Page 29 of Wicked Rivals
An hour ago he would not have said he planned to marry her, but the moment his mother had made the assumption, he’d decided that was exactly what he wanted topretendhe intended to do. If it happened to help Joanna’s chances for marriage, all the better. She’d been on the shelf for two years now with no sign of a man taking any interest.
Cedric had faced the same issues with his sisters. League members tended to frighten off potential beaux. In Horatia’s case, she hadn’t sought out many suitors, but Cedric had purposely driven off a number of Audrey’s gentlemen callers.
“Mother, I shall talk with you more on this matter in the morning. Rosalind and I need some timealone.” He held out his hands to Joanna, who, red-faced, handed over the nightgown she was holding, and he promptly shut the door in his mother’s face before he turned to his little Scottish hellion. It didn’t stop him from hearing Jonathan and Charles chuckling just outside the room. He ignored them.
“Rosalind?” He let her name come out a gentle question.
She blinked, shook her head and uttered one word. “No.”
A strange pain in his chest caught him off guard, and he sucked in a breath.
“Wait a moment. Let’s think this through, shall we? I know you don’t wish to marry me, but consider this: I have a desire to put my mother off the scent of matrimony, and the best way to do that is to convince her I plan to marry you. She need never know we don’t intend to go through with it.”
She arched a brow. “I sense you’re offering something to me to entice me to play along? It had better be worth it.”
“Say the Southern Star shipping line to start. I would revert your ownership of that company to you and release parts of your debts in order for you to sustain that company on your own without fear of me claiming it back. In time, I would see fit to return the remaining companies and assets to you. Our solicitors could draw up the necessary paperwork first thing tomorrow.”
There was a heavy pause, but she soon nodded. “I suppose that would be acceptable. But let me make it perfectly clear that I shall not and never will marry you, no matter what games we might play in public for your mother’s sake.”
It was an answer he’d expected, but the intensity of her resistance piqued his curiosity. He placed his hands behind his back and began to pace in a militaristic fashion. “What are your objections to marrying me?”
Rosalind shivered and glanced away. “Do you mind if I take that nightgown? I’m cold.”
Without a word he handed it over. She walked closer to the fire, turning her back to him as she dropped the towel. He caught a full view of her naked backside, the sloping indentations of her waist and the flare of her full hips. A beautiful, addictive silhouette against the fire before she dropped the nightgown over her head and covered herself. It was impossible for his body not to respond to such a glorious sight, and he swallowed hard as he fought to quell his rising arousal.
“So what are your objections?” He waited, staring at her.
She walked over to his bed and picked up the dressing gown, sliding it over her body and tugging it closed.
“Simple. We cannot stand each other.”
Ashton scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “That’s not true, at least not for me. I find you rather fascinating when you aren’t stealing my business. Do you truly dislike me?”
He took two slow, measured steps toward her. Perhaps a little reminder of how hot it could burn between them was called for. When he was done, she would be moaning his name and begging for him to do all the wicked things he’d been fantasizing about for months.
Chapter Eight
Rosalind couldn’t believe the mess she was in. Marry Ashton? Was he serious? She wasn’t repulsed at the thought of pretending—truth be told, a part of her secretly enjoyed it—but now he was asking her why she wouldn’tactuallymarry him.
She shivered, even though the dressing gown she wore was warm against her. Her wet hair still lay thick and heavy on her shoulders. She felt vulnerable, too exposed physically and emotionally. Given the intense gleam in Ashton’s eyes, she knew he was aware of this vulnerability, and no doubt planned to use it to his advantage.
Yet she sensed in him a practiced restraint that always amazed her. She’d never met a man with so much control. Any other man would be pressing his advantage to slake his lust, but not Ashton. If it hadn’t been for that moment in the theater, she’d wonder if he even desired her. Was it all a game to him, even his passions?
“Is the thought of marrying me so dreadful to contemplate that it turns your stomach? What do you find distasteful about me?”
Rosalind’s eyes narrowed.
“Business practices aside, of course.” Ashton stepped closer. Only a few inches separated them now, but she held her ground. She raised her head and met him stare for stare.
“Let me think…” She tapped her chin with a finger as she compiled her list. “You’re too tall, for one thing. You’re arrogant, more so than most men. You think you can possess anything or anyone, and your actions are always justified if it gets you what you want. And frankly, I do not care for the way you kiss.”
She swore she saw a ghost of a smile. He raised one dark-gold brow and slowly lifted a hand to her cheek, brushing his knuckles over her skin. His touch felt wonderful, and shehatedthat it did.
“As to the first, it can’t be helped. The second I would call confidence, not arrogance. I readily admit to the third, and I believe you’re lying through your teeth about the last. Still, I see no reason why we shouldn’t go forward with this scheme to deceive my mother. Not if you believe it is to our mutual advantage. Should we see to settling the matter with our solicitors?”
She bristled. “That is perhaps what I despise the most. Everything is business with you. Details, facts, figures. All of it so cold and emotionless,” she growled in frustration.
“Itusuallyis, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. I am a masterful lover.”
