“I gather from your tone that you’re not jealous?”
“Not a bit. I wish them well.”
“If you are as aware of that little romance as I am, why is Lady Lavinia still here?”
“Because it pleases me to let their romance blossom here.”
“I never realized you could be so generous,” Marianne said gravely, although her eyes were amused.
“Generous?” Nicholas replied, folding his arms over his chest. “I call it practical. I don’t want her, so why shouldn’t Audric have his chance? And they’ll both think of me with goodwill in the future.”
“Her cousin may not.”
“D’Anglevoix became quite agreeable when I reminded him that Audric’s uncle is an important leader in the church and their family are noted for excellent trading alliances that have made them very wealthy.”
“So encouraging their romance is simply politics?”
Nicholas shrugged. “Call it a political romance, if that pleases you more.”
“Are you looking for a political romance, Nicholas?” Marianne asked, regarding him in a way that made him shift uncomfortably.
“I’m looking for a wife who must bring certain things to the marriage—wealth and family influence are the most important to a man in my position. I’m a Norman overlord in Scotland, which means I require the money to hire soldiers to keep my estate safe, as well as influence to ensure it remains in my hands.”
“Don’t you want to be happy, too?”
“First I have to be sure Dunkeathe is securely mine and that I don’t have to worry about money.”
Marianne’s anxious gaze searched his face. “Are you in financial difficulties, Nicholas?”
“No,” he snapped. Then, because it was Marianne, he added, “At least not yet, and if I marry well, not at all.”
“If you’re in trouble, you can always come to Adair and me for aid, as we came to you.”
Nicholas frowned. “I don’t want to go begging my sister for money.”
“So you’ll marry for it?”
“Money is only one consideration,” he replied.
“Well, thank heavens for that,” Marianne said with a sarcasm that cut him like a knife. “And here I was thinking you were beingcompletelymercenary. Tell me, Nicholas, what is your wife to get out of this marriage?”
“Security, a large household to rule, children.Me.Or perhaps you think your brother isn’t worthy of any of these women?”
Instead of quarreling more, as he’d expected since this was Marianne, his sister only shook her head and sighed sadly. “I thought Adair and I had shown you how wonderful marriage can be when you’re in love with your spouse.”
“I do hope to love my wife—eventually,” Nicholas replied. “I likewise hope she will come to love me.”
“There is no lady here you love already?”
He hesitated for the briefest of moments. “No.”
Cellach started to fuss and Marianne again rocked the cradle. “I hope you’re right, Nicholas, and that love will come. But I have to tell you that whatever financial difficulties you have, or any other troubles, I’m sure you can overcome them withouta mercenary marriage, as you’ve already overcome so much. Marriage is for the rest of your life.”
“Yes, I have overcome many troubles—because I was a mercenary,” he replied. “If I marry a poor woman, with no dowry and no way to ensure that I have powerful friends among the nobility, I will not be safe, and I cannot then be happy.”
“I see.”
Nicholas didn’t believe she did, but he couldn’t expect her to. Her life had been vastly different from his, thanks to his efforts. “So what do you think of Lady Eleanor?” he asked, still determined to get her opinion. After all, he’d paid for Marianne to stay ten years with the good sisters in that convent; she herself once said she’d learned a lot about women during that time.
