Page 32 of Contracted as His Countess

‘Oh.’ The compliment, even if he had said it as though he was furious with her, was still startling. Like a queen? Suddenly it was very important that Jack understood the truth. ‘Richard being there was a complete coincidence. He recognised my voice when I refused his request to dance. When we were much younger he proposed marriage, but my father refused to allow us to wed and he went away, to London, I think. I haven’t seen or heard of him for years, I give you my word. And he is only just returned from India.’

‘Do you love him?’

She wished she could see his face. ‘I did once. It was a long time ago.’

Love does not last that long without anything to feed upon, does it?

‘Is he married now?’

‘Apparently not.’

‘Do you want to marry him?’

‘I... No, of course not,’ Madelyn answered without thinking. Was that true? It had to be, she had given her word to Jack that she would wed him and to marry Richard would be to go directly against her father’s wishes. But that denial had come without any forethought. It was the truth, she realised. ‘We are different people now. Goodness,’ she added in an attempt to make light of it, ‘he positively dragged me onto the dance floor.’

‘I dragged you off the dance floor,’ Jack said in the tone of a man determined to be fair if it killed him.

‘You carted me off like a sack of grain, to be accurate,’ she retorted. ‘Or some Viking warrior intent on pillage.’ For some strange reason the anger had drained away for both of them. She could sense Jack’s long body relaxing back against the battered old squabs.

‘It was a masquerade, after all,’ he said mildly, but there was an unsteadiness in his voice as though he was trying not to laugh.

‘True. Jack... I am sorry. I knew it was not a respectable affair as soon as we arrived, but I did not know how to get back without waiting for the whole party. It has been a useful lesson,’ she added meekly.

Then he did laugh, a snort of amusement. ‘Do not overdo the sweet reasonableness, Madelyn. I believe you. Is this Richard of yours going to be a problem?’

‘I should not think he would call you out,’ she said. She shivered at the prospect.

‘That is not what I meant.’

‘I cannot believe he would make any trouble. He is my friend and has no reason to wish me ill. Although he may well resent you hitting him, he wouldn’t gossip about me. Besides, I doubt he moves in the circles where it would matter if he did,’ she added to reassure him. ‘He is with the East India Company.’

Jack stood up, head bent under the roof of the carriage, and shifted across to sit by her. He took her hand in his. ‘I find I have a strong desire to kiss you, Madelyn.’

‘Why?’ she asked, refusing to let her fingers relax into his hold. Her pulse had only just settled down to a steady rhythm after the drama of the last few minutes, now it began fluttering in earnest. ‘Because you have been fighting or because you want to stake your claim?’ Men were sometimes very basic in their reactions, she had observed.

‘Because you are looking very desirable tonight.’ His thumb stroked up the inside of her bare wrist, a whisper of sensation. ‘Because I am going to marry you and I found you in another man’s arms and, yes, that makes me feel possessive.’

Her pulse slowed in time to the insidious caress. She could tell herself that she did not want him, because to admit that she did only left her open to rejection and heartbreak. But if he truly did desire her, if what he had said in Green Park and just now was not simply honey to sweeten her so he got what he wanted—his lands—then perhaps there was some hope for this marriage as more than a businesslike exchange.

‘If I asked to take you home with me to my rooms tonight, would you come?’ His voice was low, muffled because he was kissing her shoulder now, pushing aside the heavy fall of her hair with his mouth until he reached the bare skin.

Yes. ‘I do not know.’ Would he think less of her if she agreed? Perhaps this was some sort of test. She wished she understood men better in real life, not just from observation and reading. If she had grown up with brothers and their friends, if she had had an ordinary upbringing with her own friends and their families, perhaps she would be more confident.

‘You know what I am asking?’ Jack lifted his head. ‘You do not seem to have any female relatives to talk to about...intimate matters.’

‘I know,’ she murmured. When she had decided to take the step of marrying she had sought out the information, put what she could glean from books together with observation of nature. She had facts, but facts said nothing about feelings. ‘Should we not wait?’

‘If that is what you want, of course.?

?

Jack said it as though it was entirely reasonable that she should choose, not as though he was humouring an irritating female. She knew that tone of voice—she had heard it often enough from her father to her mother, and its absence now reassured her.

‘Yes, then. I think,’ she added, suddenly unsure.

You have to do it some time and you want to. You know you do. You want him.

Somehow, after coming face to face with Richard, who had been her ideal man for so long, her certainties had been shaken. He had changed, or perhaps she had, but he was not Jack and she knew which of them she desired.

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