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raised her eyebrows. ‘A charity case?’
    ‘Just a kindness,’ Jason replied mildly.
    Emily reached for her wine again, suppressing a sharp stab—of something. Whatever uncomfortable emotion was assailing her was not one she wanted to name. ‘She’s quite beautiful, you know.’
    ‘Actually, I don’t. As you might recall, I told you yesterday that I’d never met her.’
    ‘Ah, yes.’ Emily pursed her lips. ‘I do recall now. You wanted to hire her as a favour to Richard Marsden.’
    Jason cocked his head. ‘I don’t think I mentioned him by name, but yes.’
    ‘Because,’ Emily continued wryly, but with a little bite to her words, ‘Helen and Richard are going to make a
go
of it.’
    Jason paused, his wine glass halfway to his lips. ‘You sound as if you don’t approve.’
    ‘Who am I to approve or disapprove?’ Emily replied, her eyebrows arching innocently.
    ‘It sounds eminently sensible to me,’ Jason said with a brisk reasonableness Emily didn’t like.
    ‘Oh, yes, very sensible,’ she agreed. ‘Hardly romantic, though.’
    ‘Romantic?’ Jason frowned. ‘Is it meant to be romantic?’
    He sounded so nonplussed that Emily almost wanted to laugh, yet something in her—some deep, hidden well of emotion—kept her from amusement. Instead, she almost felt hurt, which made no sense at all and so she pushed the thought away. ‘Well, in general, Jason,’ she said, as if explaining basic arithmetic to a slightly backward child, ‘the kind of relationship Helen was talking about with Richard is meantto be romantic rather than
sensible.
You’re hardly choosing a … a pair of shoes when it comes to a girlfriend or even a wife—’
    ‘I’m a great believer in sensible shoes.’
    Emily narrowed her eyes, unable to tell whether Jason was joking or not. She had a feeling he wasn’t. ‘A girl likes to be swept a little bit off her feet, you know.’
    ‘It sounds dangerous,’ Jason replied, straight-faced. ‘If you’re swept off your feet, you could lose your balance. You might even fall.’
    ‘Exactly,’ Emily replied. ‘You might fall in love, which is the whole point, isn’t it? Rather than making a go of it.’
    He eyed her thoughtfully. ‘You seem to have taken exception to that expression.’
    ‘I have,’ Emily agreed with a bit more passion than she would have preferred to show. The glass of wine must be going to her head; she’d had hardly anything to eat since breakfast. ‘I’d much rather stay single my whole life than be with someone who asks me to make a
go
of it,’ she finished, her voice still sounding a little too loud.
    ‘Duly noted. And are you planning to stay single, then?’
    ‘As a matter of fact, yes,’ she said, glad to see surprise flash across his features. ‘I’ve no reason to get married.’
    ‘No reason?’
    ‘I’m not lonely or unhappy or dying to have children,’ Emily replied with a shrug and a bit more conviction than she actually felt. She didn’t want to admit to Jason that she had no reason to get married because she hadn’t met anyone worth marrying. Worth taking that risk for. ‘I’m not going to wait around for Prince Charming to come and rescue me,’ she declared, her tone starting to sound strident. Jason raised his eyebrows, a small smile playing about his mouth, clearly amused. ‘I want to have fun.’
    ‘Now that I can believe.’
    She made a face at him. ‘What’s wrong with that? There’s plenty of time to settle down.’
    ‘For you, perhaps.’
    ‘Oh, yes, I forget how old you are. One foot in the grave already.’ She smiled at him, determined to stay light and teasing although for some reason she was feeling less and less so. ‘In any case,’ she said dismissively, ‘I have friends, a job I love, a niece and nephew to cuddle and a man who adores me.’
    Jason stilled. ‘A man who adores you?’ he queried in a tone of polite interest.
    Emily couldn’t help but laugh at Jason’s suspicious look. He looked as