“It doesn’t make losing the only man who had ever offered for me any easier.”
“That is no longer true. I have an offer on the table.”
She smiled. “I turned it down.”
“No, you haven’t,” he argued.
“When I questioned your sanity,” she explained patiently, “it was me saying no.”
Well, that was true, except Mars knew she truly didn’t understand what she was refusing. “You would be a countess. I’m also very rich, you know.”
“We don’t like each other,” she countered.
“I’m warming to you.” And he was. He liked the way she looked, even if her legs weren’t that long and her hair was the wrong color. He had found his eye straying in her direction often today, but he wouldn’t tell her that. She was a true Bluestocking. They were always outraged when a man discussed looks.
Instead, he said, “I don’t appreciate your straitlaced opinions, although, surprisingly, they are exactly how I want my daughter to be. I also want her to have a curious intellect and a fearless view of life. I want her to speak her own mind.”
“Is that how you see me?”
“Of course. Isn’t that what I just said?” Marscontinued, “I will also expect you to keep Doraawayfrom men like me. She’ll be an heiress. She will need a steady hand to guide her. I want you to be that hand.”
“Are you going someplace?” Was it his imagination that she sounded a bit alarmed?
He was touched. “You know as well as I do that life can be hard. Relentless even.”
Clarissa studied him a moment, and it was almost as if she looked into his soul. “There is more here.”
Yes, there was, but he wasn’t going to share it. If Clarissa didn’t like dueling, she’d be set against his plan to shoot Dervil dead.
He stood and walked over to the crib. Gently, he placed Dora in it. She didn’t wake. “Do babies always sleep this soundly?”
“When they are as tired as Dora was, yes. Or if they are growing. They sleep deeply when they grow.”
“And here I thought the secret was a clear conscience.” What a marvel Dora was. “I never thought about having children.”
“Is that not one of your obligations to your title?”
“One of many. You heard my mother. Actually, I never thought that far ahead. Children?” He shook his head. No, he’d only had one all-consuming thought—revenge.
“I was home from school when the duel took place,” he began without preamble. “I’d been sent down for some prank. I don’t even remember what I’d done. I’m certain something foolish. I was very full of myself.”
“Youwere?”
“Quick, Miss Taylor. I must admit, you never miss an opportunity.” She shrugged her answer.
He continued, “Some footmen were gossiping about the duel. Of course, I knew something was afoot. My mother was in London—which was not unusual. She is a shadowy figure in my past. But Father was very distracted. He barely lectured me over my transgressions.”
Mars faced her. “Have you ever had a fear grip you with a sense that something terrible was about to happen? Even when everyone is acting as if all is right?”
Her solemn gaze said she hadn’t.
“Perhaps I was just fanciful?” he suggested. “My father was the one person in this world I admired. The one person who actually cared about me. I think back and wish I had stopped him from meeting Dervil—except I was very young. One foot still in boyhood and the other trying to move into becoming a man. And believing school pranks were the way to do it.” He paused, realizing how pretentious he sounded.
“Go on,” she encouraged, a sign she was listening to him.
That, too, was a novel experience. Mars was not accustomed to women actually paying attention to what he said, well, unless it involved money.
“I knew from the servants’ chatter where it would take place. There is a circle of giant oaks between Belvoir and Dervil’s land. I knew Father wouldn’t let me be there, so I made aplan. I took myself off there in the dark and waited. Just after dawn, my father, Dervil, and the seconds arrived. Mr. Sexton was there as well.” Mr. Sexton had been the parish doctor Thurlowe had replaced.
