Jaded Moon (Ransomed Jewels Book 2) by Laura Landon

orphanage. “I must go with them,” Josie said, walking past him and up the path. She hoped she could somehow escape him, but she’d only taken a few steps before she realized he was walking beside her. She cast a glance over her shoulder and met his open smile.
    “I have my carriage waiting. When you’ve taken care of the children we’ll take a ride and I will attempt to answer any questions you might have concerning the cattle venture I’m proposing. Unless you’ve already changed your mind?”
    She shot him a sideways glance. “No. I haven’t changed my mind. And never will. You can’t expect me to agree that your plan is a good one when it isn’t.”
    “You already know the plan is good. So does Lady Clythebrook. There must be another reason you are so adamantly opposed to it.”
    She stopped in the middle of the path. He stopped beside her. “There is, sir. I am adamantly opposed , as you put it, because you are asking me to trust that you will provide for the children when you haven’t stepped foot on St. Stephen’s to see to its running for the last twenty years and more. How can I in good conscience give over the care of nearly sixty children to you?”
    “There were reasons—”
    “I’m sure there were. There always are, but they don’t seem very important when you are four years old and your mother has just died and you go to bed alone and frightened every night.”
    Without giving him a chance to counter her attack, she spun away from him and watched the children scamper ahead of her.
    She only had to keep him from going forward with his plan for one more month. There would be a shipment arriving in a matter of weeks with enough goods to provide for the children through the summer months and into the fall.
    She thought of all their needs. Just the amount of food it took every day to feed them was daunting. As well as the clothing the children were always outgrowing. She couldn’t give such a responsibility over to anyone else. Especially the Marquess of Rainforth, who might decide to abandon them tomorrow to go back to London.
    Nothing was more important than caring for the children.
    Why else would she align herself with a band of smugglers?
     
     
     
     

Jaded Moon
by Laura Landon
Ransomed Jewels Series Book Two

CHAPTER 6
    If ever in her life Josie’s felt as if she were being pulled in opposite directions, it was now. For the past hour, she’d sat rigidly straight in the carriage seat next to a man she vowed to dislike and felt her resolve to fight him shatter into a million pieces. He was such an antithesis. He was a member of the nobility, one of Society’s elite. This alone should be enough to solidify her resolve to dislike him. But it wasn’t.
    He wasn’t at all like she’d anticipated he’d be. He wasn’t the least bit arrogant or conceited like most of the titled men she’d met through Lady Clythebrook. He wasn’t rude or toplofty like she was certain he’d be. It would have been so much easier to dislike him if he were. Instead, he included her in his conversation even though she tried to portray disinterest. He was jovial in an almost teasing manner and before they’d reached the crest overlooking the ocean, she’d nearly forgotten how great a threat his plan was to the children.
    He asked questions about everything imaginable. Who were the people who lived closest to the area where he intended to put the cattle? How long had they lived there? He was concerned about anyone who might be affected by his proposal as well as anyone who might benefit. And if she were any judge, his curiosity was genuine. Or he was the most accomplished liar she’d ever met.
    She talked with him while he drove along the rough, rutted lane that led from Clythebrook Manor toward the cliffs that overlooked the ocean below. More than once, she forgot the difference in their stations. Then, she’d hear a certain turn of phrase or watch him take command of the horses and realize they were