Page 32 of To Enchant a Rakish Viscount

Her words were making him angrier. “Why must you continue to keep putting this on me? This is about you and your future, Harper.”

“That’s what you always say, don’t you? But look at the man who is standing before me, who always seems to be part of my troubles. You know, if not for you, a majority of this would not have happened.”

Brian hated guilt. It was up there in the feelings that he tried to avoid most. But she had made him feel it. Harper’s life would have been a lot simpler if not for him. “That is why I am here to try and fix it. I am here to make sure that you don’t make the mistakes that I would probably make. Take it from a fool—you should take this all very seriously. It may be all fun and games now, but you will be regretting—”

“Nothing is fun and games, Brian. When have I ever said that any of this was fun? I have never been more stressed in my short life.”

More guilt filled him. But he could not waiver in his stance. “I understand. That is why I am trying to save you from more heartache. It is the very least that I can do.”

Harper took her time before speaking, breaking into a short pace. “I know. But I am trying to weigh my options. Michael is a kind man, but do I want to enter into a marriage that I have no passion for. That sounds almost worse than living a life of judgment.”

“You would live under the guise of shame your entire life than marry Michael?”

“Michael is kind,” she said as if it had just occurred to her. “Perhaps he would let me stay in the house and tend the garden forever.”

Brian genuinely could not tell if she had been truly considering that or being sarcastic. That sounded like a worse alternative than both the previous terrible options. He let out a sigh. “You sound like you are losing your wits, Harper. I am concerned.”

“You, concerned?” She raised her eyebrows. “That is rather new. I believe that by now, I deserve to lose my wits. I have been through it all, have I not? Now I am the talk of the town.”

“It does not have to be this way, though. I know that the decisions are not easy, but they are not the worst outcomes. Michael is—”

“Oh, please. Spare me your thoughts on Michael. Any compliment that you expel about him I cannot believe after what you did to him. Friend or not, the only one that Brian loves is himself.”

Harper dusted off a vase with her hand gently. For the first time, she appeared rather broken. But even so, she still had a beauty to her, a strength that was beyond alluring. She appeared as someone who was taking shot after shot from all around her while continuing to march forward. That was attractive to Brian.

“That is not true, Harper. I am not made of stone. Perhaps you just need someone to save you.”

Harper laughed at that. “Good idea. The first from you. Well, are you willing to save me?”

Brian remained silent. He was in no position to save anyone, let alone Harper. He was the one that needed saving. He could barely save himself. But that was no one’s fault but his own.

Harper shot him a look and then wore a broken smile. “See, you have proven my point. Who would make that sacrifice? Who would get involved in the troubled Harper who now has whispers all around town about her? I am like a spoiled apple at an apple stand, aren’t I? At least, unlike the apple, I have a few choices, as bad as they are.”

It was then, that Brian could not take it anymore. Seeing her so broken, so hopeless. It was not the Harper that he knew and…he couldn’t say it himself. But he cared for her. And that could not be ignored.

And so, Brian moved forward and gently grabbed Harper’s face to kiss her. The second that their lips touched, he reveled in their closeness, and once again felt as though nothing mattered in the world. There were few emotions that he wanted to avoid but couldn’t. That was one of them.

When he pulled away from their kiss, he watched the shock overtake the delight on her face. For the first time since he had arrived, she looked rather relaxed. He knew he shouldn’t have done it. But the words he would say next would probably outrank the kiss in bad terms of being a bad idea.

“Harper. I will do it.” He turned away after saying it but knew that the shock on her face probably tripled.

There weren’t any words from her at first, maybe because it was a lot to realize. Or maybe it was because she didn’t quite understand.

And then she broke her silence. “I’m not sure I understand you correctly,” she said to his back.

“I will do it. I will be the man to save you.” He turned to face her. “Although it may not be under the best conditions. It will save you from your current options. That is all that I can offer. It is more than what I should do.”

“Are you saying that you will marry me?”

It bothered him that even in terms of having a proper proposal was not in the cards for her. But it was better than her having to marry Michael. No matter what decision she made, she would be losing something.

“Yes. But it would not be the marriage that you deserve. I will probably never be the husband that you want…or need. And we’d live in separate homes.” He could sense that she was about to say something in response, but he had one more thing to add. “And I will never love you.”

After hearing himself saying it, maybe it wasn’t all that much better than marrying Michael. It was surely better than living with her brother in a life of exile. It was all he could offer her, and it did eliminate a portion of the guilt he held. Whether or not she took him up on his offer was yet to be known.

Her silence was hard to tolerate, so he continued to explain the conditions of their potential marriage. “I know this is a lot to take in. I know that it is also not ideal. But if you are okay with it all, then I’d marry you, give you a home, and you’ll have a layer of security to live with. This will allow Michael the opportunity to marry whomever he pleases. That seems like the right thing to do. It is a small way I can make up for breaking his face.

“And what about your happiness? It is not easy for me to just allow you to throw your life away to make me happy in some respects.”

Brian thought about it and for whatever reason, marrying her did not make him unhappy. He, of course, would not accept that it was anything more than a misplaced sense of how to live his life. But that was his business. “I am not one to experience happiness, Harper. Therefore, I wouldn’t be losing anything. Doing the right thing, although I do that rarely, gives me a sense of pride. It allows me to understand that in some small way, my life has meaning. So yes, I will do this without a moment’s hesitation. Think of it this way, you will save some poor woman from a life with me. That makes you a heroine, does it not?”

Harper held back a laugh. “You are willing to give me a portion of your life. You are making a big sacrifice for me. Yet, you stand here and speak of yourself in a villainous tone. How does that make any sense?”

“I am not one to make sense. I make money. I make problems. But I do not make sense, Harper.”

Harper gave him a measured look and he thought about what the future would look like with her as his wife. He fought off the more positive images that would not happen, like eating dinner together, sharing a bed, or raising children together. Instead, he focused on providing for her and making sure that she was well fed and safe.

“I will do it then. I agree. We shall get married,” Harper said.

Brian nodded. The plan was set in motion.

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