“For now, it will be a discussion. I will decide your fate after.”
Her heart was pounding so fiercely that Penelope was certain that it was going to fracture her breastbone as the muscles tightened in her neck.
This could not be happening.
“When do you plan to pay him a visit?” Her voice croaked with the question for she nearly could not speak.
“Later, this afternoon, after the time for polite calls have concluded.”
That was a very odd response. “Why then?”
“Because there will be nothing polite about my visit.”
Chapter 18
Henry stewed in his library as he weighed his options. Or, pretended to weigh them when there really was only one. Marry Penelope or let her be ruined. As he was a man of honor, it would be marriage.
Bloody hell!
She was everything that he did not want in a wife.
Well, not everything. He did admire her intelligence and he appreciated that she was independent, which meant that she wouldn’t be a wife who relied on him for answers to all her difficulties. In fact, she would likely not trouble him in the least and come to her own conclusions and decisions.
She was beautiful, and desirable, so not only would going about begetting an heir be pleasant, but likely beyond anything that he had ever experienced before. Their kiss in the carriage had proved that they were well matched in passion and desire.
Their conversations would certainly not be tedious either.
Except, she was also opinionated, and her views often differed from his. Did that mean they would spend much of their marriage arguing? They seemed to do so since she had taken his cousins under her wing.
Though, maybe intimacy would make her less objectionable.
He grinned and poured himself a glass of brandy. Yes, each time she wanted to argue with him, he would simply kiss her and take her off to bed. Not that he expected to get his way in the argument because he rarely did, but he would certainly enjoy how he went about trying to gain her capitulation.
His cousins adored her, and he could certainly use her assistance while they remained under his roof. She knew far more than he did when it came to ushering misses through a Season.
She’d already turned his household on its ear so she might as well move in anyway.
No, this was not how he intended to go about finding a wife that suited him, but it was not a horrible situation either. Unfortunately, he was just as certain that Penelope would not only reject his offer of marriage but voice many oppositions which would begin with her refusal to give up her independence.
“Your Grace, a Marquess Felding has come to call.”
Henry’s throat tightened. He should have expected this visit but had not.
“Please, show him in.”
Henry added more brandy to his glass then poured one for Felding and hoped that this visit was to discuss marriage settlements and not name seconds.
He turned just as Felding marched into the library and held out a glass of brandy. “Shall we discuss the happy future of your sister and myself?”
Felding grabbed the glass. “If only it were so easy,” Felding grumbled.
If he took the brandy then that certainly meant that Felding had no intention of shooting him. At least, Henry hoped that was the case.
“When I confronted Penelope, she did not deny that you were alone in the carriage and that you kissed her.”
“Nor will I deny the fact.”
“What were the two of you thinking?”
