“You’ve explained this frequently enough, but…”
“I need a respectable wife,” Norman went on. “I need someone who fits into this world. People need to be able to look at me and see that I’m like them, that I’m playing the game, and having the right wife will do that for me. It will show everyone that I belong among the men of society. Until I’m married, I know people will wonder whether I’mreallya part of all this. They’ll expect that I might choose to marry a woman beneath my station, which would prove that I’m still a commoner at heart no matter what my inheritance might say.”
“But you don’t have any desire to marry such a woman, do you?” Michael asked.
“I have no particular desire to marry anyone at all. If I am to marry, though, I might as well marry a lady.”
“You know,” Michael said, leaning back in his seat, “Mother thinks you ought to wait for someone you love. That you ought to marry a lady because you truly care for her, not just because it would benefit your reputation.”
“Your mother understands this even less than you do,” Norman said with a sigh. “I’m sorry to say it. She’s a good lady, and she’s been no end of help to me since I came into my inheritance. But she can’t help me with this. I need to make sure that my reputation is intact, and that’s why I’m going to marry the Earl’s daughter. It’s as simple as that.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Michael said. “It really doesn’t. I know you don’t trust the peerage, Norman.”
“How could I trust them? It’s all social climbers and attention seekers.”
“You say that, but who are you talking about? That’s not what you think of me or Mother.”
Norman sighed. “Of course not. You know I’m not talking about you.”
“I do know that,” Michael agreed. “But I don’t know who you mean when you say that society is full of that type of person.”
“Do you mean to suggest you don’t think there are any?”
“I’m only saying that people aren’t staring at you with the kind of expectation you seem to think they are,” Michael said. “No one will assume the worst of you if you don’t marry a lady within a year of coming into your inheritance. It’s all right to take your time a little bit, to wait and see what feels right. Mother has a point. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to wait a while, to see if you meet someone you can truly fall in love with. Wouldn’t you rather have a marriage based on love?”
“I can’t see that it makes much difference,” Norman admitted. “The point is to have a wife, not to fall in love with her, and the Earl’s daughter will do perfectly well for that. I don’t need to have forged some deep and meaningful bond with her for that to be true. I just need her to be here and be willing.”
“Well, she’s here, at any rate,” Michael said.
“You don’t think she’s here willingly?”
“I have no way of knowing that,” Michael said. “But the way she acted when she came in did make it seem like she didn’t want to be here. Did you catch how cold she was? Almost as cold as you were.”
Norman rolled his eyes. “I’m sure that was nothing,” he said. “She felt awkward, that was all. She was shy, and that was the way it showed.”
“If you say so,” Michael said lightly. He picked up the book he’d chosen and flipped it open.
The truth was that Norman wasn’t sure he was right about that at all. Shehadn’tseemed very shy. She had answered everything he’d said sharply, without hesitation. That wasn’t the action of a lady who felt uncomfortable or ill at ease. She might not be pleased to be here, but it wasn’t because she was shy.
He didn’t know what to think. All he knew was that she wasn’t what he had expected. She was nothing like what he had expected. And now that she was here… what was he going to do with her?
I have to get through this week, that’s all. The engagement party. And then the wedding. Once she’s officially my wife, the two of us can live virtually separate lives. I won’t make any demands of her. It’s in name only that I need a wife, and that will be easy enough for her to live up to. But I’ll make sure she knows that she’s free to live her life as she sees fit once she’s here. After all, I expect to do the same thing.
Michael set his book down once more and faced Norman.
“Oh, good grief,” Norman said. “I thought you were done lecturing me. What now?”
“I’m not lecturing you,” Michael said. “But I am asking you a question—are you sure you’re going to go through with this? Really?”
“I’ve made up my mind,” Norman said. “It wasn’t even a difficult decision, truth be told. This is how I join society. I have the title, but I don’t yet have the things people expect of a duke, and I need those things if I’m to be taken seriously.”
“If being taken seriously is what you want, you ought to start taking this seriously yourself,” Michael murmured.
“And what does that mean?”
“It means that this lady, whoever she is, whoever she might turn out to be in your life, isn’t just a prop or an accessory,” Michael said. “Even if it’s the only reason you want a wife, you can’t just bring her out to show off when you’re around members of society and ignore her the rest of the time.”
“What would you know about it?” Norman asked his cousin. “You aren’t married. You don’t know the first thing about what to do with a wife.”
