“True. But you needn’t worry about me hounding you, Lord Claybourne. Oh, I know you are a prime catch. You are disgustingly rich, you have a vaunted title, you aren’t so shabby in appearance, and you are said to be irresistibly charming.”
“But you aren’t swayed by this delightful catalog of my attributes.”
“Not in the least.” Lily smiled faintly to soften the harshness of her observation. “No doubt you have a bevy of lovestruck admirers, but I will never join their ranks. And I have no intention of behaving like all the other flagrant husband-hunters you know. I won’t chase after you.”
“You relieve my mind, Miss Loring. I don’t enjoy being chased.” From the provocative laughter in his voice, he seemed to be enjoying himself far too much. “But I am quite curious to know why you have such a profound distaste for marriage.”
Lily drew a deep breath. Hoyden or not, she normally would never dream of discussing her personal affairs with a perfect stranger. But in this case, she was eager to be rid of him, so a liberal dose of frankness might stand her in good stead.
“In my experience marriage usually leads to unhappiness for a woman,” she said honestly.
“You speak from personal experience?”
Lily made a face. “Unfortunately, yes. My parents’ union was hostile enough to give me an aversion to matrimony for life.”
The gleaming light in Claybourne’s eyes faded as he studied her. His searching perusal was more unsettling than his amusement, however.
“I don’t need a husband,” she hurried to add, “despite what proper society decrees for young ladies. I am financially independent now, thanks to the generous settlement Marcus made me. So I can have a fulfilling life without having to marry.”
“Yet you implied you wanted more freedom.”
She smiled uncertainly. “True.” Her dream had always been to escape to a life of freedom and adventure. “I mean to use the funds to travel the world and explore new and exciting places.”
“Alone?”
“Lady Hester Stanhope did it,” Lily pointed out, mentioning the adventurous earl’s daughter and niece of William Pitt the Younger who had sailed to the Middle East and eventually joined a settlement of Arab tribesmen.
“So she did. But she was significantly older than you.”
“I am one and twenty, old enough to take care of myself.”
“So…you won’t marry because men often make their wives unhappy,” Claybourne said slowly, as if testing the theory in his mind.
“Yes. First you make us too infatuated to think clearly, so we give over all control to you, and then you make our lives a misery.” Unconsciously Lily ground her teeth. “I think it abominable that husbands have the legal right to be villainous toward their wives. I
am not about to give any man that power over me.”
To her surprise, Claybourne leaned forward and raised a hand to touch her cheek. “Who hurt you, angel?” he asked quietly.
Discomfited, Lily drew back. “No one hurt me. It was my mother who was hurt. And my eldest sister also, for that matter.”
He was silent for a moment. “I understand your father was a champion philanderer.”
Lily looked away, not wanting to recall the painful memories. “He was indeed. He flaunted his mistresses before my mother at every opportunity. It hurt her terribly. And Arabella’s first betrothed betrayed her almost as badly. Belle loved him, but when my parents’ scandal broke, he ended their engagement out of hand.”
Lily was certain Lord Claybourne knew all about the terrible scandals that had befallen her family four years ago. First their mother had taken a lover because she was unable to endure her unhappy marriage any longer, and then was forced to flee to the Continent by her outraged husband. A fortnight later their libertine father gambled away the last of his fortune and was killed in a duel over one of his mistresses. The Loring sisters had been left penniless and homeless, at the mercy of their curmudgeonly step-uncle, the Earl of Danvers, who had taken them in most grudgingly.
“Is that why you didn’t want Marcus marrying your sister?”
“In large part.”
“You seem to harbor a strong prejudice against noblemen.”
“I won’t deny it. Noblemen can make the worst sort of husbands.”
“Then I can take heart from the fact that your aversion is not directed at me personally.”
Her brows drew together. “No, I have nothing against you personally, my lord. I don’t even know you.” Thankfully, she added to herself.