“I took your innocence,” he said matter-of-factly. “Which means I must marry you.”
He knew he’d said the wrong thing when she flinched. “How flattering.”
“Damn it, that’s not what I meant.”
She walked over to where her nightdress lay and managed somehow to don it while still protecting her modesty with the sheet. “Then whatdidyou mean?”
“She doesn’t want you,” her brother said. “And she deserves better than you.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Grey barked as he continued to dress.
That seemed to take Wolfe aback. Then he sneered at Grey. “Is that why you’re betrothing yourself to some other woman?”
“I’m not!” He turned to Beatrice as he tied his cravat. “I need to speak with you privately, sweetheart.”
“The hell you will!” Wolfe growled.
Beatrice looked at her brother. “Let me talk to His Grace.” When Wolfe stiffened, she said in a low voice, “Come on, Grey. We should hash this out before he shoots you.”
Grey let her pull him into the hallway. But as soon as they were out of earshot of her brother, he seized her by her shoulders. “Youknowwe must marry. I realize I’ve spent half the night acting like your uncle, but I’m unlike him in the one way that counts. I’m a gentleman.”
Clearly remembering what she’d said about her uncle’snotbeing a gentleman, she kept staring at him.
He went on. “The moment I came up here to bed you I knew I’d be offering marriage. I will not behave as some vile seducer who takes a respectable country girl to bed and then abandons her to her ruination. We must marry, and wewillmarry.”
“You don’t have to convinceme.”
“Oh.” He released her to run a hand through his hair. “From the way you were behaving, I rather thought I might.”
Beatrice rolled her eyes. “What I mean is, you don’t have to convinceme; you have to convinceher.”
“Her who?”
“Your cousin Vanessa, you dolt!”
He let out an exasperated breath. “The Vanessa who’d rather have her tongue cut out than marry me?ThatVanessa? Trust me, the only one who wants to see me and my cousin married is her mother.”
“And no wonder. Her daughter is clearly a ninny in need of husbandly guidance if she can’t see how lucky she would be to have you.”
The compliment brought him up short. Gave him hope. “Vanessa is no ninny. But then, neither are you.” Staring down into her uncertain gaze, he said, “Andthatis the real reason I wish to marry you.”
“You mean, it’s not because you ruined me?” she said, throwing his heedless words back in his face.
He winced. “I shouldn’t have said that. The truth is, I would feel myself fortunate to have you for a wife.” As long as she didn’t expect too much from him. But that was a conversation they’d have to have later, once he ironed out this mess with his aunt. “And I pray you can believe that.”
“I don’t know what to believe, Grey,” she whispered.
He stared down at the woman he’d only now begun to understand. “Then know this. Vanessa isn’t the one I wish to marry.Youare. I mean to come back here and do whatever I must to convince you of that. But for now I must go to London at once and unravel this Gordian knot my aunt has woven.” He pulled her close. “I want to marry you, sweetheart, no matter what my aunt says and no matter what your brother says. You are the only woman for me.”
She gazed up at him, her eyes shining. “I’ll wait for you.”
The simple words struck him in the chest, in the place he’d always thought of as hollow, missing a heart. She wanted him. She was willing to wait for him, to trust him to do right by her. No one had ever trusted him like that before.
“Good,” he said, realizing that the word couldn’t possibly convey how he felt. “Good,” he repeated.
She smiled at him. “Go. And do it quick. I’ll handle Joshua.”
Grey glanced back into the room, where Wolfe was still glowering at him through the open doorway. “I don’t like to leave you alone with him, especially after we—”
