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“If I marry you I shall have a certain protection. That certainly is appreciated. But what else?”

Again those sculpted lips of his twitched.

“What else?” He echoed calmly.

“That is what you are willing to do for me,” she replied. “I am assuming this is a deal. What is it that you want me to do for you?”

That small ghost of a smile faded quickly from Dominic’s lips and it made Amelia grow rigid.

“As I said earlier, I have no proclivity for an unwilling paramour. This deal will not brokered by forced sexual favors.” He replied with a bitter note in his voice.

Amelia felt her cheeks flush at the provocative word, not expecting the bluntness of it. Suddenly she wondered if the very thought of participating in such acts with her were off-putting to her, and she felt a bitter shot of disappointment.

Yes, she had put off finding a husband because of her bruised feelings toward men and her ever-floundering reputation, but some small part of her had hoped that if she could marry, it would be with a man that would show her not just love, but passion. The kind she read of so often in her books.

“Excluding that,” she said slowly, dismissing her feelings, “There must be something you want from me.”

“If we were to be married you would be a duchess,” he clarified, “Therefore it would stand to reason that you step in and fill the roles as such.”

Amelia nodded. That was a fair and rational request. After all if he was willing to act as her husband, she should be willing in some capacity to act as his wife. And she had been trained extensively by her mother to undertake such duties; though there would be a learning curve when it came to the esteemed status of a duchess. More hosting, more delegating. But she could handle it. For the life he’d just spared her. She could do this.

“Very well,” she said at last, clasping her hands tightly together.

“And you stay out of London,” he dictated. “Out of sight and out of mind from theton.You will accept your new life at Ellsworth.”

“Why would I want to return here anyway?” She scoffed.

Dominic gave a simple nod.

“I remember a vague conversation you and I had at Seraphina’s baby shower,” he went on. “You stated that you wanted to be a woman that could do whatever she wanted. There will be rules to our unorthodox marriage. You cannot damage my reputation, and I will not damage yours. That being said, however, given the agreement we just settled on, if you use discretion you may go after a bit of the freedom you spoke of.”

Amelia’s brows flew to her forehead as her lips parted in shock.

“Truly?” She asked.

Dominic shrugged his powerful shoulders.

“If you respect my privacy and my freedoms, I shall respect yours. Can you agree on that?”

Perhaps this is a better bargain than I thought,she mused silently as she nodded.

“Very good,” Dominic stated, then reached for the door.

She stared at him in strange wonder as he called the driver back to them, and gave him Theo’s address.

“What are we going there for?” She asked as they started to move again.

“You are certainly not going back to your father’s house,” Dominic said with a rueful chuckle, “And you cannot yet come back to mine. A private residence, I suspect, would be too isolating for you after the night you had. Theo is your dear friend and her parents are very tolerant to overnight guests. Therefore you will stay with Theo until we are married.”

“And when will that be?” Amelia asked.

“I have certain connections,” Dominic replied. “We can have the license and ceremony in three days.”

* * *

“Sarah! Lydia!” Amelia gasped.

The wedding ceremony had come and gone in a blur, her mind so addled that she hadn’t noticed who was and was not among the small crowd of guests. She still hadn’t mentally recovered from the night of the auction; her fear often taking hold of her at random moments and stealing her away for bouts of time. When she would come out of it, she often had to take a moment to prove to herself that it was over, she was safe, and would have to re-familiarize herself with wherever she was and whatever she was doing.