A Marriage Of Rogues. Margaret Moore

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      He started toward the bell pull.

      “I am Lady Theodora Markham.”

      God help me. Trying to calm his suddenly racing heart, Dev took a deep breath and slowly swiveled on his heel to face her. “I beg your pardon?” he said.

      He’d heard her as clearly as if she’d been standing right beside him, but he needed time to think.

      “I am Sir John Markham’s daughter. I’m sure you recall the name. My father lost a great deal of money gambling with you in London a fortnight ago.”

      Recall the name? He couldn’t forget it or Sir John Markham. More than once Dev had suggested ending their game, but Sir John had insisted they continue playing even after he began losing, going so far as to call Dev a poor loser and a coward for wanting to quit. They had played on until the man had lost all the money he’d had with him and written Dev several promissory notes. The game had finally ended when Dev realized the man would never willingly quit. Ignoring Sir John’s increasing scornful remarks, he’d finally walked away from the table.

      Since that night, he’d been half expecting Sir John to appear on his doorstep to plead for time to pay his debt. That would have been bad enough, but to send a female relative to plead in his stead, even one as apparently self-possessed as this, was the act of a blackguard.

      However, the question now was, how was he to deal with this forthright relative?

      Before he could come to any conclusion, she spoke again, her tone just as forceful. “In fact, Sir Develin, he lost all his remaining funds except for a very small sum that was in my keeping at the time.”

      Although that was unwelcome and distressing news, Dev fought to keep any expression of guilt from his features. After all, it wasn’t his fault the man had kept gambling, or so he’d told himself a hundred times. “It was his choice to play.”

      “I’m not sure ‘choice’ is precisely the right term to use,” Lady Theodora countered. “I realize you are likely unaware that he had sold the family estate some time ago, as well as all the plate and horses and carriages, to pay his gambling debts. All we had left were some clothes and the money he played with the night he lost to you. That was the last of his fortune, except, as I said, for a small sum in my care.”

      “Have you come here to ask me to release him from his debts?” Dev asked, deciding that would be the easiest way to deal with her, and his own remorse. “Or perhaps to ask for another loan?”

      Her expression as stern as Sir Randolf’s, she shook her head. “I am not a beggar, Sir Develin.”

      His eyebrows lowered with confusion. “Then why have you come? If it’s to chastise and berate me, you may spare yourself the trouble. I gave your father every opportunity to leave the game.”

      Finally she blushed, yet she still kept her steadfast gaze on his face. “However it came about, you were the beneficiary of my father’s final wagers.”

      A dreadful thought came to him. Men had killed themselves over smaller debts. “Why isn’t your father here?”

      “He’s sailed for Canada.”

      Relief washed over him, and yet—“Without you?”

      Her blush deepened. “He was too ashamed to tell me of his plans. He left a letter explaining why he’d taken the remainder of our funds and sailed for Halifax.”

      “Good God, he left you with nothing?” Dev exclaimed, appalled.

      Lady Theodora’s resolute expression returned and she straightened her slender shoulders. “He left me my name and my pride, Sir Develin, and the hope of his eventual return. Be that as it may, I didn’t come here to discuss my father’s recent actions. I have a business proposition.”

      A business proposition? That was as unexpected as her arrival.

      “A goodly portion of the sum you won from my father was intended to be my dowry,” she went on briskly, giving him no chance to interrupt with either comments or a question. “I propose that since you’ve got my dowry, you now take the bride.”

      Dev had gotten the wind knocked out of him once before. He felt exactly the same way now. “What did you say?”

      “I said, since you’ve got the dowry, you should also take the bride.”

      He still couldn’t believe he understood her correctly. “What exactly do you mean?”

      She continued to regard him steadily with those grave gray eyes and spoke with that same stern resolve. “I mean, Sir Develin, that you should marry me.”

      “Marry?”

      “Yes,” she confirmed. “I need a home and you need a wife. You are nearly thirty, Sir Develin, as well as rich, titled and handsome. Since you haven’t yet taken a bride, I gather you enjoy the freedom to do what you will, when you will, with whomever you want.

      “However, because you are rich, titled and handsome, you are also the target of every marriage-minded young lady and her mama in England. If you marry me, in return for the comfort and security being your wife will afford me, you will have a wife who will run your household and maintain a position in society. My family may have become poor, but it was not always so. I’ve been properly educated and know what’s expected of a baronet’s wife. I will also give you the freedom to do as you will within the bounds of the law. I will not question where you go or what you do or with whom you do it. In short, I will have a comfortable life free from worry and you may have the carefree life of a bachelor without guilt or harassment from your wife or other marriage-minded females.”

      Dev could only stare in amazement. This brazen, yet undoubtedly serious, dowdily dressed young woman standing before him had just made the most outrageous proposition he had ever heard—and he had heard a few outrageous ones in his time. To be sure, there was a certain logic to her suggestion...but her proposal was still outrageous and out of the question. “You must be joking,” he said at last.

      “I am quite in earnest, I assure you,” she replied with that same calm determination. “Being a woman and without funds, I have limited opportunities. I could become a governess or teacher or a lady’s companion, but I thought first I would see if you would accept a measure of responsibility for what you’ve done in a way that will also relieve you of some difficulties.”

      As she spoke, he managed to regain his composure. “I didn’t bring your father to that gaming hell, or force him to play cards, and I am not the one who left you without resources, so my conscience is quite clean in that regard,” he replied, even if it wasn’t...quite.

      But although he had some regret for what had happened that night, he had no intention of binding himself for life to this bizarre woman.

      Or so he told himself until he remembered the last ball he’d attended and the women who had watched him like a cat stalking a mouse. His objections diminished further when he recalled the trap the daughter of the Duke of Scane might have set.

      Lady Theodora was right about certain elements of his current existence. And what other lady of his acquaintance would let him do as he liked and without complaint once he was wed?

      None came to mind.

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