The Sherbrooke Bride (Sherbrooke Brides 1)

Like hell she was! “You know, don’t you, that I can have this farce of a marriage annulled and demand the settlement back from your black-hearted father?”

“Don’t you dare speak of my father like that!” She waved a credible fist at him.

Douglas didn’t move. He merely stared up at her, no expression on his face. “What am I to believe?”

Alex felt an awful wave of guilt for what she’d done to him. “I’m sorry, my lord, truly, but don’t you think that perhaps you could allow me to be your wife for a while? By annulment, you mean you would send me home and the marriage wouldn’t still be a marriage?”

“That’s right. Our temporary union would be dissolved.”

“Please, you must reconsider. I don’t want to be annulled or dissolved. Perhaps in a very short time you won’t mind my being here at Northcliffe, for I will keep out of your way. I will try to make things comfortable for you—”

“Women! Don’t you think a man can be perfectly content without one of you hanging about his neck, handing him brandy and cigars?”

“What I meant was that I wouldn’t be obtrusive and that I would make certain your house runs smoothly.”

“It runs smoothly right now, or have you forgotten that I have a mother and more servants than I can count?”

She had momentarily forgotten the mother. He also had two brothers and a younger sister. Hollis had told her they were all visiting friends in London. But they would return soon to Northcliffe. Oh dear. Would they hate her, despise her as much as Douglas did? Would they follow his lead and scorn her? She drew a deep breath and said, “I had forgotten. I’m sorry.” She leaned unconsciously toward him. “Please, my lord, perhaps you won’t mind that I am in your home after some time has passed. Perhaps you won’t even notice me after a while. I beg you not to annul me just yet.”

“Annul you? You make it sound like a violent act.” Douglas suddenly frowned; there was contempt in his eyes. “Ah, I begin to see the direction of your thinking or perhaps your sire’s thinking. You hope to climb into my bed, don’t you? You know that I cannot annul you—damnation!—obtain an annulment—if I take your virginity. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Once I take your precious virginity, then your precious father will be safe and all my money will remain with him. Did your father counsel you to try to seduce me?”

Alex could only stare down at him. She slowly shook her head. “No, I hadn’t thought any of that and no, no one counseled me about anything.”

He was silent, staring up at her.

“Truly, my lord, I know nothing of seduction. Surely seduction isn’t something done between husband and wife. My mother told me that seduction was only done by wild young men who wanted to ruin innocent young ladies.”

“Really? Did this motherly Delphi warn you of anything more specific?”

“That if a man ever flattered

me or stepped too close to me or held my hand too long after kissing it, that I was to leave the vicinity immediately. He was up to no good, she said.”

Douglas laughed, he couldn’t help himself.

Alex brightened. She’d amused him, that or he was laughing at her. She waited, then said, “I will do my best to please you, to make you a comfortable wife. My temper is usually rather placid and—”

“Ha! You were beyond vicious, a shrew, a fishwife, and a less comfortable female I’ve yet to encounter. You knocked me off my damned horse!”

Alex frowned. “Yes,” she said, surprise in her eyes and in her voice, “yes, it appears that I did, which is very strange. It is very unlike me.”

Douglas saw that the top two buttons of her riding habit had come unfastened. He saw a patch of white flesh. Very soft-looking white flesh. He thought of her virginity and he thought of taking it, of pushing through her maidenhead. “Perhaps,” he said, continuing to stare at her breasts, “perhaps I could be proved wrong. It is possible that you could be the one to demand an annulment. Perhaps you will want to leave Northcliffe as fast as your carriage wheels can roll away with you.”

“Oh no, I want to be your wife—”

“Let’s see, shall we? Unfasten the rest of the buttons. I can only see the curve of your breasts. I would like to see the rest of you. You’re quiet? Is that a touch of pallor I see? You’re shocked at my bluntness? I’ve assaulted your precious virgin sensibilities? Well, so there are ways to shut you up.”

He was right about that, she thought, stunned.

“How old are you?”

“You know I am eighteen. I told you last night.”

“Old enough to be a woman and a wife. You said that too. Oh, hell. Just be quiet, all right?”

“But I didn’t say—”

“Damnation, be quiet or I shall demand that you take off that riding jacket and let me see your breasts and your nipples and your ribs. All your upper parts I’ve paid so dearly for.”