“That depends on what it is. Come, Alexandra, while you’re preparing all these lovely young ladies for marriage, don’t you ever wonder about it for yourself?”
Alexandra’s nervous excitement began to slide toward annoyance. “That was not marriage you were proposing this morning, my lord.”
“No, it wasn’t. Call me Lucien tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to hear you say it.”
She sat back, assuming the same relaxed position he had taken, though she felt as though she were marching straight into battle. “You think you can get whatever you want, don’t you?”
His slight, cynical smile appeared. “That’s hardly a revelation. Tell me something about myself that I don’t know.”
She would have preferred more time to concentrate on that very difficult question, but he looked like he might pounce on her again if she couldn’t distract him with conversation. “All right. You’re not as cynical as you think you are.”
One gray eye opened. “Explain.”
“In the matter of marriage, a true cynic wouldn’t be so fastidious.”
“You find me fastidious,” he repeated.
“Terribly.”
The eye closed again. “I’m stunned.”
“How many potential wives have you interviewed?” she continued, eager to prove her point.
“Three, including today’s selection. So by speaking to them I’m being fastidious?”
Apparently he couldn’t fathom being called fastidious. Alexandra let a small smile escape her lips. “Yes. Why did you speak with them?”
“Because I don’t want my child and heir born to a complete twit.”
“A true cynic would assume everyone, including his own child, would be a complete twit, regardless of the circumstances.”
He straightened. “Your argument is faulty. I’m searching for an appropriate bride because it is in my best interest to do so.”
“The point being, you think an appropriate bride exists.”
A muscle in his lean cheek twitched. “Ah. But appropriate for what? You neglected to clarify that point.”
“For being your wife, of course. Your companion, the mother of your children, the—”
“Child,” he corrected. “One’s enough. And I don’t need or want a companion. That assumes I’m incapable or incomplete by myself.”
“But you are.”
“Only in the area of child-begetting, my dear.”
Alexandra looked at him for a moment. “You’re just baiting me. If you say any old outlandish thing to distract me, then it’s not a fair argument.”
“I assure you, I am perfectly serious. The only distraction in here is you.”
“But according to you, I’m good for nothing but…begetting.”
He shook his dark head. “No, that’s what a wife is for.”
“Good Lord!” she burst out, shooting to her feet. “Who raised you—gorillas?”
