The Marquess Tames His Bride

‘Right! Well, I can jolly well turn his scheme against him. I can write that you are so besotted with me you would promise me anything—’

‘Which would be the perfect truth,’ he said, catching her round the waist and hauling her close.

She blushed.

‘And in the meantime, we can also drop a hint or two along those lines to the locals.’

‘How could we do that?’

‘Kendall.’

She wrinkled up her nose. ‘I don’t think we can put much faith in a footman who drinks so heavily.’

‘On the contrary. He has demonstrated a remarkable amount of trust in me by admitting what goes on when he goes to the local taverns. And it seems that certain fellows who ply him with drinks are extremely interested in our doings.’

‘That doesn’t mean the tale we want told will get back to Clement.’

‘I think it does. The man appears to have eyes and ears everywhere. Even in London. I still can’t fathom how the deuce he knew about the Tarbrook rubies.’

‘People do talk to clergymen,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘It is a sort of relic of the confessional, from the Church of Rome. Father was very keen on utilising it. Said it made people feel better to clear their conscience.’

Clare shivered.

‘Cold? You shouldn’t have come out without a coat or bonnet. What were you thinking?’

‘I was thinking I wanted to get out of that stuffy cottage and think,’ she said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. ‘Do you really think we can make Clement believe he has won?’

‘Oh, yes. He has sufficient arrogance to believe he will triumph. And I will make sure that nobody makes a move against him for some time.’

‘Lulling him into a false sense of security?’

‘That’s right. And then, when he least expects it—’ he made a crushing motion with his fist ‘—we will make our move on him!’

‘And…and what of us?’ Clare gazed up at him with wide eyes.

‘We,’ he said, cupping her sweet little face between his hands, ‘are going to live happily ever after. I shall do my utmost to make sure of it. No woman will ever be so spoiled, so cosseted, so well loved…’

‘Careful,’ she said. ‘If you carry on like that, people will start to think you are a romantic.’

‘No, they won’t. For I am not a romantic. I am just a man in love.’

She gasped.

‘Clare,’ he said, taking her sweet little face between his hands. ‘Surely you must have guessed that, as well? You have worked out everything else I’ve tried to keep from you.’

‘You are in love? With…me?’

‘Desperately.’

‘But…no…you can’t be…’

‘Why do you think I was so green about the gills on the way to Peeving Cove?’

She shook her head.

‘Because I was sick to my stomach at the prospect of Clement would do…exactly what he threatened to do just now. Turn you against me.’

He saw her turn over that statement in her mind. And accept it.

‘But—’ she began.

‘Now, cast your mind back to the day you punched me. Why do you think I refused to countenance any of your objections to marrying me?’

She bit down on her lower lip. But at last, he could see a spark of hope begin to gleam in her eyes.

‘Yes, that’s right. It was because I had finally seen a way to make you mine. After all those years of thinking my goddess was unobtainable. Why do you think I moved in for that kiss? I was attempting to compromise you. Right there in that corridor.’

‘And then I ruined it for you by punching you,’ she said, aghast.

‘No, actually, you didn’t. You made my day. You’d just given me an excuse to…lord it over you for the rest of our lives. For I would always be able to remind you that it was entirely your own fault we’d had to get married. Because you’d lost your temper and behaved disgracefully. In a public inn.’

‘You are the most despicable…’

But even though she was saying the same words she’d flung at him countless times over the years, this time there was a smile hovering about the edges of her mouth.