‘Yes, you are a person with feelings, one of which seems to be misplaced pride. You are wholly without means. Pride without means is all folly. Am I wrong?’ He did not wait for a reply. ‘Now, I suppose I should list my qualities as a husband, one of which is that I have considerable wealth, having recently inherited an earldom from my father’s passing.’
‘Earl Voss,’ began Grace, stressing his title in a sarcastic manner, ‘I must stop you there. I was betrothed to your brother, but I no more belonged to him than I belong to you. I cannot entertain the notion of marriage to you or to anyone.’
‘And yet your circumstances dictate that you must. Please hear me out. I mean us to be married in name only. I will make no other demands upon your person. I will have many deficiencies as a husband and will not make a gentle one. I don’t know how.’
Grace felt as though her face was frozen in horror, and he must have noticed. Rawden Voss stood up and approached her, hands fisted at his sides. ‘I prefer to be honest about my motives and shortcomings, Grace. May I call you by your first name?’
‘You seem the type of man who does whatever he wants, Earl Voss. Who am I to say otherwise?’
He narrowed his eyes at her insolence. ‘Good. So we are being honest with each other. As I said, I will not make a gentle or attentive husband. I am thoroughly deficient in all ways. I am not of good character, nor will I suffer efforts to redeem me. Have no illusions that you will ever come to love me. But in my defence, I am of good health, possessed of a vast fortune, and I will provide everything you could need – wealth, a fine home, and even children, should you desire them, though I have no particular wish in that regard. I will not lay a finger on you that is not welcome, though if I am being abjectly honest, it costs me to do so, as I find you rather appealing in looks.’ He frowned down at her.
Rawden’s compliment and a smouldering flash of hunger in his eyes made her face burn. Grace stood and tried to get away from him, but he put his hand on her arm. His touch was like a bolt of lightning coursing through her veins. Her heart picked up its beat.
‘I need a wife to help run my estates, Grace, but I will be absent for much of the time, and you will have more freedom than you could ever dream of here. As to sharing the marital bed, I will forgo that pleasure, so you need have no fear in that regard if you are, indeed, the innocent you claim to be.’
‘Please stop,’ she said. His arrogance and the intensity of his gaze overwhelmed her.
‘Marry me, Grace, and you could find some happiness, which is more than I can say for myself.’
Grace shuddered. With these bleak words, he sought to possess her, and she had no idea why this heartless brute of a man should wish to. She tried to find her courage, but Rawden chilled her to the core as he stared down at her like a hawk hovering over a mouse.
This would not do. She could not be a mouse. Grace pushed his arm away. ‘Why on earth would you want to marry a complete stranger?’
He shrugged. ‘Most people stand at the altar as strangers and stay that way many years into marriage, which, if we can be honest, is all about keeping wealth within the family or climbing society’s slippery ladder.’
‘That cannot be true.’
‘Most fools in the ton look for wealth, breeding, polished manners and a blandly pretty face. You have none of those things besides the pretty, and that you have to excess. Any man would be proud to have you on his arm. But I also sense a strength in you and a certain resilience. I watched you at that rout as your friends mocked me. You seemed forlorn behind your forced smiles. You know you are an outsider who will never fit in, nor do you want to. And yet your pride rails against their disdain.’
‘I am sure I would not dare to contradict your observations,’ said Grace.
‘Yes, you would. I noticed that there was no aimless twittering, as was the way of your peers. I would venture that you either disdained them as fools or you were terrified of drawing their contempt. A clever young woman like you, I would venture it was the fear of contempt.’
‘How is this for contempt then? Earl Voss, your proposal is ridiculous.’
‘Why?’ he snapped.
‘I entered into an arrangement with your brother. I wanted to marry him because William was gentle, kind and honest.’
‘All the qualities I lack.’ He bent his head to her ear. ‘But he was also naïve and far too trusting, which I am not. My brother had an open heart which had not known the fickleness of a woman’s affections. I am sure he was easily duped.’
‘All the more reason not to marry me if I am nothing but a devious jade out for a fortune. Now, you must leave and never come here again.’
‘On very little acquaintance, my brother fell hopelessly in love with you, Grace. I doubt his devotion was reciprocated, but that is neither here nor there. But it must mean something. He must have seen something in you to pass you his heart on a platter.’
‘You talk about him as if he were a fool. Will was good to me, and I cared for him.
‘As did I. But answer me this. Were you in love with him? Did you burn with passion at his touch?’
‘I…I cared for him. I held him in high esteem.’
‘Esteem is not passion. Passion is where you are consumed by another. It is being unable to live without them, to think of anything but them.’
‘His advances were chaste and respectful, unlike yours, Earl Voss. He never laid a hand on me that was unwelcome or without regard to propriety.’
‘Did you keep him at arm’s length to spur his ardour, to keep him in suspense?’
‘No. How can you say such a thing?’
