Victoria enjoyed the wind tugging at her hat as her horse exited the forest and rode onto the fields behind her mansion. She did not want to arrive home, for she enjoyed horseback riding too much. But she also wanted her conversation with lord Brompton to be over.

No, what she really wanted was to not be involved in the stupid rumour. She did not want to stand out, but now she was the centre of everyone's whispers. If she wanted all that attention, she would have involved herself into a scandal!

But now there was nothing she could do about the gossip anymore, except for preventing it from getting worse. And the only way she would be able to do that, was with the help of lord Brompton.

He seemed a kind man, Victoria thought, but he was very annoying! He would bluntly involve himself in a personal conversation she was having with her brother, and keep an all-knowing smile on his face.

She hoped that when the rumour was silenced, he would leave her alone like he had done before. A kind word and a polite smile every once in a while was appreciated, but she did not want his constant company. Twas nothing personal, really, for she did not want anyone's company. And she had no explanation for why she wanted to be alone, twas just something she had always liked. The calmness and the silence gave her time to think. She liked being alone.

She slowed her horse down as she arrived at her house and looked behind her. She could see lord Brompton closer than she expected, but there was still a fair distance between them.

"You have quite a fast horse," the lord said as he slowed down next to her. "I assume you ride him a lot."

Victoria padded the horse, proud of the its speed. "It is a she," she said with a smile. "As to her speed, I shall not give away my secret."

Lord Brompton laughed at her words, but did not ask further questions. Near the stables, they dismounted their horses. Victoria noticed how lord Brompton's eyes went up and down her long blue dress that whirled around her legs. She silently cursed herself for not wearing a cage underneath her skirts. His look felt like was not wearing stays - or like she was wearing breeches!

There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for why she did not wear a cage. One could not ride comfortably on horseback with it. But she would not tell lord Brompton, for that would mean she admitted to feeling uncomfortable by his gaze.

And so she lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, ignoring his gaze. She walked to the house, aware that lord Brompton was following her. When she stepped inside, she whirled around to close the door.

"Have a nice day, my lord," she said before trying to close the door. But lord Brompton's hand stopped it before she could slam the door and sigh in relief.

"I was hoping of speaking with you, my lady," he said. His eyes were curious, as if he wanted to know more than how to proceed with the rumour.

Victoria suppressed a sigh and opened the door fully, allowing him entry. She hoped her smile did not show how much she did not like his presence, but he probably did not notice, as he was watching the hallway of her mansion instead.

"You have a beautiful house," he said, finally looking back at her. She simply smiled at him, not wanting to engage in a useless conversation. With a movement of her hand, she asked him to follow her, and she lead them to the parlour.

She did not know why, but she felt quite uncomfortable with him being here. Twas like she was afraid he would find out something personal of her, a secret she kept. That thought was not unrealistic, for she had many secrets. But why did she feel those secrets were threatened when he was around, and not when anyone else was?

Yes, he had the tendency to meddle in her affairs, but he knew his place, did he not? Maybe it was not his nosiness she feared, but... him.

She saw his gaze on the painting above the fire place, but he did not voice his opinion over it. His eyes flickered to her, and for a moment, Victoria had to admit that the man was quite handsome. He was not the kind of handsome that would make every lady in London fall for him, but she thought he was quite fetching. She could understand why every lady in London was pushing her daughter to him. Who would not want to marry-

She stopped her trail of thoughts right there. There was no need to finish it, for that would only lead to wrong things. Had she not always told herself she was not to marry anyone? Had she not seen the broken man her father was while living his life without spouse?

She would not go down that path, she had always told herself. And thus she would not marry, nor fall in love. Neither would she befriend herself with anyone from the ton, for they could not be trusted. No one ever could. Had she not had enough experience with that as well?

And yet one look into the eyes of a handsome man, and her own rules seemed to have faded.

"You wanted to speak with me?" she asked him, making sure her thoughts would stay on the topic of avoiding the rumours instead of on him.

"Yes," he said, nodding his head. "I was hoping you would know how to dismiss the rumour about us."

She motioned with her hand for him to take a seat, while she did the same on the coach opposite form the chair he occupied. "Whatever made you think I know how to save your reputation?"

His brows rose. "Whoever said I care about my reputation?"

"Is that not why you are here then?" she said accusingly. "To stop the rumour and clear your name?"

A smile appeared on his lips, but it did not seem to be one of pure happiness. Twas more one of mockery. "My name will never be cleared, I'm afraid. So no, I do not wish for my name to be cleared. I wish for my privacy back and your clean conscious."

Now it was time for her to raise her eyebrows. "What makes you think I do not have a clean conscious? Do you truly believe I care much for this rumour?"

Lord Brompton turned his head. "I believe you hide yourself from society because you do not want to be judged."

She let out a mocking chuckle. "I hide myself from society because I do not want to hear the wild fantasies of other noble lords and ladies. I do not care what they think about me. And neither do I care what they think of other people."

"Yet you hide yourself when you are in a ballroom. If you find it so easy to shake off their opinions of you, then why not mingle and have a grand time while doing so?"

"I never said it is easy to shake off their opinions. I would avoid them rather than ignore them. That is why I choose to be alone."

"You willingly deprive yourself from laughter and fun because of your fear of being judged?"

"No, I fear being hurt!" She stood up, suddenly very angry. Who was this man accusing her of being weak and avoiding fun?! Who was he to judge her? Coming into her house, penetrating her privacy to ask for his own, but instead ending up insulting her? Was that how he wished to ask her a favour? Did he hope on threatening her next if she did not agree?!

She did not know where the sudden outburst of anger came from, but the man seemed to be evoking it. He did have the habit of penetrating her life where she least expected - or wanted - it.

She looked down on him, sitting all calm and confident on the chair. She took a few deep breaths before she calmly said: "If you give people the seed to grow a rose, they might still end up growing a cactus." She firmly looked at him, hoping her face showed determination and not the rage she felt. "I do not wish to be that cactus. I'd rather be a wallflower."

For a few minutes, a deafening silence filled the parlour. Lord Brompton kept his gaze on her, yet he was not staring. It seemed he was lost in thought. Victoria did not want to burst his bubble, for she feared he would react in a similar uncontrollable rage she did.

She did not regret feeling how she admitted she felt. She did regret admitting that she felt that way. If she did not want to be the topic of people's next gossip, then why would she start pouring out her heart to a man who joined her in that centre of attention?

His eyes flashed back to reality, and then he said: "I did not mean to offend you, my lady. Mayhap I misjudged you and let myself be guided by whatever rumours I heard. Or mayhap", he stood up and looked her square in the eyes, "mayhap you ought to show your true colours to the ton."

She felt some of her confidence tear at his words. Though it encouraged the rage inside her to burn on, she remained calm and told him: "and mayhap it is time you take your leave now."

He simply nodded and walked to the door. Victoria could not help but add: "and mayhap it is best if you do not return."

With his hand on the door, lord Brompton turned around. "I'm afraid that will not be possible as we still have not discussed how to avoid these rumours. But then mayhap you are right and I ought to stay away from you before I insult you again, simply because I do not know you well."

She scoffed unbelievable at him. "If you truly wish to know me, than you ought to ask me the right question, my lord. Not insult me with whatever rumour you heard, as you said yourself."

He nodded again. "Mayhap I should."

Victoria expected him to open the door and take his leave, but instead, he turned around and took his seat on the chair. Victoria could not help but look at him with her eyes wide as his gaze went to her.

"I shall start with easy question, my lady, do not worry."

She tried to have a normal look on her face while she walked back to the coach and sat down on it, but she felt like he could see right through her and knew how she was feeling. "If this is how you wish for me to bring back your privacy, I am not sure I am willing to help you with that."

He shook his head with a soft smile. "I do not wish for you to bring me my privacy back, my lady. But let us not talk about anything connected to the rumour, for I might unwillingly insult you again."

She nodded, for what was she to say? Twas she who proposed to getting to know each other, was it not? So she stayed silent and waited for his first question.

"Who are your parents?"

She did not expect such a shallow question, but she answered it without mocking. "Mary and Joseph Blackburn."

"I have never seen them before, I believe. Where do they live?"

She swallowed. She did not want to answer this question, but the answer was quite easy. And if she wanted to remain at peace with him, she ought to answer the simple question. "They don't," she said. "My father passed away only a few years ago."

He looked at her with sad eyes. "I am sorry to hear that." He remained silent, and Victoria believed he really meant those words. But more than that, he seemed to know how she felt.

It seemed that just like her, he did not want to discuss more of this topic, so he asked a new one with a very different topic. "How come your last name is the same as the name of your estate?"

A smile appeared on her face. Not many people bothered to even care about her last name, let alone the name of their family estate, yet he asked the question. And the reminder of how she heard the story was a pleasant one, involving her father. "I used to think every lord or lady had a last name that was the same as their family estate. I asked my father why my friend did not, and he told me that nobody did. So I looked at him and said: "but we do." He simply smiled at me and said: "that's because we're special, Vicky."" She could not help but smile at the memory. O, how life was easy and simple back then.

"My grandfather was a gambler," she continued. "He always lost, he never won. So many rich lords would place high bets whenever they were playing with him, so that they could laugh at him for losing such richness. But then one day, one special day he would never forget, the odds were with him. He won his first - and only - gamble. He won an estate. The Blackburn estate. He was so proud, that once the papers were signed and it was officially his, he changed his last name to Blackburn so that he could mock all those rich lords who dared not place high bets anymore."

She heard lord Brompton laugh at the story. She laughed too the first time she heard it. Now she enjoyed it more because that story really defined how her family was: not very lucky, but proud of everything they owned.

"No more questions?" she asked when his laughter had died down, but he had not said anything yet.

He shook his head. "Many more questions, but I do not know where to start."

"My turn, then," she said confidently. "Who are your siblings? I believe I have heard of only a few, but I have also heard you have more than two."

"Ah, you have probably heard of my brother Arthur and my sister Elizabeth."

"The newspaper seemed to prefer the story of the banished brother over your sister's wedding."

He let out a hard breath, probably to calm himself down. "It would seem so. I have four siblings, Arthur being the first born. Now I'm the oldest, Elizabeth the second. And then there's Thomas and Mary. None of us are very loved by the ton."

That surprised Victoria. "It does not seem that way. You attend every ball and talk with many lords and ladies. Many ladies push their daughters to you to encourage a courtship."

"A courtship with other men," lord Brompton said with a nod. "They want to show their daughters are ready for marriage, and so they try to make other men jealous by dancing with us."

"Then I believe you are not good at reading people's faces, my lord. Miss Stanhope was hoping for more than creating jealousy."

Lord Brompton started laughing, a low sound that was accompanied by a lit up face. "Miss Stanhope would dare not hope on marrying me for her mother would never allow it. She is a lady who many people look up to for agreeing with everything the ton does. They would dare not marry into the Bromptons."

"If you say so," Victoria simply said.

With a smile remaining on his face, lord Brompton said: "my turn again-"

"No," Victoria interrupted. "You have asked me three question, so now I can ask you two more questions."

He looked at her, surprised that she dared interrupt him. O dear, this man still had much to learn from her.