Page 37 of So Wild A Heart

“All right, sneer if you like. I admit that I have not been a model of propriety. I have hurt my family’s name and reputation. But it is different!”

“Because it’s you?”

“Because I am a man,” he said through clenched teeth. “It is an entirely different matter for a woman.”

“Why?”

“Why? How can you even ask? Everyone knows.”

“Knows what?”

“That women are—that they—”

“Are more moral than men? Have a higher standard?”

He pressed his lips together for a moment, frustrated, then finally burst out, “No one cares if a man has a by-blow or two, but a woman’s unfaithfulness jeopardizes the succession.”

“The succession?” Miranda giggled. “You sound as if you are talking about the kingdom.”

“You know what I mean. One could never be certain if an heir were truly an heir if—”

“I told you I would be perfectly discreet. I would be careful, as well. You would not have to worry.”

“I would worry a great deal if I had to be calling men out to save your honor!”

“What nonsense. There would be no reason to call anyone out. I cannot imagine why you are making a fuss about it. I mean, it isn’t as if you cared about me.”

“I certainly do not.”

“Then why should it matter what I do? I know you are too fair a man to expect me to live differently than you or Lady Vesey.”

“Would you stop throwing her name into this?”

Miranda shrugged and plowed ahead. “And surely you do not expect us to remain celibate after we marry.”

“Celibate! God, no. Where did you get that idea?”

“Well, I mean, in a marriage such as ours, where there is no conjugal love—no real liking, actually, when you come right down to it—if we did not seek pleasure elsewhere, then we would have to be celibate. I know you don’t intend that.”

“Of course I don’t intend that. I haven’t intended anything yet. I have no earthly idea how you have come up with any of what you are saying.” Devin shoved his fingers back through his hair, disarranging it even further, and looked at her wildly.

“No doubt you need some time to think about it,” Miranda told him kindly.

“It will take more than time. Are you saying that you and I are not—that we will not—”

“Share a marital bed?” Miranda offered. “That’s right. That is part of the appeal of this sort of marriage. We do not have to consummate it. If you had to pretend to love me and woo me, then you would have to follow through, and that must be a very difficult thing when one does not love a person, I would think. But this way, when you go into it honestly, without all the trappings and lies, when it is merely a business arrangement, pure and simple, neither of us will have to pretend that we want to consummate the marriage. I am sure the thought of that appeals as little to you as it does to me.”

He looked at her, dazed, and finally murmured, “Yes, of course.”

“There you are. That is one of the reasons why I realized what an excellent arrangement this is. We will have separate beds, separate lives.”

“But—but what about heirs?” Devin brightened. “After all, that is one of my primary duties as the Earl of Ravenscar, making sure that the title has an heir.”

“Well, in time, I suppose, if that is so important, then we will have to deal with it,” Miranda said, considering the idea. “We will make some sort of arrangement. But that is a long way away. There is no need to worry about it now.”

“Of course not.” Devin walked around his desk and sank down in the chair behind it. He felt rather as though he had just been through a whirlwind. No, it was more the feeling that he had been swindled by some mountebank, but so skillfully that he could not even put his finger on exactly when and how it had occurred.

“Good, then it’s all settled,” Miranda said briskly, rising to her feet. “My father will be delighted, as will your mother, I am sure. We shall set the proceedings into motion. You will find them quite painless and quick. Now perhaps you ought to lie down with a rag soaked in lavender on your forehead. You look a trifle under the weather.”