Page 41 of Nothing Compares to the Duke
“You’re a duke. A bachelor. The highest-ranking unwed nobleman within a hundred miles.”
The way she said it made him want to bolt the doors and cover the windows to stave off the army of marriage-minded mamas that were no doubt planning a march on Edgecombe.
“If you were engaged, it would keep the husband hunters away.” She drew in a long breath. “I suggest we marry.”
He heard the wordweand then something that sounded vaguely likemarryand after that his brain tripped over itself like a drunk at a ball. No matter how he pushed and pulled at the two concepts, they didn’t fit together.
Nothing made sense.
“I don’t understand.” His tongue had gone as sluggish as his thoughts.
“Not a real marriage, of course,” she said dismissively, waving the prospect away and acting as though what she’d said before hadn’t changed everything. “We won’t get that far. What I suggest is simply an engagement. A very public engagement.”
Rhys opened his mouth and still no words emerged. He rose from the settee and began pacing the perimeter of the room. Speechlessness wasn’t anything he was used to, nor the feeling that his mind had gone blank as a wiped slate. The idea was ludicrous.
“After my parents have departed for Europe, we could call off the engagement.” She spoke as calmly as if she was describing one of her puzzles. “This idea benefits both—”
“Why are you sending your parents away?” Whatshe’d said finally began to sink into his brain. “And why in God’s name would you want to marry a reprobate? A day ago you were horrified at the notion of me playing suitor to you and now it’s your fondest wish?”
She stood and approached to join him where he’d stopped behind the settee. Her expression softened as she looked at him, and he found himself calmed by her amber-green gaze.
“I need your help,” she said quietly. “You asked for my help giving Meg a proper Season and unraveling your ledgers.” She gestured toward the enormous pile of maddening volumes stacked on his father’s desk. “I’m asking you for this.”
“The two are not equal. Sorting out a Season and ledgers versus marriage—”
“Not marriage. Just an engagement. Entirely temporary.” She let out a shaky sigh, the first crack in the calm she’d exuded since arriving. “My parents have an opportunity that I don’t want them to waste. A position for my father at a school in Greece. They’ll only depart if I marry.”
“But you said we wouldn’t marry.”
“Yes, but we’ll tell them we plan to.” Excitement flashed in her eyes. “It’s practical, Rhys. You must see that. It will allow me to spend time here assisting Meg and taking a look at the estate’s accounts as you requested. And it will keep you out of the sights of all the village families hoping to match you with their daughters. I’m sure you’ve received many invitations since arriving in Essex.”
“I’m quite capable of refusing invitations.” Unfortunately, Bella had always been harder to refuse.
He moved away from her and headed to the window. But staring out on Edgecombe’s fields didn’t allow him to escape her. Every inch of the estate’s grounds reminded him of the years they’d spent traipsing them together.
“I have questions about this proposed arrangement,” he said to her reflection in the window glass and then turned to face her. “But only one that’s essential.”
“Ask whatever you like.” She nodded eagerly. “I’ll do my best to answer.”
“You realize what this will entail? Such a plan will require us to spend a great deal of time together.”
Chapter Ten
Bella stared into Rhys’s clear blue gaze and felt heat rushing across her cheeks.
Before his question, her thoughts had been laid out as methodically as the pages of her puzzle book. Doubts had welled up as she’d walked to Edgecombe, but they’d faded as soon as she’d seen him. She knew how to rally arguments and he’d always been reasonable enough to listen.
All that lay before her was the challenge of convincing him her idea made sense. And with every word, she’d convinced herself too. This was practical. Her plan could work.
But now all her arguments and rationales scattered like dandelion fluff on the breeze.
Did he think she’d devised this scheme to get close to him again?
How could she admit that she’d come to him becausethere was no one else? No other man would agree to such a scheme, and she couldn’t imagine feigning an engagement with anyone but Rhys. He was, after all, the only man she’d ever considered marrying.
“I’m not trying to trap you in an engagement if that’s what you fear.” The heat in her cheeks spread down her neck and her pulse began to race.
“No.” He shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”
