Chapter Six

At the sound of the intruder, Sarah froze in his arms and Jonah could feel an even chill spread all over his body. Even without turning around he could tell who had just spoken. He knew that voice all too well. Letting out a sigh, he gave Sarah's arms a comforting rub before he turned to talk to their intruder. "Lady Pickering, I can explain what you just saw."

Jonah could almost curse at their luck, not only had he lost his chance to kiss Sarah senseless but they'd also been caught in a rather compromising situation by one of the biggest gossips in town.

Lady Anna Pickering was one of London's most controversial occupants. The woman could weave a story out of thin air and even the queen would hear of it. At a ripe age of seventy five, the woman was way past  her expiration date but she still found ingenious ways to poke her nose into other people's business. Jonah hadn't seen the woman in over a decade but he could still remember her poisonous tongue and judging from Sarah's shaking and laboured breathing, Lady Pickering was still a large gossip. Jonah knew what had filled Sarah with dread, getting caught with him as they were by the biggest gossip monger in town would ruin her and chase away all her prospective suitors deeming her unworthy and a loose woman. As much as Jonah wanted to protect her, he couldn't help but entertain the thought of her loosing all her suitors and going back to their original idea of marriage to him. It was a ludicrous idea and an extremely selfish one so instead, he came up with a fool proof plan that was albeit still selfish but less so. With a smile on his face, he walked over to the elderly woman, who had been standing by the garden gate. Helping her sit on a nearby stone bench, Jonah prepped himself for the performance of a lifetime, a performance that in the back of his mind made him consider a career in theater. Granted it would probably get him strangled by Sarah, but it would be worth it when she married him, that's if he lived to see the wedding.

"Lady Pickering, What you just saw was me kissing Sarah's cheek, I just asked her to marry me and she said yes. I was simply estatic. I don't see anything wrong with that."

Jonah watched the old lady's jaw drop in surprise, then as her finger lifted and she pointed from him to Sarah. Jonah knew that news of their proposal would be much tastier in gossip terms than they being caught unchaperoned in a dark garden. Their betrothal would stem amazement and disbelief due to their well known childhood rivalry.

"B..But you two have always hated each other?" The statement came out as a question and Jonah understood why. As children their rivalry had been renown and their pranks immortalized by parents who taught their children what not to do. So her reaction was understandable, mostly considering the fact that the woman was also a dear friend of both their families and one of the dearest friends to Sarah's grandmother. Pickering had seen their rivalry first hand so her surprise was highly warranted.

"Well yes but that was only childish folly and we've clearly outgrown that particular stage in our development. We are now adults who have found companionship in each other." Jonah spoke confidently even as he snuck a hopeful glance at Sarah, whom he could tell was struggling with keeping her smile upright. The wringing of her hands was also a clear sign of her distress, well either that or she was doing a practice run on how she'd wring his neck. Jonah knew that he was walking a thin line by telling Pickering of her acceptance of his proposal when Sarah had just said no.

Jonah subtly swallowed the lump stuck  in his throat, due to excessive amounts of anxiety, before turning his attention back to the woman seated beside him, the woman who now held a look of disbelief and incredulity on her face. "Jonah Holland you better not be lying to me! If this is one of those ridiculous pranks of yours, I can assure that both  your mothers will be informed of this."

Jonah felt tongue tied for mere moments at the woman's outburst, it wasn't everyday that he'd see a new kind of crazy and Pickering was acting crazy. London's biggest (and oldest) gossip would have rather believed that he and Sarah were back to pulling pranks on each other and acting like children rather than planning on getting married. Had their actions as children affected their reputations this much?

Looking at Sarah he could see an identical look of confusion on her face, she was just as perplexed as he was. Turning back to Lady Pickering he was about to question her sanity when she spoke once more, "Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves! To think that you could trick me, I may be old but I am not stupid. I expected this from you Holland but you.."

The accusing tone was then directed towards Sarah and when Jonah looked at her, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. She looked so sad and deflated that he just wanted to hold her and yell at the old crone making her feel that way, not necessarily in that order. Sarah was the strongest and most independent person that Jonah had ever known and the years hadn't changed that but he knew that even though she was a spitfire, she was still respectful to her elders and she valued their input.

To him, lady Pickering was merely a self righteous gossip but to Sarah the woman was a high ranking matron in society who could ruin her reputation with only a few words. So he had to tread carefully if he intended to fix their mess.

"Sarah Sutton, I expected better from you, young lady. Not only are you an unwed debutante alone in the dark with a man but now I can see that your back to your old childish and immature ways. Something I had hoped the years and your brothers passing would have changed but now I see that with bad influence you immediately go back to your old ways, you will never find a husband with this unseemly behavior and if..."

"Lady Pickering!" Jonah interrupted the old woman's rambling accusations not only because of how insulting and misguided she was but also because her high pitched voice was extremely grating. Jonah felt his chest tighten at the realization of how much negative implications that his teasing and pranks had been to Sarah's reputation. Clearing his throat he spat out,"Lady Pickering, I will not have you insulting my betrothed. Sarah is the most beautiful, mature and responsible young lady I have ever met and although she and I may have had our issues in our youth, we are no longer children so please do not treat us as such."

With that, Jonah stood beside Sarah and was surprised when he felt her hand clasp his, warming his own. Jonah knew that with her brother's death, Sarah had received more scrutiny than the common debutante because of her new position as first born of the Sutton household. The possibility of a title only made her desirable to the gentlemen in the ton but with her checkered past, he knew that many matrons viewed her as immature, irrational and too head strong.

Jonah didn't care about what they thought and even though both their mothers would be livid at the news of their engagement, he knew that his mother really adored Sarah and already considered Sarah as a second daughter.

That last thought cemented his decision and he found himself calming down and saying, "Lady Pickering,  apologies for my outburst, I just feel passionately for everything that concerns Sarah's reputation. She is after all going to be my wife and the mother of my child. She will also be a Holland so I ask you to regard her with the respect she deserves."

Pickering looked at both of them thoughtfully then cleared her throat, "my apologies my Lord, Miss Sutton. It's the mother in me I suppose, I didn't mean to insult either of you. I may have come off a bit harsh but I am glad that you finally put aside your days of youth. This proposal is going to be the talk of the ton."

At Pickering's words, Jonah felt Sarah stiffen beside him and honestly he could relate to her panic. If their parents found out from another person about their engagement, both their mothers would disown them, then kill them not necessarily in that order. He was about to talk when Sarah spoke up beside him. "Lady Pickering, you are the only person who knows about our engagement and honestly we would like to keep it a secret until our engagement announcement if you don't mind."

Pickering gave her a look of disbelief, followed by one of condescension and Jonah could almost see the wheels rotating in the old woman's head, this announcement was way too juicy for Pickering to keep to herself. She was probably even salivating at the mere thought of telling the news and most probably adding information that wasn't real. Jonah was about to beg for Pickering's silence when inspiration struck and he remembered a conversation he'd overheard from his brother mere hours into his arrival in London. Lady Pickering's gambling addict of a grandson had lost quite a large sum of money at the betting tables at the local pub and was now in danger of being thrown in prison or killed by those he owed, whichever happened first. The money was quite much to repay for a mere Lord but for the son of a Duke, it was just a large chunk of change on a Saturday. Buying her silence was unethical and uncouth but Jonah didn't want Sarah to go through anymore heartache because of his actions and decisions.

Clearing his throat he said, "You do have the choice to go about all of England spreading the news of our betrothal for your salacious gain or we could come to some sort of arrangement."

He could tell that he had captured her attention when the snooty look on her face dropped and she looked at him, clear curiosity in her blue eyes.

"Your grandson Andrew, I hear he's gotten himself in quite a spot of trouble. What if I tell you that I can make it go away?" Jonah mentioned casually, masking the grin threatening to appear on his face at her gullibility. She was falling for it, hook, line and sinker. His pokerface however dropped when she softly said, "I'm listening."

"Excellent!"

~

As the last dance of the evening took place, our newly(but secretly) engaged couple had returned to the ballroom and were now twirling away with other couples on the floor. A Lady Pickering could be seen giving her apologies to her friends, feigning a rather painful head cold inorder to depart the shindig. On the other side of the ballroom was a large group of the ladies of the ton, sharing the last bits and pieces of gossip before parting ways.

"Those two make quite the handsome couple." countess Cornwall spoke to Juliana and Amelia, who shared a look and burst out laughing.

"I assure you, your grace. Those two are more likely to kill each other than become a couple. We got rid of those dreams long ago." Amelia spoke with laughter in her voice, the duchess joining in.

The countess looked at both women quizzically then at their children who were twirling away on the dance floor.

"Well I think they make a lovely couple. They haven't seen each other in a long time and from what I've heard, distance does make the heart grow fonder.

I have an inkling for such things." The Countess looked at both women who at the moment had frowns on their foreheads.

~

Sorry for the delay in updating, my week has been swamped but because next week will be lighter, I'll post a longer chapter... All my love... Forever Yours... Nephie 💜