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“That’s quite far enough,” Victoria called. “Ah, there’s Clarence. You can begin their feast, Damie.”
The squawking of the ducks was very nearly deafening, and Damaris was completely oblivious of the two of them. Slowly David placed his hands around Victoria’s waist and lifted her down. Victoria smiled up at him and lightly laid her hands on his coat lapels. “I will marry you if you still wish it,” she said, no preamble coming to mind, just the bald essence of the matter.
He stared down at her, saying nothing. Finally, “Why now, if I may inquire? You’ve turned me down every time I’ve asked since January.”
Oh, God, what to say? It hadn’t occurred to her that he would wonder at her sudden agreement, more fool she. She could hear her own voice reciting to him, “I must leave Drago Hall before Damien ravishes me and I can only do that by marrying you and I don’t love you but I swear to make you a good wife.”
“More bread!”
David watched her pull more slices from the paper wrap and toss them to Damaris. When she turned back, wiping her hands on her riding skirt, he felt a surge of immense longing for her. Until he remembered. “Well?”
“I think we should suit, David. There are a few concerns, though, and something I really must tell you.”
“What is this something?”
“Well, first, I am concerned about money. I haven’t any.”
“Damien would provide a dowry, you must realize that. He wouldn’t wish to appear niggardly and petty, and he would were he to simply send you off with only the clothes on your back.”
“Your father—”
“My father wants you. He is adamant, in fact, and has been for a very long time.”
That was a shock. “But why?”
David shrugged.
“Certainly he has always been kind to me, but a daughter-in-law shouldn’t arrive on his doorstep as poor as a vicar’s mouse.”
“I think I’ve already answered that. Now, Victoria, there is something else you should tell me, isn’t there? You do intend to tell me more, do you not?”
She cocked her head to one side, wondering at him. He wasn’t behaving as he normally did in her company. Damien, she thought. Damien had something to do with this. She said aloud, blurting it out, “What did Damien do? Did he tell you anything?”
“So,” said David. He laughed. “So, it is all there, for anyone to see. God, how blind I’ve been.”
“Blind? What are you talking about? What did Damien tell you?” She closed her eyes a moment against the ugly twisting of his lips. “It was not really so bad, was it?” Had he told David of her leg and its ugliness?
“I wouldn’t have imagined it, nor would my father. I did think that I knew you, Victoria. But you deceived me. Made a complete and utter fool of me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Dear God, I don’t believe you. I didn’t want to believe him—no, I didn’t. How could you? He even told me about your mother. Inherited tendencies and all that, he said, trying to find excuses for you.”
Victoria gaped at him. “My mother? What is going on here, David?”
“You’ve as good as admitted it, damn you, Victoria. You actually believe I would still want you? Just you wait until I tell my father. He’ll change his mind about you quickly enough.”
She tried to calm herself in the face of his utterly wild and unbelievable words. “David, I truly don’t understand what this is all about. I haven’t admitted anything.” He gave her a stony stare. “David, what did Damien tell you?” Her hands felt clammy, and she was becoming cold, terribly cold.
David laughed, a very unpleasant sound, but Victori
a was too distraught to hear the pain in it. “Used goods, my dear, very used. Even by the baron. Your cousin’s husband. How could you?”
“Used goods,” she repeated slowly, and she suddenly had the image of Molly pouring used bathwater back into the buckets to take them to another family member. She nearly giggled aloud. “Used goods,” she said again. “How ridiculous that sounds.”
“The baron hopes you’re not with child, but he isn’t certain, and said he couldn’t let me marry you in good faith with the possibility that my heir could be a bastard. He wanted to warn me, to advise me, and I hated him for spewing out such filth about the girl I wanted to make my wife. But it isn’t nonsense. Are you with child, Victoria? Is that why you wish to wed me now?”
So very cold, and so alone now. She nearly laughed aloud seeing herself as used goods, as some sort of package now retied with old string. Damien hadn’t wasted time on irrelevant things. He’d gone immediately for the jugular. And David had lapped up all he’d said. She raised her chin and said only, “No.”
