Page 6 of Wicked Highland Heroes

Lord Rushton lifted a brow. “Not so smug now, are we, madam?”

“This is wrong,” Grace cried. “He is to marry me!”

Her father turned his narrow-eyed stare onto her. “Madam, your actions in this matter are reprehensible. I have yet to decide how to deal with you, but I warn you, commit any further mischief, and I will send you to a convent.” Eve gasped along with Grace and their mother, but he ignored them and said to the earl. “Three witnesses saw you lying on top of my eldest daughter—in her bed.” The deadly chill in her father’s voice sent a shiver of apprehension down her spine. “By now, they have alerted all of England that you compromised another Crenshaw woman in the worst way possible.”

“I have no doubt you are correct,” the earl said.

“But Lord Rushton didn’t compromise either of us.” Eve’s head spun. It never occurred to her that she was in danger of a forced marriage.

“He compromised you by entering your bedchambers,” her father said. “The fact he obtained the key from the innkeeper is enough to ruin you beyond redemption.”

“Lord Rushton’s father is unlikely to take that into consideration,” she blurted. “The marquess must have his sights set on a daughter-in-law of a more elevated position than mine.”

Her father shifted his attention to Lord Rushton. “As to that, thwart me and I will have my father contact your father. He may be a mere viscount, but he holds some sway as a member of the House of Lords.”

Tension cut like a knife. Eve had never heard her father threaten to use her grandfather’s influence. The viscount had surprised everyone by continuing to live despite his advanced age of eighty-four years. So her father, at age fifty-five, had yet to inherit the title.

“If these inducements are not enough,” he went on, “I shall dismember you.”

Lord Rushton kept his gaze locked with his. “I was under the impression you didn’t hold me responsible for last night’s…unfortunate events, and thought your daughter and I could perhaps spend time together in the country before the marriage.”

A hard glint shone in her father’s eyes. “Only a fool would tell himself he wasn’t responsible.”

“I am no fool.”

Her father gave a nod. “I did not think so.”

And I will not marry him, Eve privately added. Even if it means shooting higher than his leg.