Izzy nodded. “He has a beautiful body—well, I couldn’t see it, it was so dark, but it was hard and strong, and...” She shivered again. “Magnificent.”
“Did he take off all his clothes?”
“No, just his shirt—which I pulled off him. And his breeches were half-off.” She blushed remembering.
“And you took off all your clothes?”
She nodded. “I was wearing an old dress with nothing underneath.”
“Izzy!” Clarissa gave a half-shocked laugh.
Izzy grinned. “I promise you I didn’t plan it.” She sighed. “But I don’t regret it for a minute.”
There was a long silence. Then Clarissa said, “Then what were you so upset about this morning when he came to call? I presume he offered for you.”
At the question, a cold stone lodged in her chest. “He did.”
Clarissa read her expression and her face fell. “Oh, Izzy, you didn’t, did you? You refused him?”
“He only offered out of guilt, ’Riss. Because that’s what an honorable man does when he’s deflowered a virgin.”
“But what does that matter?”
“I refuse to be a millstone around his neck.”
“ ‘Millstone’? What nonsense. You’d make a wonderful countess.”
Izzy smiled. “You’re biased. But no, what I really meantwas that he only proposed out of a sense of obligation, of guilt. Not because he loves me. I don’t want to be anyone’s obligation, and a forced marriage is a recipe for resentment and bitterness.”
“But you love him. And anyway, I think he does care for you. He just doesn’t realize it.”
Izzy shook her head. “I won’t risk it. Both your mother and mine loved a man who didn’t love them back. And, married or not, they were both desperately unhappy. I would rather make a marriage based on liking and respect; at least then there is a possibility for love—or at the very least affection—to grow. But one-sided love...” She shook her head again. “It’s too painful.”
***
You only offered for me out of a sense of obligation. Nobody dreams of being an obligation.
Leo couldn’t get the words out of his head. They made no sense to him.
Yes, he’d made his offer from a sense of obligation—he was honor bound to do it, after taking her virginity. What sort of a man would he be to ruin her and leave her to face the consequences alone?
But he didn’t think of her as an obligation. Nobody could think of Isobel Studley as an obligation. She was a delight, an infuriating one at times, but nevertheless, a delight.
He thought about making love to her the previous night. She was also a glory... So open and giving and generous and... and loving.
Yes, loving. The thing he tried so hard to avoid. She’d given it anyway.
What was it that Race had said?Love is the prize.
And yet she was planning to offer herself up in a marriage of convenience, to one of those dreary fellows who were courting her. For the sake of a house. No,a home.
A place where I belong... where nobody could throw me out or move me on. A place to raise my children...
In other words the kind of security she’d never in her life experienced.
Leo could give her that—and more. So why refuse him?
Nobody dreams of being an obligation.
