Dangerous in Diamonds - Madeline Hunter [126]
“So you lived here and waited for old Becksbridge to die.”
“I both waited for it and dreaded it. If he settled the land on me the way he had implied, and if Latham remained in France since he seemed to prefer it there, I could bring Estelle to live here, and all would be well.”
“Instead he gave the land to me, and Latham returned to England.”
“Yes.”
He drew her into his arms, as he had been wanting to do since he saw her up the lane by her house. As he had been needing to do for three weeks of separation from her.
“You are not to worry any longer. If he is fool enough to return to England and learns of her, you will not be a woman alone fighting him. He will not dare hurt you through the child, because, if he tries, I will certainly kill him this time.”
Her smile trembled. “I will be sure to remember that, Your Grace, and inform you should I even learn he is aware of her. It will be good to be in fear no longer.”
She did not understand what he meant. Or, perhaps she chose not to hear it.
“Daphne, I have spent three weeks—more actually—trying to understand why a sensible woman would refuse the chance to become a duchess.”
“Did you conclude such a woman must be mad, and that was all there was to it?”
He laughed. “That was one possibility. Then I thought, what if this woman is not mad? What if she is most sane? What if she assumes that this duke who proposes—”
“I do not want to interrupt, but officially no duke proposed to this woman.”
He looked to heaven for patience. “A small detail.”
“Only to a duke. But please go on.”
“What if she assumes that this duke will continue his wicked ways, as if he were not married at all? There are some women who would not mind, who might even welcome that he occupy himself elsewhere. Then there are women who would not want to use the same bed where he had been with others before her.”
“No doubt you thought that mad too.”
He lifted her chin and kissed her lips lightly. “At first, perhaps. On second and third thought, I found it flattering. Charming. Perhaps—loving.”
She flushed and averted her eyes. He tucked her arm around his and slowly paced back up the lane. “As I rode here, I debated what I could say to you to prove that I did not only see penance in that marriage offer. It occurred to me that I could admit that I have been with no other woman since we met.”
Her head snapped around and she gaped at him in shock. He had to laugh. “Hell of a thing, isn’t it? I’ll try to explain why someday, but it is the truth. I am sure that I can give up that part of being bad now, if I married the right woman. She would have to agree to let me be bad with her instead, of course.”
“How bad?”
“Very bad, I’m afraid.”
She did not object or try to negotiate further. That was an encouraging sign.
“Then it entered my head that if a woman knew she was going to arrange the dramatic exposure of an evil man but expose herself too in the process, she might, if she were a kind and thoughtful woman, think it best not to marry a man who was not aware such scandal would surround her soon.”
“You cannot deny there is sound logic if this woman thought this way. It would not be honest to—”
“I do not care if the world knows about you and Latham, Daphne.”
“You will. When you turn your attention to those boring duties that you loathe but execute so well, you will regret—”
“Today is Tuesday, and I tell you I do not care.”
She appeared startled and a little frightened. He drew her to the side of the lane. “After all this hard thinking, however, I realized there might be one more reason you would not consider me. I have never told you that you have stolen my heart, have I?”
“No, Your Grace. You have not.” She looked down. Those two pink flags marked her cheeks and darkened. “It would be very hard to be with you and love you as I do if you did not love me, Castleford. A woman would have to be very greedy to become a duchess under such circumstances. All the jewels in the world would not ease that hurt, you see.”
“There is no danger of that, Daphne. If I did not know for sure before, these last three