Moonwitch

“Hold it, Miss Markham,” Kyle interrupted, quickly raising a hand. “Just…hold it. Perhaps you’ll forgive me if under the circumstances I don’t know the appropriate response… I expect I’m supposed to say that I’m honored but must respectfully decline your offer.”

Selena raised her gaze then, her blue eyes searching his face. “The plantation is worth fifty thousand pounds sterling, Captain.”

Kyle shook his head. It always took him aback, the way British aristocrats saw marriage as such a cold-blooded business arrangement. “You want me to marry you for your money, is that it?”

Seeing how one heavy eyebrow had shot up in surprise, she flushed. “No…I merely thought a large dowry would make marriage to me more palatable.”

“I already have one plantation too many, Miss Markham. I don’t want the responsibility for another.”

This was news to Selena, but she plunged bravely ahead. “You needn’t worry about the responsibility. I’m capable of seeing to it on my own. I’ve done so adequately for the past two years, with the help of an excellent factor.”

Kyle shook his head again dazedly. He should have rounded up his crew at first light and sailed with the tide, as his instincts had warned him. “I’m too old for you,” he countered somewhat desperately, momentarily forgetting that her betrothed was a great deal older. “I must have a dozen years on you.”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-three.”

“I have twenty-four years to my credit, Captain. So there are only nine separating us.”

He took a deep breath, praying he would wake up and discover this was part of some strange dream. “Why are you so intent on marrying me? I thought you already were betrothed.”

Uncomfortable with both the question and the penetrating look in his hazel eyes, Selena averted her gaze, fixing it on a row of towering palms farther down the beach. In spite of her prior intimacy with Captain Ramsey, he was still a stranger, and she found it difficult to discuss her present circumstances with him. How could she tell him about Avery’s betrayal, about her humiliation?

Yet it would soon be common knowledge. Once she had called off the wedding, Edith would lose no time in becoming Avery’s wife. And, Selena reflected, if the islanders already pitied her because she had lost one intended husband, how much more sympathetic kindness would she have to bear if they thought Avery had jilted her?

On the other hand, she could ignore Edith’s threats and perhaps weather the scandal that would arise when she was forced from her home. But she had too much pride to marry Avery now. No, she would be reduced to begging before she’d become his wife.

She would have to deal with the consequences, though. Her life on the island would be intolerable—unless she already had a husband. She had thought Kyle Ramsey might be persuaded with the promise of a rich dowry, but she could see now that if he already had his own plantation, he wouldn’t be so eager to gain hers. Yet she had little else to offer. There was no reason to believe she would appeal physically to a man of the captain’s stamp. Edith had emphasized often enough that men desired a more buxom beauty and a more passionate nature than Selena seemed to possess. And Avery’s tastes certainly underlined that.

Shifting her glance from the feathered palms, Selena gazed out over the pale green water of the cove. “I don’t intend to marry Avery,” she said quietly. “Recently I’ve discovered that… we wouldn’t suit.”

Kyle muttered something under his breath. After wading from the waves, he shoved the end of his fishing pole into the white coral sand before addressing her again. “Miss Markham…Selena, I doubt that you and I would suit any better. And as crude as this may sound, I’m afraid you have only one thing a ma

n like me would be interested in—and it’s a lot safer for me to find it at a tavern.”

“I suppose…you spend a good deal of time in taverns, drinking and… wenching?”

He gave her a sharp glance. “No more than any other man,” he retorted, not liking her to paint his character any blacker than he deserved. “I sometimes drink when I put in to port after a long voyage—though yesterday was something of a unique occasion. But the fact remains, I wouldn’t make you a good husband.”

“I could give you children.”

Kyle sucked in another breath, his heavy brows rising in disbelief as he stared at her. “You do have a way of knocking a man between the eyes, don’t you?”

It was early yet, and the morning was still relatively cool, but Selena felt heat flood her cheeks.

Kyle put his hands on his lean hips and regarded her with a frown. “Children, Miss Markham, are encumbrances in my line of work. Besides, I already have a family to care for.”

“You’re married?” she gasped, her startled gaze searching his face.

“No, thank God. But I have a gaggle of younger sisters who require my attention. The eldest has been looking after the rest since our parents died last year, but Bea is married with a baby on the way. She has her own family to think of. I’ve agreed to take responsibility for the girls. In fact, I’m bound for Natchez when I leave here. It might be years before I could return. I doubt that you would want an absentee husband.”

“No,” she said in a small voice. “But I could go with you.”

Kyle gritted his teeth, trying not to feel as if he were kicking a lost puppy. Devil take it, how had he ever gotten himself into this situation? She looked as lovely now as she had in the moonlight, and there was no question that he had enjoyed her body. But that was a far cry from wanting to marry her. He had no wish to sacrifice his freedom, and he already had one obligation along that line. Someday he would have to leg-shackle himself in order to claim his son.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Moonwitch, but I’m afraid I’m not free to accept your offer. I have a duty I’m obliged to fulfill.”

His tone suggested such finality that Selena turned her head away. It shouldn’t hurt so much, being told she wasn’t wanted, she thought. But she had done her best to persuade Kyle to accept her proposal. She couldn’t force his consent. There remained only for her to extricate herself from this awkward situation as gracefully as possible.