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‘You don’t want to marry me at all, do you?’
Her stomach cramped again. She’d made a total fool of herself. Here she’d been, assuming he must be dreaming about how he could invest her money to expand his business, whatever it was, but the truth was he hadn’t actually said yes. And now she’d gone and kissed him, assuming he was as keen on the idea as she was.
‘Last night, when you told me about your marriage, I thought... Oh, how silly of me.’ It was all much clearer this morning. ‘You were trying to explain why you didn’t wish to marry again, weren’t you? And I...’
‘Hmm? What?’ He turned and stared at her as though he’d completely forgotten she was there.
She wrenched her hand from his. ‘I am sure we can come up with some other way out of our predicament.’
Even though she had kissed him. What was a kiss, after all? Men were always trying to snatch kisses—especially from girls who practically threw themselves into their arms. Even if they appeared to enjoy the kiss it didn’t mean they actually wanted to marry the girl they’d been kissing. Men with less honour than him would make the most of the opportunity to have carnal relations with a girl if she was silly enough to indicate she was willing before he put a ring on her finger.
‘You don’t need to go to the lengths of marrying me,’ she said.
* * *
What was the matter with her? he wondered. Why had she suddenly changed her mind about marrying him?
He grabbed her hand back and held it tightly. ‘There is no other way out of our “predicament”, as you put it, apart from marriage. No way at all.’
He’d gone over it time and time again. Although Prudence was so far removed from him socially that everyone would describe it as a mésalliance, he was going to have to marry her. Oh, not to avoid scandal. But because after that kiss there was no way he was going to let her go. And because he was almost certain she’d never agree to be his mistress.
If he offered her carte blanche, even though it was something he’d never offered any other woman, he couldn’t see Prudence taking it as a compliment. In fact she was more likely to take such a proposition as an insult. She might even feel so insulted she’d never forgive him. And he couldn’t risk that. She was going to be upset enough as it was once they reached Bramley Park, where he would no longer be able to hide his true identity from her.
But he wanted Prudence.
And he was going to have Prudence.
That was all there was to it.
Chapter Eleven
Prudence’s fingers were going numb. Once or twice she’d been on the verge of complaining about the way he was crushing them, but she’d been afraid he might let go altogether. And at least while he was holding her hand she had some connection with him.
He hadn’t spoken a word since telling her that there was no way out of their predicament but marriage. He’d never been what you’d call a chatty sort of man, but since then he’d become downright distant.
He was also walking slower and slower, dragging his feet, as though he was trying to put off reaching their destination for as long as possible. The only conclusion she could draw was that he was having serious second thoughts about marrying her. It was one thing admitting he wanted to bed her. But in the cold light of day perhaps he was starting to wonder if marrying her to get what he wanted was going a step too far.
Which was perfectly understandable, given the grief his last marriage had brought him. Especially since he hadn’t known her long enough to be sure she would take her marriage vows seriously.
‘There,’ he said grimly as they crested a rise. ‘That’s Bramley Park.’
He came to a complete standstill, gazing down at a substantial park spread out on the slopes of the next valley. A high stone wall divided the neatly landscaped grounds from the rougher grazing land on which they stood. There was so much parkland she couldn’t even see the house it surrounded.
‘That is where your aunt lives?’
He nodded.
‘She must be a wealthy woman.’ Only wealthy people had houses stuck in the middle of so much land, with high stone walls to keep ordinary people out.
‘Not really.’
‘Oh? But—’
‘Come on,’ he said impatiently, veering to the left and tugging her after him down the slope towards the wall which bisected the lower part of the valley.
At length, they came to a section where a couple of gnarled trees grew close to the wall, their branches arching over the top.
‘I should have asked,’ he said, turning to her with a wary expression. ‘Are you any good at climbing trees?’
