Lover Be Mine (Legendary Lovers 2)
“It might help your suit to understand the origins of the quarrel. And you can always question Uncle Cornelius further. He is well-steeped in family lore—”
“My suit? Skye, love, I have no suit with Miss Fortin.”
“Not yet, but you could easily initiate one. As for the feud, I cannot believe you would let that stand in your way if you truly wished to win her.”
“I wouldn’t, but you presume I want to win her.”
Despite the appeal of finding his ideal mate, he wasn’t interested in experiencing true love. After the deaths of his beloved mother and, later, h
is cherished adopted parents, he’d learned it was far easier to avoid the pain of caring. And yet …
The Wilde clan believed in living every moment of life with passion, regardless of the risk, and he was a Wilde through and through. Even if he’d vowed never to follow the example his mother had set, throwing away her heart so foolishly.
Shrugging off that wayward thought, Jack put forward another argument. “You said yourself, her parents want her to wed a nobleman.”
Skye smiled. “Yes, but you fit that bill yourself. You are not just nobility, you are actual royalty. Prince de Villars has long wanted you to become his heir, and now that he has reclaimed his country, you could be a prince.”
Jack frowned at the mere mention of his detested father. Prince Raoul de Villars was the ruler of a small European principality whose throne had been usurped by the French at the height of Napoleon’s domination and restored in the global reshuffling by the Congress of Vienna. Jack was Prince Raoul’s natural son but had always refused to acknowledge the connection, despite several requests over the years that the prince be allowed to name him as heir, including a missive last autumn claiming his highness was gravely ill and needed to designate a successor of his repossessed country immediately.
Jack wouldn’t let Skye sidetrack him with talk of his father, though, especially since there was no way on earth he would ever take the prince up on his offer.
“There is also Miss Fortin herself,” Jack said. “She may not be meek and spineless, but she is willing to wed Dunmore simply to please her father. I don’t want a wife who cannot stand up for herself.”
Skye shook her head. “She may have good reasons for agreeing to the match, Jack. The Fortins are not wealthy. They must rely on their cantankerous relative, Mrs. Pennant, for financial support, including the very clothes they are wearing for the Season. A woman should not have to sell herself in marriage. You would not stand idly by if Kate and I were being forced to wed for money.”
“But you are not being forced.”
“No. We are extremely fortunate that our portions allow us the independence to choose our mates. And your own mama was able to follow her heart. But Sophie Fortin does not have our advantages. She is a damsel in distress. You have to help her, Jack, just like Ash had to help Maura. Please … you cannot turn your back on a woman in need.”
That was one argument that struck a powerful chord in him, given his compulsion to rescue helpless, vulnerable females. No Wilde male would ever walk away from a lady in distress, and Jack was more quixotic and protective than most.
But he was not about to let Skye use his weakness against him. Too often she managed to get her own way, and he wouldn’t surrender to her so easily.
“Your idea of ‘helping’ her gives me shudders.”
“It shouldn’t prove too difficult for you. You only have to woo her away from the duke and make her fall in love with you.”
Jack laughed aloud, this time with genuine amusement. “Only that? I suspect you give my amorous skills too much credit.”
“I am perfectly serious,” Skye protested. “You are a far better alternative than the duke. You just have to make her see it.”
“So you would have me compete with Dunmore for her affections?”
“Yes. Even without Prince de Villars’s riches, you are wealthy in your own right, having inherited your mama’s fortune. And you are much closer to Sophie in age than the duke.”
True, although he often felt older than his twenty-nine years since he’d had to grow up quickly.
“You are forgetting that a love match must be mutual,” he pointed out.
Skye waved a hand in dismissal. “Pah, it will be easy to love Sophie. Everyone does.”
At his skeptical look, Skye leaned closer. “I am not saying it will be love at first sight—for either of you—as it was in Shakespeare’s play. But you owe it to yourself to determine if she is your destiny.”
Perhaps so. The trouble was, pursuing Sophie could pose a real danger to him. He’d enjoyed more than his share of amorous liaisons, but he’d never come close to losing his heart. Jack had a sinking suspicion that would soon change, the more time he spent with her. Hell, he was half smitten already.
It had been a mistake simply to meet Sophie and a much worse mistake to kiss her, for now he wouldn’t be able to keep away. He knew himself well enough to make that prediction with certainty.
“Are you listening to me, Jack?”