Page 62 of A Naughty Proposal for His Winter Countess
“What on earth do you mean, Ben?” Harriet exclaimed while scrambling from Daniel’s lap, “I’m perfectly dressed. I only took my coat off because it was cumbersome.”
“And is that the reason why Raster’s cloak is also off?” Ben demanded. “Because devil and damn, if you’re compromised—”
“I am not,” Harriet said heatedly. “I’m fully dressed, and so is he. You did not catch usin flagrante delicto,for Heaven’s sake. Why must you make such a production of the fact that we wanted some privacy? We are engaged, after all!”
Benjamin went purple in the face, “Engagement is not a license to disregard the laws of propriety, Dear Sister.”
On his feet, Daniel donned his cloak, then lied through his teeth, “Nothing untoward happened, Bradford, we were having a conversation—”
“Which could have been had downstairs,” Ben snapped. “To find you here, secreted away, does not look good and—”
“For Jove’s beard,” Martha hissed as she came in, “Keep it down, or are you planning to announce whatever is troubling you from London’s Tower?”
Daniel felt like punching Ben. Not only had he interrupted a private moment, but he had also brought more people into the mix. Martha, Carrington, and—devil confound it—Aunt Barbara were coming in the room.
Snapping his head to Daniel, Ben folded his arms, “Raster, I demand you two get married, in the following week.”
Gasping in outrage, Harriet stepped to her brother, “You have no right—”
Grasping her arm, Daniel softly pulled her into his side; his words were aimed at Harriet, but his gaze was on Ben. “No, he has every right, Harriet. If he deems it fitting…we’ll wed.”
Ben’s stony gaze did not shift, “Send for the special license, and we’ll hold the ceremony here.”
“Fine,” Daniel said, but then, Harriet, with tears in her eyes, yanked her arm from him and staked out of the room, not paying anyone a spare look. As Daniel’s eyes followed her, his gaze rested on Carrington, who looked a little too smug and cunning for his liking.
It struck him then…Carrington was the mastermind behind thissudden discovery,but what Daniel didn’t know, was what the hell Antony had to gain from it.
Chapter Twenty
Betrayed—betrayed and humiliated; that was all Harriet could feel as she fled to her rooms. Even if the guests had not heard, her family had almost walked in on her during the most sublime moment of her life.
She slammed the door and then nearly collapsed, weak and shaking on her settee. Hunched over, she covered her face and let the tears flow. She didn’t even attempt to bite her lip or keep her gasps quiet as she cried out her pain.
Never before had she dissolved into such a turbulent mix of emotions, not even after she had been subjected to the worst taunts at Missus Cottenham’s School for Girls. It was painful, not because of Ben’s audacity, barging in on them, but more so because Daniel assumed that she did not feel the same affection he had.
And she never had the chance to correct him.
Now, she would be forcefully married off, and though she cared for Daniel—Ben had derailed her plans to get out of this agreement and go on with other men. Everything was such a mess.
Dimly, she heard the door open and close; when a hand rested on her back, Harriet knew Lily was beside her. Lily rubbed her back while Harriet tearfully exorcised her pain, and when there was nothing more to give, she slumped weakly on the arm of the chair.
“Harriet…” Lily said in concern, “I’m confused; why are you so upset? If I were mistaken, it would seem as if you don’t love Lord Barkley. Weren’t you about to marry anyway? What am I missing?”
“It…” she broke off, sobbing, “wasn’t supposed to be this way. I wasn’tsupposedto love him.”
“Harriet!” Lily gasped. “What in Heaven’s sake do you mean?”
“He only meant to help me,” Harriet sniffed, “and somehow along the way I fell in love with him.”
Lily was entirely confused, and her voice was edging into frantic, “Help you withwhat?”
“Seduction,” Harriet cried. “He was supposed to teach me how to flirt with men in the right way, but—not love. I never expected to fall in love with him.”
“Harriet,” Lily said quietly. “I need you to tell me all from the beginning.”
With a little more control over her spiraling emotions, Harriet grasped Lily’s hand, but kept her eyes away. “Please don’t think the worst of me when I tell you this.”
“Harriet—”
