“It has everything to do with her.” He cleared his throat, warming to his cause. “As you are all aware, I offered your sister a bargain in exchange for her pretending to be my betrothed.”
“You offered her a bargain, did you?” Prudence’s brow raised.
“Forced her into doing your bidding is a far more apt description,” said Eugie with a dismissive sniff.
“You stole her book and browbeat her into feigning a betrothal with you,” added Christabella.
“All to gain some silly estate,” Bea, the youngest and the only blonde amongst them, concluded.
Yes, he rather had done all those things. And when they phrased it thus, he certainly did sound like a reprobate of the first order.
He winced. “In my own defense, I courted her for days, attempting to get her to see the wisdom of my mutually beneficial plan.”
“Yet she denied you,” Prudence pointed out, her expression stony.
“Of course she did,” he admitted. “Your sister is devilishly stubborn.”
“A man such as yourself is not accustomed to being toldno, I would imagine,” observed Eugie.
“Not in some time,” he allowed. “Indeed, not since my last betrothed cried off after I found her in the arms of my close friend. I have been dedicating myself to the art of keeping my heart from getting dashed to bits ever since. I have busied myself with leading the life of a rake and resorting to nothing more consequential than meaningless exchanges of desire. Until I met your sister.”
“Whilst I am sure we are all sorry to hear your former betrothed treated you so unkindly, I fail to see what it has to do with you forcing our sister into pretending to be your betrothed,” Miss Beatrix Winter said.
“I caught her reading a bawdy book in this very room,” he said, holding up the book in question. “This book, as it would happen. And yes, I took it from her. Yes, I shamelessly used it as leverage against her. But in my own defense, it was only because I wanted her, and only her. I thought, at first, that it was because she was a challenge. I realized, in no time at all, that it is because she is unlike any lady I have ever met before. It is because there is only one Grace Winter, and I need to have her in my life, for the rest of my life, as my wife.”
All four sisters gaped at him, quite as if he had just begun stripping away his coat and breeches in their midst.
Prudence was the first to find her tongue. “You are saying you want to marry Grace in truth?”
“Yes.” He stalked forward,The Tale of Loveextended before him. “And you may have this book. I no longer have need of it. Though she refused to tell me which of you it belongs to, I can only gather it must be one or all of you.”
Their expressions were identically guilty, confirming his suspicions.
Prudence took the book from him hastily and handed it off to the flame-haired sister, who tucked it neatly into a secret pocket which must have been sewn into the skirt of her gown for just such a purpose.
Clever minxes.
No gentleman stood a chance against them.
“I am in love with your sister,” he announced.
There.He had said it. Admitted it aloud. Given voice to the emotions he had spent the last few days trying his damnedest to ignore.
“Truly in love with her?” Eugie asked, her eyes narrowing upon him.
“So in love with her, it terrifies me,” he said, unashamed. “So in love with her, I cannot bear the notion of her ending our betrothal.”
Prudence’s brows rose. “Grace has decided to end the betrothal? What have you done, you scoundrel? Did you hurt her?”
Bloody hell, what did they take him for?
“Of course I did not hurt her,” he snapped. “Have you not heard a word I just said? I am in love with her, and I want to make her my wife. But she has decided she must have her freedom or some such rot. She said continuing our farce was too great a risk, and that she was going to tell your brother herself aboutThe Tale of Love.”
“She cannot tell Dev aboutthe book,” protested Miss Christabella Winter. “He will stop at nothing until he confiscates the entire set from us.”
“You have more than just the one?” he asked, shocked in spite of himself. He supposed he ought to have learned by now just how resourceful and bold the Winter sisters were.
“We have them all,” said Miss Christabella, her tone smug.
