Page 57 of The Model Debutante
Frustrated grey eyes stared into hers. ‘Why will you not say yes? I am hardly ineligible. You know you may acquit me of fortune hunting. Is there someone else?’
‘No there is not.’ Where the breath to keep talking was coming from Tallie had no idea. She was not conscious of breathing at all and her heart was banging so hard she thought it must be visible through the silk of her bodice. ‘I do not wish to make a loveless marriage, it is as simple as that.’
‘But…’ Nick broke off, for once silenced. Then he said with a hint of a smile, ‘I had rather thought that when I kissed you, you were not averse to the caress. In fact when I have held you in my arms you reacted with warmth.’
‘I am aware that ladies are not supposed to enjoy such things,’ Tallie retorted, wondering if the guardian spirit of Modest Behaviour was about to strike her down where she stood. ‘But I can see that is nonsense, some tale put about to shelter innocent girls. After all, if married ladies did not enjoy it, why would they have affairs? I must confess that I find being kissed by you very pleasant and being in your arms is positively stimulating. However,’ she hurried on as both Nick’s eyebrows rose alarmingly. ‘That does not mean I want to marry you. Naturally I realise that now we have had this discussion you are not going to kiss me any more and that is a pity because I do enjoy it and I would certainly not trust any other gentleman of my acquaintance in that way.’
‘Well, that is frank speaking indeed.’ The familiar cool expression was back on his face and she could not tell whetherhe was shocked, angry or even, just possibly, amused.
‘I am afraid so,’ Tallie tried to look penitent. ‘I did feel ashamed of myself and then I realised that it is foolish to deny one’s natural er…appetites. Of course, one should not indulge them any more than one should drink too much wine or eat too much rich food, and one realises in the case of ladies that the penalties are somewhat more extreme.’ Now, surely, she had shocked him sufficiently to put an end to any desire to marry her. She was certainly shocking herself.
‘But within marriage you could indulge those appetites completely,’ Nick observed. ‘You know, Tallie, you are not managing to shock me which is what I believe you are trying to do. Amuse me, exasperate me and try my patience, certainly. But I am hard to shock and quite alarmingly patient when I want to be. And I do not believe your assumption of the mantle of a loose woman remotely convincing. Now, be a good girl and say “yes” and we can go out and tell Aunt Kate and all will be easy.’
‘No.’
‘Tallie, you have failed to convince me you do not wish to marry me because you are a wanton…’
‘Not awanton.’She protested. ‘Or at least, only with you. I like you kissing me, I have to admit it, but I would not have said so if you had not produced that as a clinching argument as to why we should marry. But liking kissing someone is absolutely no reason to think they would be the right person to marry. How many women have you kissed?’
‘Me?’ He removed his hands and straightened up, although he did not move back. ‘I have no idea.’
‘Did you enjoy kissing them?’
‘On the whole, yes. Tallie, whathasthis to do with our marriage?’
‘And how many of them have you married?’
‘None of them, obviously.’
‘Precisely my point,’ Tallie said triumphantly. ‘Just because you enjoy kissing someone it does not mean you want to marry them. So that, my lord, is not a good argument. How else do you intend to convince me?’
‘You enjoy sparring with me do you not, Tallie?’ He had his hands on his hips now, head on one side as he regarded her thoughtfully. His lips quirked and she fought the urge to either smile back or stand on tiptoe and kiss the corner of his mouth. She was proving a puzzle to him, a problem, and Tallie sensed that she was also becoming a challenge, almost an intellectual conundrum to be solved.
‘Yes,’ she admitted.And how much fun it would be to be married to him, to stimulate that sharp brain and tease that flashing sense of humour.
‘You will not win, you know,’ he observed.
‘That is not gentlemanly of you.’ Tallie tried a pout for effect. The only reaction that produced was a grin of sheer devilment.
‘Are you a gamester?’
‘No…no, I do not think so. I have never been tempted by games of chance.’
‘Well, let me tempt you with a bet upon a certainty. I wager you will agree to marry me within two weeks of today.’
That seemed safe enough, she was not going to agree, whatever wiles he used. ‘Marry you within two weeks or simply agree to do so?’
‘Agree, I think. I see no point in setting myself any harder a task than I have to.’
‘And if you win?’ she asked.
‘You marry me.’
‘And if you lose?’
‘What would you like?’ He stepped back and smiled again.
‘My own phaeton and a pair of match bays.’
