A/N: Thank you for all your kind comments. This chapter is again from Sidney's POV.

Chapter 3

"Then we drove to Scotland, got married and returned here. End of story", Sidney concluded and emptied his wine glass.

Babington cocked an eyebrow, looking amused.

"Not so fast, my friend. This certainly does not sound like an end. It sounds very much like the beginning of something."

"I can assure you it is not, at least not in the sense you seem to imply. I saved her from that place, which she is very, er...grateful for. Now we simply need to live under the same roof and get on with our separate lives."

"Get on with your separate lives?"

Babington chuckled.

"Parker, you are the most private person I know. You never let anyone in. Now you have gotten yourself a wife, a woman who will stay in your house..."

"One which am completely indifferent to, may I point out."

The double doors to the parlour suddenly opened and the men turned their heads towards the unexpected intruder.

Babington stared at the woman standing there. Through a window, the sun shone on her from behind and transformed the delicate fabric of her white muslin dress to become semi-transparent and made the loose dark curls framing her face look like they had caught fire. She reminded him of a saint with a halo, though a very tempting saint.

He shifted his gaze to look at Sidney and found the other man's eyes fixed on her with an expression of befuddled awe. Something Babington never had seen on his friend's face before.

"I am sorry, I didn't know you had company."

She excused herself with blushing cheeks, then spun around on her heels and left, closing the doors behind her before Sidney came to his senses and got around to introducing her properly.

"Indeed, you seem very indifferent to your wife, Parker", Babington smirked. "Because I assume that was her? I can see why you couldn't resist being her knight in shining armour."

"Shut up, you do not know what you are talking about. I can assure you she is nothing to me."

"Have you consummated the marriage?"

"No!" Sidney's eyes flashed. "I wouldn't make her do that. I want nothing of the sort from her. I just couldn't leave an innocent girl, a gentleman's daughter, in a brothel to be passed around. I want her to think of me like... a brother, or a guardian perhaps. I only want her to be safe."

"Whatever you say. Why don't you go fetch her so we can be properly introduced?"

"I think we had better leave her to herself. We are not really on speaking terms at the moment", Sidney muttered.

"You are not?" Babington burst into laughter. "And why is that?"

"She is less than thrilled to be Mrs. Parker."

"My friend, for a man who claims he wants his life to remain exactly as it was, I think you got more than you bargained for when you married that girl. Now tell me what happened when you went to Gretna Green."

"If you insist upon it."

-o-

"Make me your wife?! Why?"

It was actually a bit offensive how repulsed she seemed to be by the idea. She stared at him and her brown doe eyes suddenly turned hard as flint stone, her lips into a straight thin line.

"Before you get all upset, please hear me out. I was awake all night thinking about this."

"Really? The one time I woke up you were sleeping in that armchair, snoring like a pig."

Her outrage apparently made her overcome the stuttering. He was not sure which he liked least, when she was sad or when she was angry. Sidney was unused to handle either in a woman, normally they just tried to charm him to no avail.

"I don't snore."

"How would you know when you were sleeping?"

Equally annoyed they stared each other out until he dropped his gaze. How could such a tiny woman make him feel so out of equilibrium?

"Anyway, will you listen to me?"

"I guess I must do as you command."

Anger truly transformed her from a sweet trembling rose to one with sharp thorns.

He had known deep down he was in trouble the moment he saw her standing in front of him without that ghastly makeup, wearing a spencer blue as a clear summer sky, which brought out her own wonderful colours. Free from powder and rouge her complexion was soft like a peach and slightly tanned. There were even a few unfashionable, but charming freckles on her little nose. Without the cheap black eyeliner her hazel eyes seemed to sparkle with energy even when she looked sad, but most fascinating were her lips. The natural colour was pink like the petals of the roses in his garden and they looked utterly soft and kissable. He was lost for a moment as he took her in, then forced himself to snap out of it. He wanted to keep this uncomplicated. He would help her and knew he did that best if he disregarded any possible feelings of attraction. A pretty face was an inconvenience he had to disregard, paying attention to it would only cause trouble.

Now it also turned out she had a sharp tongue. This was beginning to look like a very very bad idea, but he could not back out now.

"I didn't want to leave you there, I wanted to help you."

"Then please return me to my father!" she snapped.

He was about to retort angrily as he thought her quite ungrateful, but then caught the insecure glimmer in her eyes and held back. He had thought his actions last night would have given her reason to trust him, but apparently not.

"Will you please listen. I spent many hours thinking about this, even if you seem to believe I was doing nothing but snoring."

Her cheeks turned slightly pink, confirming his suspicion that she made up the snoring. It was hard not to get annoyed with her even if she was vulnerable.

"Believe me, I would like nothing more than to return you to your parents' home, but your reputation is ruined Miss Heywood. You said so yourself yesterday evening and it is still true. You have spent several nights in a brothel and no one can vouch for your virtue."

"You can."

His rational words began to sink in, and she sounded less impertinent than before.

"I can and I gladly would, but I am afraid my words would not have the intended effect in this case. Everyone would wonder how we came to be in the same room alone in a brothel and what took place there. And how can I guarantee that nothing happened the nights before?"

"You know that nothing happened", she said weakly.

"I do know. I trust you and I saw how afraid you were, but I doubt that we will be able to make everyone else believe it. You know how little it takes to ruin a lady's reputation."

Her eyes glazed with tears again. How he hated when they did. He realised that after all he preferred when they were hard as flint, but mostly he would like to see them filled with happiness.

"I have considered if we could make it seem like you had been staying with that non-existent family for a few days and decided to return home..."

"Can we not?"

"No, I know that if Madame or the owner of the brothel, Beacroft, find out I tricked them and let you go, there is a big risk they will spread the rumour of what actually happened and tarnish your name. If anyone then starts looking for the family where you were a governess, they will not find anything to support your story."

"But why would they be so mean, to ruin me? Why would they even care when you have paid them?"

"Because they are evil people and they do not like to be trifled with. They will retaliate if they think they have been made to look like fools."

"Why would marrying you be better as far as they are concerned? Would they not expose the truth then too?"

"For one thing they would not dare to smudge my name, which they would if they talk ill of my wife. They know I am very well-connected, and it would cause them more trouble than it is worth. Secondly, if I marry you it would be doing what I said I would, only taking it one step further."

"So I would be your mistress you mean, but also married to you?"

Again he heard the distress in her voice. How many times would he have to tell her?

"No! Well, yes. I want them to believe so, but I wouldn't... I wouldn't ask that of you."

"You mean to say you are willing to live with me without asking me to... share your bed?"

She could hardly manage asking the question.

"Yes."

He answered firmly and did not understand why his cheeks felt so burning hot.

"But what about children? An heir? All men want an heir."

"I never expected to get married, so this would not make any difference to me."

"Why didn't you? Expect to get married I mean? It could hardly be difficult for you to find a wife."

She frowned her brow and he learned that he liked her face when she was focusing to understand something.

"Because, just like you, I only ever intended to marry for love and by now I am sure I will never find it."

"Why?"

"It is something I prefer not to talk about."

He cut her short. He was willing to marry her to help her, but not willing to discuss his past.

Her expression shifted and she looked devastated again.

"It would make a difference to me. I am still hoping to marry for love."

"Miss Heywood, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but no matter if you marry me or not, I don't see that happening. You have no fortune, no dowry as far as I understand and now a ruined reputation adding to that. Even if your looks are tolerable and you are somewhat accomplished, it will be hard to find a man who loves you enough to overlook all those flaws. Also consider the effect your reputation could have on your younger sisters' chances of finding husbands."

"What do you mean?"

She looked so desolate now and it pained him to tell her, but he had to.

"Don't you know that when one sister's reputation is soiled, the others' will also be tarnished?"

She looked away, chewing her bottom lip and he could see that she knew he was right. She was not stupid. It was silent between them for a while and he understood she was processing everything he had said.

"I still do not understand what you have to gain from this. Why you are willing to do this?"

"I have nothing to gain, but nothing to lose either. Not even if people would gossip. I have always been a bit of an outlier so I would not care what anyone thinks and especially not since I know it would not be true. You are and remain a lady. I have money enough, so I do not need to secure a fortune through marriage, and as for love, I already told you it is not for me. I want to help you, if you allow me to. That is all, no ulterior motives."

Their eyes were locked now, and time seemed to pass ever so slowly. Silently he tried to let his eyes convey he was speaking in earnest.

"If you still want to return home, I will tell the driver to go to Willingden instead. I will not force you."

"You bought me..." she whispered.

"I bought you your freedom! I did not pay for you to be mine!" he nearly shouted and saw her flinch.

He had not intended to lose his temper, but she was pushing his buttons when she implied he had bought her as some kind of love slave. His heart was beating erratic and he took a deep breath to calm down. When he spoke again, he lowered and softened his voice.

"I am sorry I raised my voice, but I mean it. You are free to do whatever you want. I am only asking you to consider the consequences carefully. The decision is yours Miss Heywood, let me know when you have made up your mind."

They drove another ten minutes in complete silence except for the creaks from the moving carriage and he felt like he was on tenterhooks. She would be foolish to refuse his offer, yet he was far from sure she would accept it.

Finally, she let out a big sigh.

"I will go through with it."

"What? Returning home or?"

" No, you are right. I do not want you to be, I am furious at the unfairness of that you are, but yet you are. I cannot return home. I would ruin my own life and my sisters'. I will marry you."

She made it sound like it was the worst of punishments, but her words still filled him with a strange joyous relief. He had made her see reason.

He only nodded in response, refraining from pointing out that a sign of gratitude would have been appreciated. She was after all about to marry a man whom nearly half the ladies of London society unsuccessfully had tried to tame, but he knew this was not the moment to be sarcastic. Perhaps she would come to appreciate him in time and at least not look at him like he was the cause for her being in this situation in the first place.

They continued the long journey towards the Scottish border in silence. He told himself it was better the less he knew about her and she did not seem inclined to converse. In Gretna Green they could be married quickly without the written consent from her father and return home husband and wife. An elopement was scandalous, but it was somehow accepted that couples too much in love to wait for approval and engagement, resorted to it. Once they were respectably married, people chose to forget. In every sense, this was the best option for her. For himself, he was not so sure, but he had made up his mind and chose not to dwell on it further.

They arrived late that evening, spent the night sleepless in separate rooms at the inn and were swiftly married by the blacksmith next morning.

Miss Heywood barely looked at him during the brief ceremony, and he had the sinking feeling that she irrationally could not forgive him for being forced to marry him. Whilst she stubbornly stared at her feet, he kept his eyes trained on her and could not help thinking that even in her simple dress she was among the prettiest women he had seen. He knew he would be proud to call her Mrs. Parker even if it was a sham marriage. He hoped one day she would at least not hate being his wife.

At the end of the ceremony they did not kiss, but she finally looked up on him and bestowed him a little smile which made his stomach flutter.

"Thank you, Mr. Parker."

Somehow, that smile, and those words made him feel certain that he had made the right choice after all.

"I think you can call me Sidney now that we are husband and wife, Mrs. Parker", he smiled in return.

"Only if you call me Charlotte."

"I will, Charlotte. Now, are you ready to return to London and your new home?"

Her smile faded away and he realised he had frightened her again. They would return to a home and a reality where everything was familiar to him, but new to her. The only new element in his life was she and that was terrifying enough if he was to be honest, so he could imagine how she felt.

He squeezed her hand as he helped her into the carriage and made her stop to look at him again.

"It will be alright, I promise."

He was not sure why it was quite so hurtful to see written in her face how much she doubted that.

A/N: Perhaps he could have returned her home, but it would not make an interesting story and just think about how Lydia's elopement threatened to soil all the Bennet sisters. If there were rumours about Charlotte staying in a brothel, no one would have come near Alison or the other sisters. Of course she cannot risk that and marrying Sidney will effectively put a lid on any possible rumours.

If you wonder why they were married by a blacksmith, the blacksmiths in Gretna Green had the right to wed people and were known as the 'anvil priests'.