“You’ve wit and character and a sense of fun and you are damned pretty. I like you better than any other woman of my acquaintance.”
“Thank you.”I think.
“And yet, I still cannot quite reconcile myself to the idea of marriage. I’d make a damnable husband. I am solitary and cranky and set in my ways. I do what I want without consulting anyone, and I like it that way. I don’t want to change my life. I cannot imagine dancing attendance on a wife, even you, Miss Mayne. Knowing me, I’d likely forget your existence from one minute to the next.”
She had no idea how she was supposed to respond.
“And so, I have an . . . unusual sort of proposal to put to you.”
“Oh?” She held her breath, hardly knowing what to expect.
“We could marry, but it would be in name only.”
“In name only?”
“Yes.”
She frowned. “We would not live together?”
“I do not see that we must.”
“Forgive me, my lord, but if you marry me and then just send me home to Hoverstoke, then my reputation will be just as damaged as if you walked away now. All of Society will assume I am an adventuress who trapped you unwillingly. You would be praised for doing the right thing and I would still be vilified. And my sister and brother will be painted with the same brush.”
He’d stopped his pacing. “Well. Yes. I hadn’t considered it from that angle.” He looked about the pokey room. “You won’t want to live here. I suppose you would have to move into my townhouse, then. But we must agree to the idea of separate lives.”
She took a deep breath, thinking hard. “I believe many Society marriages are run just that way. But you did mention the necessity of . . . heirs.”
His gaze drifted over her. Suddenly, her heartrate picked up. A shiver ran through her. The air between them warmed with . . . something intoxicating.
“Yes. Perhaps we can postpone that bit. For a while. After all, there’s no hurry. And it might go more smoothly if we wait until we are otherwise settled.”
She nodded. Her mind was racing nearly as fast as her heart. Images and impressions flashed in her mind. His scorn, shifting to interest at their first meeting. The urgency in his face when he asked her to dance. The feel of his shoulder under her hand. The way his face lit up when she made him laugh, out on the river. And the surge of desire when his lips touched hers and her body pressed against him.
He approached her. She looked up and knew suddenly, everything she wanted from him. Warmth, closeness, tenderness. Love?Oh, this was very bad.
“Well?” he asked. “What would you say to such an arrangement?”
“I would say . . . I have questions.”
He raised a brow.
“What of my siblings?”
“What of them?”
“We are a family. Aclosefamily. This is the longest I’ve ever been away from them.”
“They will not stay with your aunt?”
“Well, yes. They will.”
“Was that not always your plan?”
“It was, but I shall need to see them. To visit Hoverstoke occasionally, and to have them visit me.”
“Well, then.” He looked like the was thinking hard. “I suppose they can visit.” He frowned. “I’m not good at that sort of thing. I waver between flippant and ill-tempered when I’m in company and most people are just relieved to see the back of me. I’m tempted to instruct you to leave me out of it, but you did say you hoped for a male influence for your brother.”
Frowning, he sat back down in the chair across from her. “I’ve been trying to make you understand the truth about me. My own family isnotclose. I’m not sure I know how such a thing even looks, let alone happens.” He sighed. “I may have a title and money, but I’m a bad bargain when you weigh in the rest. But I do have one thing of value, and that is my circle of friends. They are good men, real gentlemen and my true family. I am sure they would be willing to help. Sterne will teach your George about science and culture. Keswick can teach him how to ride and all about horses, if he ever returns from Ireland, that is. Chester, well, we may have to watch Chester around him, but if the boy likes dogs, Chester will thrust a puppy on him, and it will be the animal perfectly suited for him. And George might find a friend in Chester’s ward, Charlie. And finally, Tensford will bore him to death talking about farming, but he’ll take him out hunting for fossils and show him how a true gentleman cares for the people he’s responsible for.”
