CHAPTER 5
“Do not give me that look,” Marcus snapped at Honoria as he strode from his office.
“Look? What look?” Honoria said, feigning ignorance. “This is my face. It always looks this way.”
“You know the one.” He stepped through the door and then turned back on her, sure to fix his sister in a scowl. “That smug look of triumph that you wear as if you have won some great victory.”
“I wear no such look,” she said simply. “Whatever it is that you see on my face is on account of your own misgivings.” She looked at him plainly… only for a wicked grin to spread across her lips. “Whoops.”
“Say it,” he said. “Say it now so we might be done with it once and for all.”
“Say what?” She frowned and rubbed her chin. “I have no idea what –”
“Say it, Honoria,” he growled. “Or leave. It is your choice.”
As was to be expected, Marcus’ mood had taken a turn for the worse. And as was to be further expected, he doubted that would change any time soon.
I am trying to see the positive in this… I want to embrace what is undoubtedly a positive outcome… I wish to be thrilled! Damn pleased with how things have turned out. I know I should be.
Marcus had spent all last evening and much of this morning attempting to force this notion into his subconscious. After all, was this not exactly what he wanted… and if not wanted, needed? He was not father material, his adopted son needed a mother to raise him, and thanks to a rather bizarre and unavoidable situation, he had just that.
What was more, Marcus was forced to admit that as far as potential wives went, Lady Lucy Whitcombe was not nearly as bad as she could have been.
Yes, she was stubborn. Yes, she was argumentative and headstrong. And yes, she was sure to make a fuss about every little thing, if for no other reason than to prove her independence and remind him that she had been forced into this. Whatever this marriage promised to be, it would not be easy.
It was strange to admit that Marcus liked these things about her too.
He still could not scrub his first impression of her from his mind. When she had stepped from the carriage, capturing his gaze as if a hand had reached out and forced his eyes upon her. It was her confidence that he was drawn to, the fact that she would not be cowered by a situation beyond her control.
She is different to every other woman I know. Whether that is a good thing or not… I suppose time will tell.
“Might I ask where you are going in such a rush?” Honoria asked with a fluttering of her eyelashes.
He glared daggers at his sister. “You know exactly where I am going.” Still, she looked at him expectantly. He groaned. “I need to procure a marriage license at once. If this marriage is to go unnoticed and then become forgotten, it needs to happen quickly. And without incident.”
“Ah yes, the marriage,” Honoria said as if she had forgotten. “That most interesting of circumstances that nobody could have seen coming. Yourself especially…” She flashed her eyes. “Remind me, were you not telling me just last week how loath you were to ever find a wife?”
“I do not wish to talk about it.” Marcus turned and strode down the hallway.
“I jest, Brother!” Honoria called as she hurried after him. “Merely a jest.”
“Tell me when I am meant to laugh.”
“I know you are upset,” she said as she fell in beside him. “I know you want everyone to believe that you despise what has happened. But surely, even one as stubborn as you, can see this for the good that it is.”
“I see it for exactly what it is,” he snapped. “Necessary.”
“Which is why it is such a good thing that it has happened!” Honoria stepped around him and cut him off. Then she put her hands on her hips and looked up at him. “You needed this to happen, Marcus. James needed this to happen.”
Marcus winced at the name.
“I will not mock you. I will not make fun – I want this to work. Which is why I must say it, before it is too late.”
“Say what?”
“I do not know this Lady Whitcombe. I do not know what she wants or what you told her –”
“You know what I told her.”
