No longer desiring to continue this impossible conversation, Arabella whirled and headed across the meadow to retrieve her grazing horse.
The earl’s next words, however, made her halt in her tracks. “I could make you deliriously happy, Arabella. You would enjoy our marriage bed, I have no doubt.”
Unsure whether to be offended or amused by his bold declaration, she turned back to face him. “Rather boastful of you, is it not, my lord?”
“It is no boast. You would relish being my lover, I would make certain of it. But the only honorable way for us to be lovers is through marriage.”
She was too exasperated to rep
ly-which was likely his intention; he was attempting to keep her off balance by throwing such brazen statements at her.
Her silence made him smile again. “I admit I am intensely attracted to you,” he continued, “and you felt it too when we kissed, don’t deny it. You were quivering with desire for me.”
Color stained Arabella’s cheeks. She had quivered in his arms…although she certainly would never admit it to him.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she replied. “It was simply shock at your assault. I could not believe you would act like such a brute. I assure you, I am not attracted to you in the least.”
He took a step closer. “Shall I prove it to you?”
“If you dare try, I swear I will box your ears!”
His blue eyes danced with restrained amusement as he reached up to rub his injured jaw. A faint bruise discolored the spot where she had struck him, Arabella noticed. She was ashamed for a moment, until she recalled what had precipitated her struggle-how the earl had hauled her from her horse unceremoniously and refused to release her even after kissing her witless. Or perhaps she had reacted with such desperation precisely because he had kissed her witless.
He did not seem intimidated by her threat now, however. “If you were aiming for my ear, love, I take leave to tell you, you missed by a few inches.”
He was deliberately provoking her, she knew very well. And his tactics were working. Arabella curled her hands into fists, barely refraining from marching up to him and taking another swing at his handsome face. “You are without a doubt the most infuriating man I have ever met, Lord Danvers.”
“Perhaps, but only because I haven’t properly exerted myself to please you. You wouldn’t be able to resist me if I seriously tried to woo you.”
Her mouth fell open. “Of course I would be able to resist you!”
“Would you care to wager on that?”
At his dulcet tone, Arabella suddenly felt wary again. “What do you mean, wager?”
“How important is your independence to you?”
“I beg your pardon?” Her head was beginning to spin once more from Lord Danvers’s unexpected offensive.
“What are you willing to do for emancipation from my guardianship?”
A great deal, was her immediate thought. “Why?”
“I cannot renounce my responsibility for you, but I can have my solicitor draw up a legal document granting you complete control over your own affairs. For you and your sisters.”
“To what end?”
“To provide me a legitimate opportunity to court you.”
“To court me? Why the devil would you want to court me? I already told you I won’t marry you under any circumstances.”
“I want the chance to change your mind. If I cannot persuade you to accept me for your husband in say, a month, I will give all three of you your freedom and make you legally and financially independent of my guardianship. Close your mouth, sweeting,” the earl added when she stood there staring at him. “You are much too lovely to be gaping like a landed fish.”
Arabella complied, even though she felt completely out of her depth. “Let me see if I understand your wager, my lord. You will give us our freedom if I can resist your ‘persuasion’?”
“Precisely.”
“You have an astounding faith in your powers of seduction.”