“Only if I don’t sell,” she reminded him.
A small glint of steel entered his eyes. Oh yes, very much himself again.
“It seems to me that because we are so bound, we should take the next step.”
“The next step—?”
“Yes. I think we should wed.”
She heard the words, but the meaning of them took a moment to reach her mind. She stared at him while he looked back at her.
“It makes perfect sense if you think about it,” he added.
Good heavens, he was serious.
She swallowed the nervous laughter that wanted to erupt. Whoever would have expected such a proposal? From this man of all men? And in such a manner? He might have been proposing a walk in the park, or something equally uneventful. He put this stunning suggestion on the table as casually as he set down his coffee cup.
“If this is because of last night, there is no need to propose marriage,” she said.
“It is not to make amends for Philip, or for our brief embrace, although—” His gaze turned more intent in that way that discomforted her. “Our embrace was not purely one of comfort. Not entirely. Surely my suggestion does not come as a complete surprise to you.”
She groped through her confusion to find some way to answer him. “The embrace was not a total surprise. This proposal is. Such as you don’t marry such as me.” That truth cleared her thinking. “They kiss such as me. But marriage? No.”
“Yet I have proposed just that.”
She did not know what to say. She could hardly explain that she had a dream, and it was not a life withhim, no matter how interesting and compelling she found him at times. She wanted to see Charles again, and try to let that old love find its voice and future.
Other reasons not to agree flew through her mind. He had said he never became enthralled with women. His lack of such emotions hardly recommended him to a woman, no matter how convenient the match might be.
On the heels of those thoughts came memories about the dinner last night, and some of the peculiar things said by Felicity about the late duke’s death. If those insinuations held any truth at all—
Then there were the things he did not know abouther. He had no idea just how inappropriate she would be as a wife. While she had been an inconspicuous servant at Mrs. Darling’s, someone might eventually recognize her as a denizen of that house, no matter how fine she dressed or where she lived.
“You are doing this because you want control of my half of the enterprise. This is just like that document you wanted me to sign. That is your goal.”
“That is one reason. The main one, yes.”
How bluntly he said that. He was not even trying flattery. No declarations of affection or praise of her beauty to appeal to her emotions. Direct and honest, that was Kevin Radnor.
She began to resent that. “No doubt the rest of my inheritance is the other reason.”
“In the long run, I have no need of your money. I may not have thousands in a bank now, but I am well situated. I am also my father’s heir.”
“He appeared hale and fit to me when I saw him. As for being his heir, if you marry such as me, he will probably disown you.”
“There are parts he can’t do that with. You don’t have to worry that I have designs on your funds. If you want, we will execute a settlement that makes such a move on my part impossible.”
“That goes without saying.” She would never allow anyone to have that money. Even Charles would have to make such a settlement.
“I think you believe the benefits of this union would be all one-sided,” he said.
“You would be sitting pretty and I would be much diminished. The benefits are all yours.”
“You want to be a lady, for your own sake and that of your sister. I provide that immediately, to a degree few men can.”
I want to be a lady so Charles will be able to marry me.
He did have a point about Lily, though. Damn him. She would not let him disarm her.
