“I…I cannot answer that question,” she stammered.
“Why not?” he demanded.
“Because you and I have only started having an affair. We haven’t discussedanything. I don’t know if our feelings will last or if this is only temporary—”
“It ain’t temporary for me, Pearl. I know what I want. You.”
His jaw had a stubborn edge, his passionate determination making her feel as giddy as a schoolmiss…only she’d never been a schoolmiss. A whore’s daughter, a gang member, and a female prizefighter, yes. But an innocent? Never.
Yet Hawker took her hand as if she were a lady, and her throat swelled.
“Would you stand by my side, Pearl, in sickness and in health?” he asked gruffly. “Ain’t many females who could ’andle being the Duchess o’ Ryedale, but I reckon you’re one o’ them.”
She shook her head. “How can you say that when you know who I am? Where I’ve come from?”
“It’sbecauseo’ your background that you’re the woman for the job. You’re strong, resourceful, and resilient, and God knows you’ll need to be all three to deal with my family,” he said earnestly. “Even if I manage to get Claude behind bars, ’e has two younger brothers as wicked as ’e is. Being my duchess is a dangerous proposition.”
“I don’t mind danger,” she blurted.
His smile flashed in his beard. “Which is why you’re the woman for me. And for those people you’re so concerned about—those farmers and tenants and servants, they’ll need a mistress with the wherewithal to guide them. To keep ’em on the straight and narrow. They’ll test your resolve, believe me they will, but if anyone can convince ’em that there’s a better way to live, it’s you.”
She knew he was deliberately dangling a carrot in front of her...and it was working. She believed in having a purpose, and the idea that she could be of service to people, that her life experience might be of value to others, was temptation itself. Yet she didn’t want Hawker to get a bad bargain. He was a handsome, virile duke in his prime, for heaven’s sake; even if his family was shady, surely he could have his pick of ladies.
He’s proposing to you because he bedded you,her inner voice whispered.He’s a man of honor doing the right thing. But once he gets used to the idea of being a duke, he’ll realize that he could have done better for his duchess. He’ll regret choosing you.
Her heart pounded in denial. She would never trap Hawker into marriage. She loved him too much to compromise his happiness in any way.
“Well, Pearl? Will you ’ave me?” he asked gently. “Be my ’elpmate and my duchess?”
She couldn’t be his duchess…but she could be his helpmate. She could help him defeat his evil cousin. Could convince him that his responsibilities lay with the people of Ryedale. In fact, she could even help him get his estate in order; she was a housekeeper after all.
What she could not—wouldnot—do was tie him to a promise that he would later regret. Bittersweet resolve filled her. She would help the man she loved as much as she could.
Then she would let him go.
“Let me assist you with Claude,” she said. “Then I will consider your proposal.”
Joy flared on Hawker’s rugged features. In a smooth motion, he pulled her into his arms.
“Should’ve known you would drive a ’ard bargain,” he murmured.
“I do not take kindly to being kidnapped, no matter how fumbling the attempt,” she said primly. “Before you arrived, I was about to convince those lackeys to give up their master’s location…”
She trailed off breathlessly. Hawker wore the same, wondrous look he’d worn after their first time together. Here she was talking about intimidating brutes into spilling their guts, and he was gazing at her as if she were the moon and stars and everything beautiful in the world.
“We’ll persuade ’em together.” He smiled slowly. “From now on, we’ll do everything together. Because that’s what partners do.”
She didn’t trust herself to reply. Feared longing would overwhelm her good sense. Instead, she tipped her mouth up as he brought his down, and their kiss brimmed with sweet urgency.
Nine
As predicted, the cutthroats sang like birds, giving them Claude’s location at an abandoned farmhouse nearby. After a quick stop at the inn to make preparations, Hawker and Pearl arrived at the villain’s lair. Dusk was falling as they split up to surveil the property, an old stone gate and bordering trees giving them cover. They reconvened behind an old woodshed to the side of the building.
“I counted four cutthroats,” Pearl whispered. “Two guarding the front and two in the back.”
“Plus Claude.” The glimpse of his cousin had filled Hawker with rage. “Bastard ain’t much o’ a fighter, but ’e’s a conniving snake. Watch your back.”
“I can handle him.”
