The afternoon was young.
“Shall we sit?” he suggested to Ravenscroft, gesturing to the divan and chairs artfully placed at one end of the long, bookshelf-lined chamber.
Such an arrangement certainly seemed less conducive to the earl planting him a facer, or vice versa.
“By all means, play the host,” the earl said cuttingly.
But he led the way to the seating area. They settled themselves in an awkward horseshoe, Jo and Decker on chairs at one end and Ravenscroft on a divan opposite them. Decker eyed the distance between himself and the earl, judging how much reaction time he would have lest the bloodthirsty bastard decide to pounce once more.
Enough.
“May I begin?” he asked, for he did not have all day to squander upon stroking the Earl of Ravenscroft’s abused ego.
This was not his sole call of the day. He also needed to oversee the funds being invested in Mr. Levi Storm’s new electricity company. He had a shipment of erotic marbles being delivered. To say nothing of the printing of the latest installment of the erotic serial he was publishing privately for members of the Black Souls club…truly, it was endless. But before him was the most important task of all. He needed to secure Jo’s hand, and then he needed to begin making plans.
“By all means, Mr. Decker, carry on with whatever it is you have to say.” The earl raised a chastising brow, his voice dripping in icy hauteur as only a nobleman born and bred could truly perfect.
Decker inclined his head. “I will marry Lady Josephine, provided she accepts marriage to me, of course. I have spent the morning having a betrothal contract drawn up, which should be arriving directly from my solicitor’s office here within the hour. Within it, you will find ample provisions for your sister’s welfare. I do not require her dowry, and all her funds will be entirely within her control to do with as she chooses for the duration of the marriage.”
“How magnanimous of you, Mr. Decker,” the earl said acidly. “Will that be all?”
“Further,” Decker continued pointedly, ignoring Ravenscroft’s jibe, “I will settle upon her a stipend of twenty thousand pounds per annum, to disperse as it pleases her. She will, in return, run my household and act as my hostess. I have no objection to her pursuits with the Lady’s Suffrage Society—indeed, I deem it a worthy cause. I will require her discretion in the marriage, and I will provide her mine as well. The marriage will occur within one month’s time. I propose to bear all expenses for the nuptials. Lady Josephine shall have carte blanche to decide whatever she wishes for flowers, dress, guests, etcetera.Thatwill be all, Ravenscroft.”
The earl was no longer glaring at him.
Decker knew a moment of triumph. He was reasonably certain he had thought of everything.
“Why would I give my sister to a degenerate voluptuary whose reputation is as black as pitch?” Ravenscroft queried next.
That rather cut to the heart of things, did it not?
“Julian,” Jo chastised, interjecting her voice for the first time since their official discussion had begun. “He is none of those things. For all that you think him wicked, Mr. Decker has never truly compromised me.”
Blast her innocent tongue and urge to champion him.
“Yes, my darling, I am afraid I have,” he told her tenderly, lest Ravenscroft realize he had been lying about the possibility of Jo carrying his child. “The only reasonable course for us to take now is marriage. In time, I will rectify the dishonor I have paid you.”
That particular detail was one which could tip the scales in his favor, and he would not discount it. However, he certainly hoped reason would do the work without his having to resort to subterfuge.
“Although Lady Josephine has reached her majority, I am still her brother. I am in control of her dowry. If I do not approve of the match she makes, she will go to her husband with nothing,” Ravenscroft told him coolly.
But Decker had accounted for that. He inclined his head. “In the event Lady Josephine has no dowry, there is a provision in the betrothal contract for her to receive thirty thousand pounds per annum.”
It was an impressive sum by anyone’s account.
Even an earl’s.
Especiallyan earl who had been at penury’s gates and had required his marriage to an American heiress to dig him out of the depths of his wastrel sire’s financial grave.
“I do not want a dowry,” Jo said quietly then. “Nor do I need it if I am to marry Mr. Decker. Julian, please, I beg you to see reason. Mr. Decker is a good man.”
The earl’s nostrils flared. “If he were a good man, he would not have been squiring an unwed lady about London in the midst of the night, to say nothing of what else occurred. Indeed, I do believe the scene I witnessed yesterday precludes him from being considered a good man. However, I am willing to review the betrothal contract before I make my decision.”
“You have three hours from the time the contract arrives until it becomes void,” Decker told him, delivering his trump card. “If you do not make your decision in that time, the contract will be revised and amended. The terms will not benefit Lady Josephine nearly as much as the initial contract. Delay will only have a negative impact upon your sister, which I am sure you do not want.”
“What I do not want, Mr. Decker, is for my impressionable sister to make a match with a man who is clearly her inferior in every way,” the earl bit out. “That is what I do not want. You do not deserve Lady Josephine as your wife. I will not mince words. Your reputation speaks for itself. I wanted a love match for my sister with a man who cares for her and who can also do her credit.”
“We are in perfect accord then, my lord,” Decker said with ease. “I agree that I am Lady Jo’s inferior. I also agree I do not deserve her. My reputation is dark; I shall not insult your intelligence and suggest otherwise. Nor will this be a love match. But what I can promise you is that, unlike some milksop lord you would select to be her husband, I will appreciate her always. I will also make all the provisions necessary to prove to both yourself and to Lady Jo that her independence and her financial security will remain hers, just as they should be. I may be a sinner, Lord Ravenscroft, but I am also a man of intellect and foresight. I do not seek to dim Lady Jo’s shine. Rather, I hope to encourage it.”
