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Chapter 5
When she begins coming to see him frequently, he should carry on long conversations with her, for, says Ghotakamukha, “he never succeeds in winning her without a great deal of talking.”
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana
Nick caught up with Alice on the front steps, grabbing her by the elbows and whirling her to face him. “Allow me a chance to explain.”
She struggled, but he easily held her trapped.
“You kissed me and you weren’t even going to marry me.” She tried to wrench free. “You’re worse than a rake. You’re a liar. Charlene was right about you.”
“You didn’t let me finish my sentence.” He stroked a strand of hair away from her accusatory turquoise eyes. “I wasn’t planning to go through with the marriage until I—”
“Discovered your coffers needed filling,” she interrupted with a sharp shake of her head, flinging the hair back across her brow.
“Please listen for a moment. I was going to say to my friends that I hadn’t been planning to go through with it until I realized how much I respect you and your goals. I would be extremely proud to be the man who freed you from the conventions of your sex and sent you wandering freely across the earth. I can’t wait to see what you make of that freedom.”
She didn’t smile, but she relaxed slightly in his arms. “How convenient for you to have my father’s money and no wife to worry you.”
“It is convenient, I won’t deny it. We suit each other perfectly because our goals go hand in hand. We both want freedom. You want the freedom to travel and I want my elderly father to remain in the comfortable and familiar surroundings of Sunderland House.”
“You want to keep the house for your father’s sake?”
“It would kill him to leave Sunderland and his orchid conservatory. I honestly believe that.”
She regarded him for a moment with a perplexed expression. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Because everyone always assumes the worst about me, and since I usually live up to their expectations, I would hate to disabuse a young lady from thinking me anything other than the sinful sensualist she longs for me to be.”
Since they were on the topic of sin, he pulled her tighter, enjoying the feeling of her lissome form in his arms.
“I’m not sure I can trust you, Lord Hatherly. I can’t read your eyes. Sometimes I think you’re laughing at me as though I were an amusement fashioned specifically for your enjoyment.”
“You’re not?”
“You know what I mean.”
He dropped his teasing manner. “You can trust me in this, Alice. May I call you Alice?” he belatedly remembered to ask.
No more formality. Not when she had, apparently unconsciously, nestled closer, and slid her hands inside his coat for warmth.
“It’s better than Dimples, I suppose.”
“You don’t like Dimples?” He stroked a hand down her back. “But it fits you so well.”
Shefit him so well.
Her soft curves pressed against him, making him eager to taste her lips again.
It was a chilly evening and she was only wearing a thin, muslin gown.
He wrapped his arms around her. “Of course you’re free to back out of our arrangement. I wouldn’t blame you. Maybe you’ll even find your Professor Darcy and have those quiet nights by the fire.”
“I never truly believed that fantasy. Marriage was always an abstract principle to me—something to consider only after my travels.”
“There’s something else you should know about me, Alice.”
“Is there?” She tilted him a saucy smile. “I’ve done my research in the past few days. I’d say I know quite a lot about you.”
