Silk And Seduction Bundle 2. Louise Allen

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      Imogen gasped, and half turned to him on her seat. ‘I do not know what to say.’

      ‘Just agree to marry me, that is all I want to hear you say,’ he said grimly.

      ‘But you surely cannot want to—’

      He cut her off impatiently. ‘Rick must surely have told you how things stand for me. The earl is desperate to see me married. He cannot bear the thought I might die childless. And now you know why. He wants his own offspring to inherit his lands. Besides which, the longer I dally in town, the less chance I will have…Matters at Shevington are not…’ He shook his head. ‘I should be there.’

      Imogen remembered her aunt telling her that the old man was at death’s door, and laid a hand on his sleeve. ‘I am so sorry. I forgot how unwell he is. Of course, I understand how important it is you get your future settled. But it cannot be with me…’

      ‘I fail to see why. Rick knows us both well, and assures me we would suit.’

      Why on earth was she persisting in saying she did not want to marry him, when she had been doing her utmost to entrap him for weeks? Unless, it suddenly occurred to him, his behaviour on the terrace outside Lady Carteret’s ballroom had frightened her. He probed the inside of his bruised lower lip with the tip of his tongue. The first slap had been delivered in a spurt of temper, but those punches…

      Had he really scared her so much she could no longer bear the thought of marrying him? He felt a frisson of guilt in regard to his conduct towards her. He had insulted her, manhandled her and torn her gown. He shifted uneasily in his seat. At Limmer’s, later on, Rick had told him, his face grim, that his sister had been taken suddenly ill and begged him to take her home. He had been too sunk in his own gloomy reflections to bother questioning him, particularly when Rick proved reluctant to talk. But now he saw she must have been in quite a state for Rick to have felt it was more important to take her home, than storm straight outside and demand satisfaction.

      He glanced down at her, sitting rigid on the seat beside him, her hands clenched into fists in her lap as though she still wanted to hit him.

      Well, it made no difference. He had made up his mind to marry her, and that was all there was to it.

      ‘Miss Hebden,’ he said sternly, ‘I have promised Rick I will look after you. The only effective way to do that is to marry you. He feels guilty for the way his father mismanaged your affairs, and is concerned about how unhappy your maternal relatives are making you. Surely you do not want him to go back to France with worry over your future hanging over his head? A man in his situation needs all his wits about him.’

      ‘His situation? You talk as though he is going straight back into battle. France is at peace now! From his letters, it sounds as though all he has done for months is attend balls and picnics and cricket matches!’

      ‘That is beside the point. A military man needs to be prepared for any eventuality. There has been much unrest in the capital. The Bourbons are not popular. Plenty of people are agitating for Bonaparte to return. If that should happen, Europe will be plunged back into war.’

      ‘That,’ she said coldly, ‘is all a matter of conjecture.’

      ‘What is not a matter of conjecture though, Miss Hebden,’ he said, drawing unfairly upon the most devastating weapon in his arsenal, ‘is your conduct.’

      ‘My conduct?’

      ‘Yes. It is obvious to all who know you that it can only be a matter of time before you get embroiled in some real scandal—’

      ‘I will do no such thing!’

      ‘It will be unavoidable, if you will go about kissing men on moonlit terraces.’

      ‘That’s a despicable thing to say! You were the one who grabbed a defenceless female and mauled her about—’

      ‘Hardly defenceless…’ he indicated his bruised lip with one gloved finger ‘…reckless, unscrupulous, wild to a fault…’ He ignored her outraged gasp. ‘In fact, it is past time somebody took you in hand.’

      ‘I do not need anyone to take me in hand as you put it…’

      ‘On the contrary. You need a very strong man to keep you in line. I know only too well what you are capable of, and I will make damn sure that Rick never has to so much as blush for your conduct in future.’

      ‘You vile worm!’ she gasped. ‘You are the very last man I would ever marry!’

      ‘Coming it a little too strong, Miss Hebden,’ he drawled cynically. ‘Considering how very much you enjoyed kissing me.’

      ‘A few fleeting kisses are one thing, marriage is quite another!’

      ‘You will not be going about kissing any more men, Miss Hebden. Consider the feelings of your aunt and uncle, if you will not embrace respectability for Rick’s sake. They must have spent a fortune on you, considering every time I have seen you, you have been dressed up to the nines. And I know you have not a penny to your name.’

      ‘You can talk! Every time I have seen you, the extravagance of your attire has taken my breath away! A more vain, shallow, selfish…peacock of a man I have never met.’

      ‘I am a catch, though. What do you think your uncle and aunt will say when they hear that after all they have done for you, you have turned your nose up at making such a brilliant match?’

      ‘Why should they hear anything of the sort?’

      ‘They will know. Because I have already arranged to call upon your uncle this evening. At which time, I intend to ask his permission for your hand.’ He turned and smiled at her grimly. ‘I give you fair warning, Miss Hebden. Do you think you will be able to come up with a reason for refusing my suit that will satisfy your guardians?’

      She went very still.

      ‘Quite so. They know, as I know, that marrying me is the best solution all round. And I think that, upon reflection, you will have to agree.’

      Chapter Five

      Imogen was speechless.

      Viscount Mildenhall sounded determined to make her his wife.

      But she could not believe he wanted to marry her! Any more than she wanted to…wanted to…She bit down on her lower lip and averted her face.

      She could not deny there would be all kinds of advantages for her, if she accepted his proposal.

      She wanted to leave town before she embroiled her poor dear aunt in some scandal. And marrying would be preferable to seeking employment. Mainly because her uncle and aunt would be so hurt if she demonstrated she would rather work as a governess than live indefinitely under their care. But also because every time she had thought about approaching Lord Keddinton, she’d had the sinking feeling that if she accepted a job he arranged for her, it would place her more deeply in his debt than she would like. This feeling was usually accompanied by a vision of a large sleek cat with a live bird struggling under its claws.

      No, she would not be sorry not to have to go cap in hand to Lord Keddinton.

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