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“What just happened?” Donella warily asked.
“Alec wants to know if I’m going to do the right thing by you, which I am.”
Donella gaped at him.
“Good,” Alasdair said. “I’ll leave it to you as to how to approach the issue with my grandfather.”
“Very, very carefully,” Kendrick replied.
Donella finally picked her jaw off the floor and pushed back. “Absolutely not. I will not be forced into this situation again. Not with Mr. Kendrick, not with anyone.”
“Lass, be reasonable,” her cousin said. “You remember the storm of gossip after we decided to break our betrothal. This will be ten times as bad.”
She limped up to him and jabbed him in the chest. “Wedecided to break our betrothal? My role in that decision, you’ll recall, was to walk into the library the night of our engagement party to find you on the sofa with Eden, with your hand up her skirt.”
Alasdair turned bright red. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“No, it was worse.”
Kendrick perked up. “Really?”
“Yes, really. It was utterly mortifying for everyone involved, especially me.”
Donella couldn’t help but enjoy her cousin’s well-earned discomfort just a wee bit. That incident, although providing the necessary excuse to break their engagement, had nevertheless been intensely humiliating. And now she was in yet another situation where an unwilling man was being pressured into marrying her.
With the exception of Roddy Murray, it would appear that unwilling men were the only sorts of suitors she could ever expect to find.
“Well, aren’t you the hypocrite?” Kendrick sardonically said to Alasdair.
Her cousin glared at him. “Donella knows how sorry I am about everything. But she didn’t want to marry me, either.”
“That is exactly the point,” she said. “I don’t wish to marry Mr. Kendrick any more than I did you. And at least if I’d married you, I would have been Countess of Riddick one day.”
“I’m not exactly a pauper or a muckworm,” Kendrick protested. “There are plenty of girls who’d be thrilled to marry me.”
“Excellent. Then by all means ask one of them.”
He stalked over, looking intimidating despite his wrinkled clothing, two-day beard, and stocking feet. “You needn’t make it sound like I’m the worst thing that could happen to you, Donella. I’m not an ogre.”
“No, you’re simply another pigheaded man who cannot hear what I’m saying.”
When Alasdair chuckled, she shot him a dark look. “You’re even worse.”
“Now, hang on—”
“Please just be quiet, the both of you!” Kendrick snapped. “For justonebloody minute.”
Donella had no desire to hold her tongue and was about to snap back at him when she looked into Kendrick’s suddenly weary, frustrated features. Then she remembered all they’d been through the last few days and the many risks he’d taken to keep her safe.
When Alasdair opened his mouth to argue, Donella elbowed him. “Let Mr. Kendrick talk.”
Kendrick took her hand, twining her fingers with his. “Lass, you know everyone will think I dishonored you, regardless of the truth. I cannot allow you to be hurt, which means we must face some hard truths.”
His change in manner made her throat go tight. She shook her head.
“Come, my dear. We need to be sensible about this.” She had to clear her throat before answering. “Mr. Kendrick, if you had a true choice, free and clear, would you wish to marry me?”
He hesitated a moment too long before flashing a rueful smile. “I wasn’t planning on marrying anyone, but I can think of much worse things. You’re a splendid, brave lass, Donella.”
