“Ah. Confession time. Thank you, but I do not want tea. If you wish for some, please feel free to request it.”
She shook her head. “No. Why have you called?”
He could have continued bantering with her, but his anger was beginning to rise again. He was quite sure her tears had something to do with her scandal. If she had left the house at all today, she would have already experienced the disapproval and condemnation of the ton. It was better to come right to the point.
“I have come to discuss marriage.” He hopped up from his seat at the tightening of her lips. Bloody hell, hopefully the girl was not going to refuse him again.
“How wonderful that you are getting married, my lord. Felicitations. Who is the unfortunate bride?”
He turned to face her, his hands on his hips. “Don’t play games with me, Bridget. You know precisely who the bride is. You.”
“I thought that conversation was over. You ‘ordered’ me to marry you, and I refused.”
“Is that what is bothering you? That I didn’t make a proper proposal? Shall I drop to my knees now and profess my undying love for you?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she stood to face him. “Loving someone is nothing to take lightly, nor make fun of. I know you don’t love me, and…I don’t love you.” She stepped back and wrapped her arms around her middle. “I am not foolish enough to expect love in a marriage, which is one of several reasons I do not wish to marry.”
“How do you know I don’t love you?” He was genuinely curious. He wasn’t even sure if he loved Bridget. There was certainly a very strong attraction between them. He wanted her, for certain. If he were forced to marry, she would be the perfect marchioness for him. Although she was a bit obstinate and needed a strong hand to curb—not kill—her spirit; that would make for an interesting life. No boredom with Lady Bridget.
She was also intelligent, loving, considerate, and her kind nature would make a wonderful mother to any children they would have.
Children. The one reason he’d been determined not to marry. That, and allowing his title to pass to the Crown to spite his father. But his father was dead. He would never know. And Cam was beginning to believe that he did not have his father’s disposition after all. Perhaps those who knew him best were right.
On the other hand, he had never expected to marry, so he hadn’t given a great deal of thought to loving his wife. Friendship, yes. Respect, yes. Fondness, yes as well. In fact, he wasn’t quite sure he was even capable of the type of love a wife would want.
Bridget raised her chin. “Instead of answering your question, answer one of mine. Do you love me?”
Cam ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. Why does it matter? We have to marry, because you have been disgraced and ruined.”
“So, I am to be your penance for the rest of your life because someone did something dastardly to me.”
“Not a penance. I don’t know where you got that idea.”
“You.”
“What does that mean?”
“You have been saying since the night Davenport kidnapped me that we must marry. Not that you want to marry me, or anyone else for that matter. Only that we must make up for my disgrace.”
He reached out and touched her on the shoulder. “Not only your disgrace, Bridget, but you might be carrying my child.”
“Do not concern yourself with that. I know enough from overhearing the girls at school that it is a rare case to conceive after only one…” She looked away from him and blushed a bright red, which he tried not to find amusing.
He wasn’t sure he agreed with her statement, but only time would tell. As much as he had never wanted to bring a child into the world, the soft whisper at the back of his mind of a child with Bridget had teased him since they’d shared a bed.
“In any event, marriage is necessary. I have just come from White’s, where you and your escapade are being discussed by so many it would take days and dozens of bullets to call all of them out. My honor is on the line, and I will not allow it to be called into question when I can rectify the situation.”
She held out her hands in a pleading manner. “Don’t you see, Cam? Nothing you’ve said convinces me to marry you. You want to assuage your honor, you want to do what’s right, you want to rectify the situation. I am to be your self-flagellation.”
He glared at her, and even though his words would probably devastate her, she left him no choice. “If you do not consent to marry me, I will withdraw my pledge to help you with the women’s house.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bridget gasped. “What?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Cam shifted his hands to his hips and stared at the floor. “You leave me no choice.”
“We always have choices, my lord. What about our compromise?”