“Of course we would. Your parents are keen on it, and so are mine.”
“I’m not going to marry you—or anyone—just because my parents are keen on it.”
Now he was scowling at her. “But I’m keen on it, too. Or I would be, if you gave me half the chance.”
Charlie checked her rising temper. “Richard, your father is pushing you onto me because of my dowry. We both know that it’s the main attraction. So, I repeat, we will not suit.”
“You’d be perfectly happy to let me court you if it wasn’t for Kendrick sniffing about your skirts like a hound,” he said in a surly tone. “He’s ruiningeverything.”
Charlie’s anger flared, and she had to repress the urge to pop his cork. “What an incredibly rude thing to say. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to the house.”
When she started to march past him, Richard grabbed her arm and tried to pull her against him.
“Let me go, Richard,” she said through clenched teeth. “Or you’ll regret it.”
“I bet you lethimkiss you,” he retorted. “So maybe you should let me kiss you and see if you like it better.”
He bobbed his head, trying to kiss her. Charlie was about to knee him in the privates when a large hand landed on Richard’s shoulder and jerked him back.
“Keep yer dirty hands off her, ye bastard,” Kade growled, his voice a guttural snarl. “Or I’ll rip yer bleedin’ head off yer shoulders.”
CHAPTER16
Robert let out a strangled yelp as he released his grip on her. Kade then tossed him to the side, where he landed on the bench in a hard sprawl.
Charlie sighed. “Kade, please don’t hurt your shoulder.”
Seething at Richard, he snapped his attention back to her, and her heart skipped a beat. Kade looked positively murderous, his gaze glittering with cold fury, his features sharp as shards of ice.
He ignored her comment. “Are ye all right, lass? Did he hurt ye?”
“I’m the one who’s hurt,” Richard blustered as he struggled to right himself. “Bloody hell, man! It’s a wonder you didn’t break my arm.”
Charlie rounded on him. “You should be grateful for Mr. Kendrick’s intervention, Richard. I was just about to knee you directly in the privates. And Inevermiss.”
That precipitated another round of protests from Richard, which she ignored.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked Kade.
He was staring at her, looking a trifle bemused. “Were you really about to knee him there?”
“Yes, and I believe the colloquial term isnutmegs.”
He choked out a laugh.
Richard had awkwardly clambered to his feet. “Really, Charlotte, what would your mother say at such language and behavior?”
“What would my mother say if I told her that you accosted me in the gazebo?” she replied.
Richard drew himself up. “Both your parents approve of me. I’m supposed to be courting you, and that’s what I was doing.”
“You don’t have my blessing, and if that’s your idea of courtship, it’s appalling,” she sternly replied. “When a girl doesn’t wish to be kissed, you must respect her wishes.”
“I thought you were just being coy,” he protested.
When Kade took a menacing step forward, Richard retreated back to the bench.
“Let me tell you something, Campbell,” Kade said in a lethal voice. “When a woman tells you no, that isexactlywhat she means.”
