Page 75 of In Want of a Viscount
Reluctantly, he walked off.
“He’s a little late in offering his protection.” Rook didn’t sound at all pleased.
“I suppose he never thought I needed it before. That I can take care of myself.” Always before last night, she’d been able to do exactly that.
He indicated the path before them but this time he didn’t offer his arm. She wasn’t certain she would have taken it if he had.
Rook hated how much he still wanted her. Even now he was tempted to grab her, carry her behind the rose trellis, and kiss her senseless. As a result, he was clutching his hands behind his back to ensure he didn’t do something that stupid.
“I didn’t plan for us to get caught. I don’t know how they knew... I should have been stronger. I should have resisted.”
She seemed to take the blame for everything: the failing business, her brother’s lack of business acumen, her mother’s rudeness. He wasn’t going to allow her to take the blame for what had transpired between them. “I would have simply pursued all the harder. I wanted you. I still do.” Damn his cock.
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
He chuckled darkly. “This is not how I wanted a marriage to come about.” Although he hadn’t planned for one to come about at all. “I suspect it’s not the courtship you had in mind either.”
“Wasn’t really a courtship, was it? I simply wanted to experience what I never had before.”
Which was how they’d ended up where they were. Because he’d kept offering her new things to explore, to take apart and examine. “I assume your mother and brother will return to America once we’re wed.”
He could sense her gaze on him, but he kept looking forward because if he turned his attention to her, he was likely to pull her behind that damned rose trellis.
“We didn’t obtain any investors last night.” He heard the disappointment in her voice. “People were interested in the machine for a while but then they seemed more interested in what had occurred in the greenhouse than on the stage.”
“Salacious gossip always takes priority. I doubt it helped matters that your mother was quick to let people know we’d be marrying.”
“Therefore, we still need to find investors. When we do, I’ll need to return to America for a while because you had the right of it: Sam knows nothing about the details.”
He lost his battle not to gaze at her. She appeared to be as miserable as he. “I won’t object.”
Her laugh was a bit caustic. “I don’t think I’m goingto make a very good wife. Because even if you had objected, I would go. I never intended to marry. I didn’t want to lose my freedom.”
“You won’t be my captive, Nora. We’ll work things out. All I ask is that we have no more scandal.”
Rook had left the ladies with his mother, who would no doubt continue to charm them. Or at least she’d charm Nora. He suspected Mrs. Garrison was not subject to being charmed by anyone. And she certainly didn’t seem to be in the habit of providing her own charm.
He’d brought Mr. Garrison to the library to discuss the settlement, which he suspected Nora would have a better handle on. Her brother remained as Keating had informed him that night when King had the family over for dinner—as eager to please as a puppy. Even seemed to have the energy of such a creature, one of his legs jiggling rapidly.
Rook had poured them each a glass a scotch, then taken his seat behind the desk while Garrison dropped into the tall-backed plush leather chair before it. Rook knew he was being obstinate, possibly ungracious. Under any other circumstance he’d have suggested they sit in the cozy area before the fireplace. But Garrison was partly responsible for them being here after all, having caught him in the act of defiling his sister. Although he also acknowledged that the majority of the responsibility fell to him because he couldn’t seem to keep his hands or mouth off Nora. Or apparently his cock in his trousers where she was concerned.
He couldn’t understand this pull—like the moon onthe tides—that she had on him. It confused, baffled, and irritated him all at once and yet something about it seemed... right. And he didn’t understand that either. He wondered if she did. If she’d taken apart their relationship until she could make sense of it.
Therefore, he sat there studying her brother, waiting for the pup to come to realize that in this particular chess game the first move was Garrison’s to make.
The young man’s leg began to jiggle faster, his scotch half consumed. He glanced around and his gaze returned to Rook. “I supposed we should get on with it.”
Rook slowly waved his hand over the desk. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Right then. The factory.” He shook his head. “The business. From the beginning, I decided to divide the entire thing into a hundred shares. I thought to give you twenty-five, in exchange for which, you’d provide the funding needed to carry on with our plans to manufacture and distribute this... writing machine.”
If Garrison had, in fact, made any of these decisions, Rook would be shocked. Most of the words had come out like a recitation, and he suspected that in fact it was Nora who had determined how to allocate the business. And he imagined she’d done it before they’d ever boarded a ship to come here. She’d have had every minute detail worked out, to avoid any cock-ups.
Rook took a slow sip of scotch before saying, “That’s not how marriage settlements work.”
Garrison’s eyes widened and Rook realized his tone had come out a bit harsh. He’d never enjoyed negotiating with a novice. And he was left with theimpression that those in her family were not looking out for Nora’s best interests.
Garrison leaned forward, pressing his elbows to his thighs, which at least served the purpose of stopping his leg from bouncing. “I don’t understand. I give you something. You give me something.”
