Page 70 of Who Wants to Marry a Duke
A faint smile tipped up his lips. “So that’s an argument in favor of our marrying, don’t you think?”
“I suppose.” She gazed at their joined hands. “I just . . . don’t want you to marry me out of some noble impulse to save me from ruin. Or because you think you must protect me from the villain or villains you and your family are trying to find.”
“I’ll admit I’d prefer to keep you close, partly because Idoworry about the ‘villain or villains’ who might have you in their sights. But the rest of the truth is more selfish—I want to marry you out of a thoroughly ignoble impulse to have you in my bed whenever I wish. Does that make you feel any better about my marriage proposal?”
She arched an eyebrow. “It sounds more like you, at least.”
He turned serious again. “I think we could make a good go of it, Olivia. We prefer each other’s company to that of good society. We want the same things out of life. And we make sense together. That’s enough for me. Isn’t it enough for you?”
A pang seized her that she fought to ignore. No, it wasn’t enough for her, but only because she still yearned for love and happiness and all that those entailed. Unfortunately, he did not. And she wasn’t sure he ever would.
Could she live with that?
“Yes,” she said. “It’s enough.”
For the moment, anyway. She would simply have to take each day as it came, and hope that in time they would learn to love each other.
But now came the most difficult part. Telling Mama.
Chapter Fourteen
“Have you lost your mind?” Olivia’s stepmother cried. “That man will be the ruin of you if you marry him.”
“Mama, please,” Olivia said.
They’d been going round and round about this in the drawing room, while Thorn had been in the hall telling his sister about their engagement. Her stepmother was being unreasonable.
“I mean it!” Mama said. “Do you know his reputation? The women he has seduced? You’d be better off marrying nobody, and I have never said that before, as you well know.”
Olivia eyed her stepmother askance. “You’re not making any sense. Years ago, you resorted to blackmail to try and get him to marry me, and now you don’twanthim to marry me?”
“Years ago, I wanted to be a good mother to you. And that meant finding you the best gentleman to marry, as far as I was concerned. At the time, I thought that was Thornstock. He was a duke, for one thing. For another, he’d been caught kissing you, so he clearly liked you.” Her voice hardened. “But back then he wasn’t who he is today—a roué and a rogue.”
“Don’t speak ill of him to me,” Olivia said firmly. “I want to marry him, and he wants to marry me. So you will just have to accept it, Mama. I’m old enough that I don’t need your permission.” She softened her voice. “But I should like to have your blessing, all the same.”
Her stepmother dropped onto the settee with a heavy sigh. “I want to do right by you, dear heart. But sometimes I don’t know what that is.”
“SometimesIdon’t know what that is.” Olivia sat down beside her to take her hand. “But I appreciate your efforts, and I know you have my best interests in mind.”
“When I married your father, he made it quite clear he was marrying me for two reasons only: to give him an heir and you a mother. I failed at the first, but I have tried very hard at the second. I wanted to be a good mother to you.”
“And you have been, Mama. Truly.”
Mama clasped her hand tightly. “I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, you know.” Tears welled in her eyes. “You were such a little waif at eight years old, still grieving the loss of your real mother, and you needed me so much. But now . . .”
“Now I need you even more. There’s a wedding to plan and this house to set to rights.” Privately, Olivia thought the house didn’t really need anything, but Mama was always looking for things to change in their own house, so she would probably have suggestions for Olivia’s house, too.
It dawned on Olivia that she was to have her own household: a place that was hers to run as she saw fit. Granted, Thorn had a housekeeper and a butler and probably a million other servants doing this and that. But someone at the top had to be in charge and tell them what to do. That person would beher. What a heady thought!
There were clearly some advantages to marriage she hadn’t considered.I want to marry you out of a thoroughly ignoble impulse to have you in my bed whenever I wish.
Her cheeks flamed. That was another advantage—sharing Thorn’s bed.
“You’re blushing,” her stepmother said.
“It’s rather warm in here, don’t you think?” Olivia said, pressing her hands to her cheeks.
Her stepmother’s gaze narrowed on her. “You’re blushing overhim.”
