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“How morbid.” She shuddered. “Why would you have something like that in your bedchamber?”
“I was drunk one night, several years ago, and I told my friend Rafe what I wanted inscribed on my tombstone and damned if he didn’t go out immediately and commission it for me. Rafe used to be quite wild. We did have some devilish good fun.”
She rose and traced the inscription with one finger. “‘Here lies Brandan Delamar, Wicked Duke of Westbury, who lived Fast and died Young.’ I’ll admit, the prank tombstone is a surprise.”
“It’s not a prank. It’s my actual tombstone. The one I’ll be interred beneath for all eternity. I’ve earned it. I’ve dug my own grave.”
“Don’t joke about such a thing. Your sisters would be heartbroken if you left this world early.”
“Sometimes I think they’d be better off without me. My uncle Marcus would inherit then. He’s childless but at least he’s not a gambler.”
“You say these reckless things but I don’t think you truly mean them. Not anymore. You’ve decided to do the right thing, to be a part of your sisters’ lives. You have something to live for now. Don’t you want to be an uncle to their children, Your Grace?”
“Call me West, please. I don’t go in for formalities between friends.”
“You’re my employer.”
“Is that all I am to you?”
No. You’re also my secret fantasy. And you’ve done the most deliciously sinful things to me in my imagination.
And I won’t think about that right now.
She pursed her lips, returned to the desk, smoothed out another sheet of paper, and dipped her pen in ink. “Please endeavor to concentrate on the task at hand. Now then, the list is only the first step. What follows is on your shoulders. You’ve already made one poor choice. I think you’re going to have to try something completely different this time. You’ll have to court your intended. Become acquainted with her first.”
He leaned against the mantelpiece. “Seems to me I don’t have to do anything but choose the lady with the most blameless reputation and the largest fortune and convince her to marry me, even though I have a terrible reputation.”
“You’ll have to find whether you suit each other before proposing. You’ve seen how an engagement can go wrong in the blink of an eye. You must become acquainted with the prospects before proposing to one of them. Have conversations with them. Learn about their childhoods, and their goals, and interests. Ensure that they’re compatible with your own, and your family’s goals.”
“Once I make a show of reforming, the ladies will be courting me... you’ll see. I’ll be able to sit back and take my pick.”
“You should find a good woman to marry, instead of negotiating for the one with the heaviest purse. And that requires courtship. You can’t skip the conversations . . . or the small gestures that show you’ve truly listened to her. Heard her.”
“One kiss and any lady will swoon into my arms.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s true.”
“Because your kisses are some manner of magic elixir, I suppose?”
“I know my way around a kiss. When properly applied, a kiss is so much more than a kiss. It’s a promise, a prelude, and a tantalizing taste of fuller pleasures to come.”
“That’s seduction, not courtship.”
“Pretty poems, custom-made bookshelves, acts of chivalry... do you honestly think any of those actions were taken in the absence of kisses? They weren’t. The kissing came first, then the bookshelves. I’ll guarantee it.”
Viola’s cheeks flushed. She’d heard her friends describe their kisses for years now. Truth be told, she’d been more than a little envious of their amorous explorations. “You may be right.”
“If there’s one thing I know, it’s kissing. A man who sets out to be the most wicked duke’s heir in the world must excel at the art.”
“It wouldn’t be right to simply grab a lady and kiss her.”
“I never grab unless grabbing is explicitly desired.”
“A lady would never desire to be handled so.”
He quirked one eyebrow. “I think you’d be surprised. Even the most decorous of women, when her passions are aroused, can be quite ferocious in her needs.”
