“Haven’t I told you that these things take time? You aren’t going to feel the same way about a person for your whole life.”
“I don’t know how you can claim to know that,” Lady Lavinia said. “You’ve never been in love, Matthew. But even if you’re right…you don’t understand. I don’t feel the seeds of something that might one day grow into love. I feelnothing. I can’t marry someone who leaves me feeling this empty. I respect Lord Hennington, but I don’t love him.”
“And so—what? Do you love the Duke of Loxburgh?”
Lady Lavinia looked at her feet and didn’t answer.
Lord Newford looked at Seth. “Is there something between you and my sister? Something beyond this kiss? Are you in love with her?”
“It was only a kiss,” Seth said in a low voice. “A kiss that she requested.”
“And do you go around kissing young ladies all the time?”
“It isn’t any of your business what I do.”
“It is when my sister becomes involved. If you don’t want me to give you the beating I think you so richly deserve, you’ll have to extend her an offer of marriage.”
Seth’s stomach dropped. This was exactly what he had feared—that being caught in a compromising position would force him into a marriage he didn’t want.
And yet…why did he feel a sense of relief? It was almost as if there was a part of him, deep down, that wanted to give in to the idea of a marriage.
He had resisted it with everything he had in him, but Lord Newford had the upper hand on him now, and although the choice had not been taken away from Seth—did Lord Newford truly imagine he was afraid of a beating?—he could give in to Lady Lavinia’s older brother’s demands. Maybe he could just say yes, in spite of what he believed would be the sensible thing to do.
And maybe it would be a good thing to stop worrying about the outcome and simply give in to what was going to make him happy.
That was the first time he had ever thought of marriage in those terms. Would it really make himhappy?
It was hard to imagine that it would, and yet, looking at Lady Lavinia, he felt more confident than he ever had before.
He could marry her.
Lord Newford would force his hand—but he would do it. Not because he feared being beaten, but because, if he was truly honest with himself, it was what he wanted. Finally, he could stop wrestling with himself. He could stop asking himself whether he was making the right decision. He could pretend that the choice had been taken out of his hands.
“Stop it, Matthew,” Lady Lavinia snapped. “I’m not going to marry him.”
Both men looked at her.
“Lord Hennington has already proposed,” Lady Lavinia said. “This attempt to save me from scandal is seriously misguided.”
“You don’t appear to have any particular interest in savingyourselffrom scandal,” her brother snapped.
“You’re reacting out of a desire to protect me. I understand that. I respect it. But, Matthew, there is no scandal. All right, so perhaps I shouldn’t have kissed him?—”
“You certainly shouldn’t have.”
“All right. That’s fine. But I did, and nothing bad happened. That doesn’t mean we need to marry.”
“You can’t simply sweep this under the rug as if it’s nothing!” Lord Newford insisted. “You both seem determined to act as if what you’ve done out here doesn’t matter. As if it means nothing. It does. I ought to give you a beating regardless of what you and my sister say about it, Your Grace. I don’t care if you are a duke.”
“Do so, if you feel you must,” Seth said. “It won’t change anything. You heard what the lady said. She doesn’t wish to marry me.”
He didn’t know what to make of the fact that Lady Lavinia had said that. She’d promised that she would walk away from him if the kiss convinced her that there was nothing between them, and Seth had intended to give her a dull, empty kiss to convince her of that. But the moment he’d held her in his arms, he had realized he was unable to hold back.
He wanted to do the right thing, to kiss her in a way that would persuade her that it was best to give Lord Hennington all of her attention—but he hadn’t been able to do it.
And yet, somehow, shehadbeen persuaded. She wasn’t even looking at him. She was insisting to her brother that she had no desire to marry him, that Lord Hennington was the person she wanted.
What had changed?
