“So you don’t know about her outrageous marital career.”
“On the contrary.She told me herself about both her marriages.”
His aunt snorted.“I’ll wager she did.Poured some affecting tale into your receptive countrified ears, you foolish boy.And of course, you’ve always been a soft touch for a tragic tale.You realize, of course, that she’s set her sights on marrying you.”
Marcus shook his head.“She hasn’t, as a matter of fact.”
“Of course she has and—”
“I already asked her.She refused.”And dealt his ego a severe blow at the same time.
His aunt’s lorgnette dropped from her eye.“Youaskedher?Tomarryyou?I thought you had no intention—” She broke off and said carefully, “You asked this woman to marry you?”
“Yes, and she refused.”
She picked up her lorgnette.“What nonsense!There isn’t a woman in London who’d refuse you.”
“Apparently there is.”
“What’s her game?”She pursed her lips, eyeing him thoughtfully as she swung her lorgnette gently back and forth on its gold chain.“Are you sure you made your offer clear to her?”
He inclined his head.“Quite clear.”
She sniffed.“She probably didn’t hear you.You do mumble at times.”
Marcus rolled his eyes.He hadn’t mumbled since he was fourteen and one of his schoolmasters had drilled the habit out of him.“She heard me.”
“And you’re positive she refused?”
“She made it crystal clear.”There was nothing ambiguous or hesitant aboutI don’t ever intend to marry again.
His aunt shook her head.“I’ve no doubt it’s some cunning ploy—all the better to lure you in, dear boy.Women like that run rings around men, no matter what their age.”
“There was no need to lure me,” he pointed out.“All she needed to do was to say yes.But she didn’t.Quite the opposite, in fact.And then she added that she had no intention of marrying again.”
His aunt gave a cynical snort.“Until she needs a new hat or another diamond necklace.”She poured herself another cup of tea and ate a biscuit.
Marcus thought for a moment.He had to get his aunt to cooperate.She could be intensely difficult and was ruthless in cutting people she disapproved of, but once she approved of someone, she made a good and loyal friend, regardless of society’s views.
She’d taken in his rejected brother and ill-gotten half-brother, after all, when their own father refused to acknowledge or support them.And raised them to manhood.And done her best to find them wives.
“Do you know how old she was when she married Lord Holgrave?”He bit into a biscuit and chewed.
“Her first husband?No.What does her age have to do with it?It’s the gross difference in their ages that makes it so distasteful—and she did ittwice!”
“So you would approve of wedding a child of fifteen to a man more than five times her age?”
His aunt frowned.“Fifteen?Are you sure?”
He nodded.“Only a few weeks before the wedding, she’d been running wild like a little gypsy in the forest at Blaxland, growing up with virtually no supervision except for her old nanny.But before she’d turned sixteen she was married.”
“Good God!”
“The marriage—at least that’s what she was told—was to save her father from creditors—violent ones.And it was her father and brother who then stripped Holgrave of his fortune.”
She considered it a moment, then shrugged.“But she married a wealthy old man a second time, and she was no child then to be coerced into marriage.And old Hewitt went the same way as Holgrave—virtually penniless at the end, I heard.”
“I know, but ...“ He hesitated.“This is pure speculation on my part, so I must ask you to keep it confidential.If I’m right, I’m sure Lady Hewitt wouldn’t want her very private business to be widely known.”
