Page 41 of Romancing the Rifleman
“No!”Marcus snapped.“No wedding.Absolutely not!”
Aunt Griselda crossed her arms.“Who are you to tell Diana who she can or cannot marry?”
Marcus rounded on her.“Surely you don’t think Diana should marry him?”
“Have you seen him with a gun?He is a very good shot.”Aunt Griselda flicked her hand toward Harrington.“If she is bound and determined to marry a man, I don’t think she could do much better.”
Diana’s lip twitched.As far as Aunt Griselda was concerned, this was the highest possible praise.
“Well,” Marcus snarled, “your opinion is not relevant, nor is Diana’s.She is not yet twenty-five and therefore cannot marry without the permission of her legal guardian.”
Diana could see the triumph written on his handsome face.
But Aunt Griselda only laughed.“There is something you seem to have forgotten, nephew.Youare not Diana’s legal guardian.”Her eyes were every bit as flinty as Marcus’s.“Iam.”
Chapter21
Ten minutes later, Diana had her ear pressed to the door of Lord and Lady Morsley’s study.Harrington hovered just above her.
On the other side, Marcus and Aunt Griselda were arguing in German.
It turned out that years ago, when Marcus managed to wrest her from their father’s grip, Aunt Griselda had been appointed her legal guardian as Marcus had been just thirteen years old.
Had her overbearing brother recalled this fact, he would have had it changed years ago.But it had slipped his mind, and here they were.
“What are they saying?”Harrington whispered.
Diana listened for a beat.“He explained that you are being sent on a secret mission, and that it is our true motivation to marry.”Not really.But she would ignore that for now.Harrington was skittish enough about their proposed arrangement as it was.She pressed her ear to the door.“She is not deterred.”
Her brother began shouting, and Diana pulled back, wincing.“He says, er…”
“I understood that word,” Harrington said brightly.He made a faux scandalized face as Marcus uttered an impressive string of profanity.“And most of that, too.While I was in Hanover, I had some of the officers of the King’s German Legion teach me a little German.”
Diana pursed her lips.“And the first words they taught you were curses and oaths?”
He shrugged, his expression one of faux innocence.“They say you should start with your most frequently used vocabulary.I’ve actually been studying French for the past three years, ever since I joined the army.And I started learning Spanish last Christmas.”He leaned forward, eyes sparkling.“All countries I hope to invade someday.”
Diana couldn’t help but grin.This was another reason she wanted to marry Harrington—he could make her laugh even in the tensest situation.“Let’s hear your French, then.”
He swept her with a lascivious look.“Seriez-vous, par hasard, apparenté à Giuseppe Bussandri, le chef de la rébellion dans la région italienne de Piacenza?Parce que vous êtes à l’origine d’un soulèvement au sud.”
Diana elbowed him in the ribs, but she was laughing.“Your French is both excellent and completely atrocious.”
He bowed.“Thank you.That was precisely my aim.”
Raised voices came once more from behind the door.“Fine!”Marcus snapped.“But mark my words, I will never forgive you if Diana comes to grief as a result of this folly!”
Hearing the thump of his boots against the carpet, she grabbed Harrington’s arm.“Hurry!He’s coming!”
They scurried down the corridor.As soon as they came to a door, Diana yanked it open, and they slipped inside.
It proved to be some kind of closet, apparently used by the household staff.Some rags hung from a pegboard on the wall, and a mop and broom leaned against the corner.The room was dominated by a large wooden crate, leaving no room for them to stand.
Harrington climbed atop the crate, seizing Diana by the waist.Without thinking, she scrambled into his lap, then pulled the door closed behind her.
She held her breath as the door to the study opened.The muffled sounds of Marcus’s boots against the carpet grew louder, but she could scarcely hear them over the pounding of her own heart.Neither of them moved as her brother passed by the door and proceeded down the corridor.
The danger having passed, Diana slowly became aware of her position.She was still sitting on Harrington’s lap.Only a bare sliver of light entered the cramped room from a slit at the bottom of the door, but the darkness made her exquisitely conscious of everything she could feel.His hands, big and warm about her waist.His breath, sweet and tart from the lemonade they’d shared earlier, stirring the hair at her temple.His thighs, hard as iron, beneath her legs.And… oh, gracious… his thighs weren’t the only thing that had hardened.She could feel a telltale bulge pressing against the outside of her thigh.She knew precisely whatthatwas, ironically, from perusing Harrington’s own book of erotic prints.
