She was also tricky!He must remember that.
“In any case,” she continued, “I guessed by the way she looked at me when they discovered us. He appeared gleeful, but she wore an expression of abject jealousy.”
“Nonsense,” Matthew said, hoping she was wrong. A jealous woman was a dangerous one. “They are practically newly wedded.”
“Her husband is no Foxford, I suspect,” Purity added.
The intimation shamed him, as if she believed he had such sexual prowess any female would prefer him. Not that he would dispute such a claim, but to have her thinking him capable of cuckoldry on a grand scale gave him a nauseous sensation.
“It doesn’t matter what she feels or any of the others,” he insisted. “They were all purely for sport.”
“You are the Fox, after all,” she muttered.
At that instant, he would gladly shed the moniker to have her look at him with respect. All he could do was remind her why he was there and hope she thought better of him for doing the honorable thing.
“Your father was amenable to my suit. We have agreed to all terms, and if you are likewise willing, then we can marry at your convenience. Two months from today, if you wish.”
She cringed slightly. It was a good thing he had a secure sense of self-worth. Perhaps it was merely the way she had been forced without any say in the matter. Yet despite there being no real choice, given how they’d been discovered, he would be remiss if he didn’t give her the semblance of being asked.
To that end, Matthew picked up one of her hands from the piano, making her turn to him. When he kissed its soft back, she sighed.
“Lady Purity, would you do me the tremendous honor of accepting my proposal of marriage?”
Her expression was sadly one of resignation.
“It is not as if I can turn you down,” she said.
That hurt. But he’d just been thinking the same thing, so he added, “I hope you wouldn’t want to do so, even if you could.”
She snatched her hand back without giving him an answer.
“Why?” she snapped. “Because you are desperately in love with me, vowing to forsake all others?”
Surprised at her vehemence, Matthew wondered whether to disclose that he had, in fact, more than fondness for her. He could explain how from the beginning, he had lusted for her, and no mistake, since the first time he’d seen her in the marquess’s drawing room. Over the weeks, however, base attraction had become genuine partiality to her above all others, and then he’d developed a tenderness for her such as he’d never known.
Was he ready to declare himself in love?Not while she was swinging like a pendulum between melancholy, ire, and taking out her bitterness upon him. She might say something he wouldn’t be able to forget.
“My feelings for you are different and deeper than I’ve ever felt for any other female. I assume they will continue to grow and deepen.”
“What about the women you enjoy for sport?” she asked, tapping a black key, letting the sharp sound underlie her words. “Will you still want them after we marry?” Purity spoke as if the words were dragged from her lips. She wanted to know even if it pained her.
“The papers have entertained London readers with your escapades,” she continued, “but I would not find it entertaining,not one bit, if I were ‘Lady F’ and had to read about ‘the Fox’ sneaking into some other woman’s boudoir.”
Poor Purity.No wonder her feathers were ruffled. She thought the worst of him. Matthew was glad he could reassure her.
“I will remain faithful to you and to our marriage bed.”
At the mention of their bed, she sucked in a breath, flaring her nostrils. Her awareness of what they would do sent desire flooding his veins.
“That eases my mind,” she said softly. Then after another quiet moment, she added, “I apologize for being short with you.”
Matthew didn’t want her polite apology.
“You haven’t given me your answer,” he reminded her.
She nodded, then her glance met his again. Emotions fluttered in the cerulean depths.
How her eyes could be so deep a blue, sometimes like the sky before the sun went down, sometimes like the stormy sea, was unfathomable. He knew only that he was content to look into them forever.
