Page 25 of The Pleasures of Passion
Damn Fulkham to hell.
He turned toward Bree, but Lady Pensworth stayed him with a hand on his arm. Apparently the inquisition wasn’t over.
She fixed Bree with a questioning look. “Lord Margrave has just been telling me about your reasons for marrying. It all sounds very—”
“Practical?” Brilliana said lightly. “I know.” She leaned toward her aunt. “Don’t tell his mother and sister, but his lordship and I aren’t romantic sorts. He needs a wife, and I thought it was time I found a suitor who can be a father to Silas. It’s important for my son to have a man to look up to. I’m sure you agree.”
Niall met her aunt’s gaze evenly, trying hard not to gloat. Bree couldn’t have answered any better if he’d crafted her answer himself.
“Besides,” Bree went on with a suspicious gleam in her eye, “Niall isn’t eager to weather the marriage mart when he already knows me so well. It’s most trying for a man his age.”
A man his—What the blazes? He was only thirty, for God’s sake!
A faint smile crossed her aunt’s face. “Yes, I can see how it would be taxing.”
Oh, he wasnotgoing to let this stand. “Almost as taxing as running an estate alone will be for Bree. Being a woman, she recognizes that she needs a man to take such matters in hand.”
When Bree glared at him, he smirked at her. He was congratulating himself for getting his own back when Lady Pensworth said in a voice like ice, “Not all women need a man to ‘take such matters in hand.’ I’ve run my brother’s estate for years, since he can’t be bothered. So far, I’ve had no complaints from his tenants.”
Damnation. He’d overplayed his hand.
“Thank you, Aunt Agatha, for clarifying that,” Bree said, then tugged on Niall’s arm. “They’re calling for us. We’d better go.”
“Yes, of course.” Grateful for the reprieve, he let her pull him away. Hard to believe he was actually looking forward to the part of this mission that involved cornering criminals and risking life and limb.
Because Lady Pensworth would give any criminal a run for his money.
As they headed off to where dancers were assembling, Bree started laughing. “I wish you could see your face. Aunt Agatha certainly tookyoudown a peg.”
“I amnotavoiding the marriage mart, blast it. Why would you say that?”
“To further our ruse.” Her face was the very picture of innocence. “Wasn’t that what you directed me to do?”
“I didn’t tell you to make me sound like I’m in my dotage.”
“No.” Her eyes twinkled at him. “I came up with that all on my own.”
“For someone who feared she’d have trouble pretending,” he grumbled, “you’re doing exceedingly well.”
“I merely decided to take your advice to treat this as an adventure and enjoy myself.”
They halted in the middle of the room, with every eye upon them. “And your idea of an adventure is to mock me publicly?”
The music struck up then. A waltz.
“Was I mocking you?” she said as he took her in the proper hold. “I thought I was merely stating a fact. Youarea bachelor of a certain age.”
He tugged her far too close for propriety, and two spots of color appeared on her cheeks, which pleased him inordinately. “Don’t press your luck, sweeting.” Then he began to dance.
Bree followed his lead like a woman born to waltz. She was all fluid grace and perfect symmetry, her body sweeping through the room as if borne by the music itself. It made him ache to whisk her right out onto a balcony somewhere and kiss her senseless.
But he’d promised not to “lure” her anywhere, so he would control himself. Although the longer her hand clung to his, the more he wanted to have her hand somewhere else . . . in his hair, against his bare chest . . . curving around his hardening cock.
He swore under his breath. How did this woman make him forget himself so easily?
Because when she was smiling as she was just now, with her face lit up like a sun-drenched meadow, she was so appealing that he forgot she’d once been a mercenary in skirts, coveting his title like the other debutantes. That when marrying him had meant exile and uncertainty, she’d married another man without so much as a letter to him.
“What did my aunt say?” she asked. “I tried to get over there quickly, but everyone had a million questions.”
