“What sort of wife do you desire?” she asked.
“I was going to sayconventional. But you are anything but, aren’t you?” He folded his arms. “I do apologize for this sudden change, but I aim to make it up to you. You will have a generous monthly allowance, enough to purchase all the jewels, French bonbons, books, or furs a lady could want. Even a phaeton, if you would like. A yacht, perhaps.”
Her brow lowered. “I don’t want those things.”
His tone was light. “You’ll have whatever you desire to impress your friends, a summer home on the coast, or yearly trips to America. In trade, I’ll use my social cache to bring your relatives into thele bon ton, polish them up and present them to proper society.”
“How do you do that?” her words blurted themselves out.
“Do what?” His left brow lifted.
“Be so sincerelyinsincere.”
He threw his head back and laughed, but the humored tone did nothing to settle her frizzing nerves.
“It is a gift of mine—you can say it’s instinctive,” Carrington replied, his lips twitching. “You’ll catch on quickly.”
Ellie felt sickened. She had been traded to afford her family a better life. Was this the reason her aunt had insisted on all those lessons? To use her as a tool to curry favor with the ton. After all, she was an orphan living off their good graces.
Still—to rob me of the chance to find love is beyond cruel.
“All these gifts… in exchange for what?” Evelina asked carefully.
Lord Carrington leaned in, and his smirk sent cold shivers down her spine. “You’ll see.”
“Does my uncle owe you money?” She asked.
“No.”
“Are you in a position to ruin his business?”
“I am, but no, it is not that.”
“I will not accept this marriage then,” she said flatly.
His eyes glinted with ominous cruelty, and his words echoed the same sentiment. “You may decline, but your uncle will simply find someone else to claim your hand, someone who is not as lenient or allowing as I am, if you indeed believe marriage to me is that unpleasant a prospect.”
“What—or who is worse than an ostentatious rake?” she asked directly.
His eyes trailed over her with a slow passage that made Ellie want to scrub her body with a horse brush and lye. “You do not want to know. Now, you would do best not to displease your relatives.” He turned to the maid. “Go and fetch the uncle.”
Ellie felt her throat tighten as her relatives reentered the room; she could feel her aunt’s expectant look piercing into the side of her neck. Carrington stood, his smile now charming and sincere.
“Miss Evelina and I have come to an accord,” he began. “The marriage will go forward in a week and a day.”
CHAPTER 2
Resting his arms on the copper-plated railing, Dorian gazed down at his prestigious gambling club,The Labyrinth, with warm pride brimming in his chest. This was what he’d built, this was what he worked toward for ten years—and it was only the beginning.
Young men dressed in black and white elegant evening wear shuffled, flicked, and cut cards with professional flair while the clatters of die echoed as they rolled on the tables. More young men weaved through the crowd with flutes of champagne on their trays.
Dorian’s gaze shifted to the other part of the floor where women and men gambled together. The chandelier light sparkled over jewels glimmering over women’s ears and necks as they hung on their husband’s arms, sipping top-rate champagne.
“Your Grace,” his valet, Roderick Lloyd, bowed while holding Dorian’s jacket and a folio, “Your carriage is ready.”
“Thank you, Lloyd.” Dorian stepped away and accepted the jacket.
I am sure my comments will make smoke billow from Sterling’s ears.
