In Bed with the Duke(48)

Which filled her with relief. He might have pushed her away, but at least he was prepared to hold her hand. It was like last night. The way he’d turned over, yet kept hold of her hand to let her know he wasn’t rejecting her. So she put her hand in his. And noticed, for the first time, that Mr Grumpy Farmer lived on the prettiest farm she’d ever seen. There were primroses on the banks. Little white clouds scudding across the blue sky. Madge’s stockings were of thick, serviceable cotton which cushioned her feet from her shoes so that they no longer caused her agony with every step. And the scent of green growing things was almost managing to overpower the rather unpleasant odour emanating from Gregory’s general vicinity.

All in all, she didn’t think she’d ever felt quite so happy.

Until, that was, she darted a look up at Gregory’s face. For he didn’t look as though he was wallowing in the memory of strawberry kisses over the stile, or indeed enjoying walking through the countryside in any way at all. He certainly didn’t look as though he was thanking his lucky stars he’d fallen in with a wealthy girl who’d proposed marriage to him the night before.

On the contrary. Gregory looked the way a man might look if he was on his way to the scaffold.

A cold hand squeezed at her stomach.

She’d thought that last night in the barn, when he’d told her about his marriage, it had meant that they were becoming close. Which was why she’d blurted out the suggestion that they should marry. But he hadn’t agreed, had he? Just because he’d kissed her, that didn’t mean he wanted to go as far as marrying her, did it? She’d gone and jumped in with both feet again, as Aunt Charity would say, the way she always did. The way her mother always had.

A man like him couldn’t possibly want a girl like her for a wife, could he? How could she have forgotten that she’d made an exhibition of herself by singing in the market place? Or that she’d very nearly killed him by throwing that bit of rock? Men didn’t generally marry women whose behaviour they couldn’t predict. Let alone women who might accidentally kill them if there were any loose rocks to hand.

‘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.