion," Miss Darkin said. "If Mr. Russell can arrange his circumstances to be able to propose at the conclusion of the house party, I don't see why Mr. Bywood and Phoebe cannot pretend to be courting for that time. I'm sure you will be able to figure out how to gracefully part ways then."

That had to be the most sensible thing said all morning. Phoebe stared at her friend in bewilderment. "I think I can manage to carry on a pretend courtship as long as it is understood under no circumstances will I marry her," I said, nodding at Miss Darkin. "But how will it be possible to break it off 'gracefully.'"

Though at this point, I had no care whether there was an amicable end or not.

"It would be simple," Miss Darkin said as calm as ever. "You have already made an excellent start over dinner last night, Mr. Bywood. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey were concerned when you spoke about continuing to travel with your future wife. All you will have to do, once the end of the house party draws near, is begin contemplating the advantages of living abroad."

"Miss Darkin, you are an absolute genius!" I caught her free hand and brought it up to my lips. "What would we have done without you?"

She gave a light laugh. "I'm sure you would have come to the same conclusion eventually."

"Oh, Olivia, you have saved us all!" Phoebe rushed to hug her friend. "I just knew having you along was a wonderful idea."

"I must leave now," I said, relieved to have the situation settled. "My mother will be waiting for me. She'll need an explanation for all this as well."

"Oh, you cannot tell her the truth!" Phoebe said instantly, spinning around to face me. "We cannot tell anyone else about this. How could we manage to deceive everyone if we are telling this person and that person?"

The word 'deceive' made my stomach turn but it was the most accurate to describe what we were going to do to our neighbors and family. On this point, though, I was not going to budge. "I will not lie to my mother, Phoebe. She deserves to know the truth."

Phoebe scowled and heaved a sigh. "I suppose as she does not have any visitors, no harm will come from it since she couldn't tell anyone." I clenched my jaw at the unfeeling assessment. " You may tell her, Luke, but no one else!"