Hello my darlings. I want to thank acelticdream and rainystv for the lovely reviews. I would also like to thank those of you who have followed and favoured since my last update.
So here is the next chapter, I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.
It took a while to organise all the luggage and people who were traveling to London. The third carriage was filled with trunks while the second was taken by Emily, Peter and Miss Hern. Leaving the lead carriage for the Marquess and the four Coburn ladies. Luckily the younger three were slim enough to share one bench while Penelope and Gabriel shared the other. Once they were all in situ the procession started on its way, moving the family onto their new life.
The journey was uneventful, though it did consist of Gabriel trying to get to know the younger ladies. By the time they gained the first stop to change horses he had worked out the major part of each of their personalities. Beatrice was shy, but the consummate lady, a young woman on the cusp of entering adulthood, Charlotte was the clever one, she was well read and seemed to love books of any kind, and when told of the library at Ravenscliff House that she would have access to, she was overjoyed. Little Elizabeth on the other hand seemed to be the one who wanted to do everything, know everything and at her young age had no barriers to her questions. It was she who spent most of the journey quizzing Gabriel on his family, house, life and London in general. It had been enough to make his head hurt to keep up with her childish mind, but he had loved every minute of it.
At the stop he led the ladies out so they could stretch their legs and enjoy the simple repass he had arranged for them in the private dinning room on the way down. He had meant to spend the time getting to know Penelope better, but instead he found himself watching her interact with her sisters. Smiling with pleasure at the way she treated each with love and respect. At how she answered every one of Elizabeth's questions without thought, while at the same time reminding Charlotte to eat, rather than read her book. She would make a wonderful mother. At that thought he sat up straight. Of course she would make a wonderful mother, but she would not be the mother of his children. That was the deal they had made. The deal she wanted and the one he would stick too. He needed to remember that she wasn't truly his future wife, no matter what idle thoughts crossed his mind.
After the food they were on their way again and this time the journey was quieter, with the younger girls being lulled to sleep by the rocking motion of the carriage and the monotony of the journey, leaving Gabriel and Penelope to talk in hushed voices.
"We need to discuss what we are going to tell everyone when we get to London." Gabriel said quietly keeping his eyes on the three girls in front of them to make sure they truly were asleep. He had thought to keep this discussion until they stopped for the night and he and Penelope could have a private dinner, but he and come to the conclusion that that would not happen. Penelope would not want to be separated from her sisters for a minute.
At his words Penny also looked over at her sisters taking note of their even breathing before she nodded and replied in a low voice "we do."
"I was thinking of saying that I came down with my brother to visit his friend, which is true, and that we met and I found I couldn't stay away from you. That you captured my heart with one look and I knew I could not live without another." Gabriel said with his usual flare for the dramatic.
At his words Penny turned to him with a look of disbelief, tinged with alarm, on her face as she responded in her usual voice, forgetting all about their sleeping companions. "Do you truly expect people to believe that my lord?"
"Shh." Gabriel replied placing a finger over her lips which made her narrow her eyes at him in way that said if he didn't remove it this instant she would do him bodily harm. Oh yes, they would definitely believe he fell in love with her at first sight if she looked at him like that in front of the whole ton. No one glared at a future duke after all. It showed spirit, and a deeper connection. But still, he should probably do as she wished before she demanded he turned the carriages around. So taking his finger off his lips he smiled at her in his most charming way as he continued. "They will, as long as I act the part of the smitten gentleman."
"But then what will your chosen bride think of the how quickly you changed your attentions to her after the ending of our engagement?" Penny asked seeing the hole in his plan as soon as he said the words. No woman of respect or substance would agree to marry a man who spent the whole season looking lovely at another. And she could not see Gabriel marrying a lady who did not have substance or self-respect.
"We can't exactly tell the truth now can we Pen." Gabriel replied rolling his eyes, though he manfully refrained from mentioning that there was no woman of the ton who would say no to the future duke of Ravenscliff, no matter what he had done before he asked for her hand. He was after all the catch of the season.
"Pen?" Penny asked in a spluttering voice at the informal name Gabriel had seemed fit to use with her. It was one thing to let him call her Penelope for their ruse, but Pen? That really was too much.
"Don't you like it? I thought it sounded intimate." Gabriel whispered as he moved so he was breathing into her ear, loving the way his behaviour caused her to straighten her spine and look at him like a disapproving school-mistress, oh yes having her as his fiancée was going to be so much fun.
Penny looked at Gabriel with her most fearful stare, only to find that it made Gabriel's grin even wider. That man was incorrigible. With that thought she turned from him to look out of the window trying to gain her composure as she muttered under her breath "that is my problem with it."
With a shake of her head to remove all thoughts of any intimacy with Gabriel she returned the conversation to the one they were having before. She had no doubts that Gabriel and called her 'Pen' to take her mind away from what they were saying, but she would not be so easily diverted. "I think we should say that we met and found a liking for each other. You had decided to marry, and you feel I would make you a good wife. I have come to London to see if I will also make a good duchess."
"No one will believe that my lady. I promise you, they know me too well to accept that explanation." Gabriel replied with a wave of his hand dismissing her idea. He had been hunted for years, on one would ever believe he had just decided to settle. He was Gabriel Haynes, he was not one known for settling for anything.
"But I can't see them believing that you fell in love with me at first sight either." Penny argued back. It seemed they had come to an impasse, and they hadn't even got to London yet. How were they supposed to make everyone believe they were engaged for a whole season if this was the result of their first real conversation with each other?
"Why not? You are pretty. Maybe not classically beautiful I'll grant you-" Gabriel started to say, trying to explain why his plan would work but before he could continue Penelope interrupted him.
"I thank you for the complement." She said drily. She knew she wasn't beautiful, but it would be nice if he could at least pretend that that was what caught his eye. Every woman wants to be thought beautiful at least once in their life after all.
"Let me finish before your tip that nose at me Penny dearest." Gabriel replied taping her nose to accent his point surprising Penny at his forwardness. Though she was getting the impression that Gabriel was a lot more than he seemed when she had met him in her front room. For the first time she wondered what she had got herself into, not because of the lie, but more because of the man beside her.
"They will accept that I fell in love with at first meeting once they see your fire. That spark inside you that agreed to this charade in the first place." Gabriel continued as if nothing of consequence had just occurred.
"I do not think-" Penny started to respond, determined to make Gabriel see that this would not work, no matter how much he had decided it would. But before she could get the rest of her words out Gabriel interrupted her.
"Now you see that is your problem. They will never believe it, unless you do. Believe me, you are just the kind of woman I could fall in love with, the ton will know it the moment they meet you, my mother will know it as soon as you speak to her. Trust me, I know these people and they know me. What they don't know is you. So the only question is, who is the lady Penelope Coburn they are going to meet?"
It was a simple question, but it was one that silenced Penelope as she thought over all he had said. Gabriel had not sung praises to her eyes or her hair, none of which she would have believed even if she would like to hear them. Instead he had complimented the part of her she knew she had. The core of her, not her looks, but who she truly was. He had said that if she was herself then the ton would understand why he choose her for his fiancée. Penny had never considered that idea before, that someone would be able to love her for herself rather than her looks or connections. And even if she knew that this was not real love, she and Gabriel would be faking it, it was still nice to know someone else had noticed those things about herself that she had always thought her best assents. Gabriel was right, he did know the ton better than her so on this, at least, she would cede to his judgement. Let London society believe Gabriel had fallen in love with her in their first meeting, she just hoped she could show enough of herself to the people she was trying to fool for them to believe it.
