“By that time your brothers may be able to assist you though?”
“Hopefully, but I cannot rely upon it.Besides, they may wish to marry themselves and would need to support their families.Francis, I know, has a sweetheart, and my other brothers may do also.I must find a way to sustain myself and my sisters without relying on anybody else.”
He leaned forward.“What are you willing to do to achieve that?”he asked.
“I don’t know.”Jane was confused about where this conversation was leading.
“Are you willing to put aside some of your principles?”
Jane sat upright and exclaimed in surprise.“My principles?Why should I put them aside?”
“Answer the question, Jane.What are you willing to do to save your family from penury?”
She slumped forward, all pretense of hope gone.“Almost anything.”
“Would you lie?Would you cheat?Would you steal?”
She shook her head.“No.I have not reached that level of desperation yet.”
“Would you be willing to marry for money and security to save your family?”He leaned back, his head tilted to one side, looking at her speculatively.
Jane hesitated.To whom?He couldn’t mean himself as she had already refused him.“Perhaps.But I have nothing to bring to a marriage.I have no dowry.I have a tarnished reputation in society because of my views on the education and rights of women.Who would be willing to take that blemish into their family?”
“Perhaps some wealthy man of middle-class origins who wishes to align himself with a descendant of an aristocrat who can bring an association with the rich and powerful?”
She almost laughed outright at his suggestion.Her low voice was firm and sure.“Well, that isn’t me, because my grandfather won’t recognize us.”
“All right then, maybe someone who doesn’t need your name and connections to add luster to his family.Someone who is wealthy enough not to need a dowry, nor even to want his wife to have one.”
Jane did laugh at the suggestion.“Believe me, I know of no one who fits that bill!”
“Do you not?”he asked quietly, his eyes searching her face.
“No,” she scoffed.“What does that generous soul get in repayment for his troubles?”She knew of few men who did not judge a potential wife by what she could bring to him.
“You, of course.”
“Ha!”Mirth and disbelief burst from her.“I don’t think I’m the usual bargain that men get in marriage.I am not passive, biddable, concerned only with the home nor only interested in raising children and bringing social status to my husband and family.”
Dalton plowed on.“No, you are not.Perhaps then the bargain should be made with your sister, Anna?She is all of those things, from what I can gather.The only detriment to her that I can perceive is her relationship with you.”
Jane was immediately serious.“No!Anna will not be sold off to the highest bidder.She is all that is beautiful and innocent.I won’t let her be harmed by marriage for mercenary reasons.”
The delivery of his logical reasoning was implacable and direct.“Then that only leaves you, doesn’t it?”
Jane froze.“Yes, it would have to be me.”
He dipped his chin.“I agree entirely.”
A lead weight settled in Jane’s stomach.“Yes, but where is this mythical paragon who wishes to marry me, to save my family, despite all the things against my name?”Jane set her mouth into a disbelieving line and made her voice scathing so he would not doubt her skepticism.
His voice vibrated with an emotion she didn’t recognize.“Jane.You are looking at him.”
Ridiculous!“You?”
“Who else, Jane?I have offered for you already.Can it be any surprise that I would still wish to marry you?”
Jane was flustered.“But, but ...your offer was made in the heat of the moment.Based on lust.Without thought to the consequences of your actions.This is a much different proposal.You have laid out the reasons why no man of sense and position would want to ally himself with me.What is there in it for you?”
