If he had indeed compromised a chaste female, he would do the right thing. His code of honor demanded that he make an offer of marriage. Whether she—or he—wanted it was irrelevant. When you took a lady’s virginity, you owed her the protection of your name: that was how a gentleman conducted himself.
Reaching the back fence, the farthest point from the cottage, Miss Brown turned abruptly. Sunshine filtered through the bowers of the apple trees, dappling her lovely features.
“Mr. Murray, you and I have business to discuss,” she declared.
Was it perverse of him to be aroused by her directness? In a society that valued demure females, he’d always admired women who knew their own mind and went after what they wanted. Even at the masquerade, he’d been drawn to her lack of coyness, her determination to take the bull by the horns…or, more precisely, him by his cock.
Stop thinking about her and your cock in the same sentence,he chided himself.
“Indeed, we do.” He decided to return the favor of her directness. “I know that you and I met two nights ago, Miss Brown. At the masquerade.”
Beneath the brim of her bonnet, she paled. She did not lose her composure, however. She clasped her hands in front of her, her gaze steady. “I see.”
“I did not know your identity at the time. But given our negotiations concerning your property, this rendezvous of ours obviously complicates matters.”
Her glorious eyes narrowed. “In what way?”
“I do not, as a rule, mix personal and business matters. Bad form and all that.” He cleared his throat, trying to think of the most courteous way to ask the question that no gentleman ought to ask of a lady…and that, as a gentleman, hehadto ask. “Given that we have, ahem, blurred the lines between work and play, we must face the consequences. To wit, there is something I must say to you. Something that concerns both of our futures.”
“I know what you want.”
“Do you?” he asked with relief. He was not a tongue-tied sort, but devil and blast if he wasn’t making a hash of this.
She gave a tight nod. “What you ought to know is that I will not concede to your blackmail.”
He frowned, not comprehending. “My…blackmail?”
“The fact that we slept together gives you no leverage when it comes to my land,” she said bluntly. “Nothing has changed since we last corresponded. I willnotsell this estate, and there’s naught you can do about it. Threaten to ruin my reputation if you must, but Camden Manor still won’t be for sale. I don’t give a farthing what anyone says—”
“Hold up.” He stared at her incredulously. “Are you implying that I would use the fact that we were intimate toextortyou into selling your land?”
“Your reputation as a negotiator precedes you,” she said with chilling incivility. “You’re known as a man who attains his desired ends—no matter the cost.”
An unfamiliar roar sounded in his ears. It took him a moment to recognize it as…rage.
How bloodydareshe?
“I am not a damned extortionist,” he said through clenched teeth, “and your accusation is nothing short of slander. If you were a man, I would call you out for the insult to my honor.”
She reacted by lifting her brows. “If you weren’t intending to blackmail me, then whatconsequencesdid you wish to discuss? What were you going to say to me?”
“I wasgoingto ask if I’d taken your virginity,” he bit out. “Was I your first lover?”
* * *
She was prepared for blackmail, not a query about her sexual experience. He caught her off-guard, and it cost her. She couldn’t form a coherent response, words dashing against her skull like maddened butterflies. At the same time, telltale heat throbbed in her cheeks.
“Bloody hell.” He looked staggered. “Youwerea virgin?”
Bea realized her ongoing silence was incriminating, but she felt paralyzed. She didn’t want to lie outright; she didn’t want to tell him the truth. He was looking at her, with his jaw taut and brows drawn, as if she were a creature he’d never beheld before.
He went to bed with a butterfly, the voice in her head whispered.And woke up to a beast.
That painful realization jolted her into action. She wouldnothang her head. Would not suffer the humiliation of being this man’s regret.
She lifted her chin. “I find your question impolitic, sir.”
“That’s rich, considering you seduced me under false pretenses.”
