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“But—”

“This girl is a commoner,” Henry pointed out. “She’ll be marrying above her station. Anyone with a lick of sense willknowwhy she’s marrying you. They won’t have to search for another reason. She’s doing it for the money and for the title.”

That was a good point. Conor hadn’t thought about that.

“You assume she doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into,” Henry said. “Perhaps she does. Perhaps she trulywantsto marry you.”

“I don’t see why any woman would.”

“Do you think so little of yourself?”

“No, I just think my reputation is that bad.”

“Well, maybe she doesn’t care about that. It’s possible for people not to care about their reputation, you know. I would have thought you’d know that better than anyone.”

Conor laughed. “You make a reasonable point.”

“I know I do. That’s why you brought me in to talk sense into you about this.”

“But I can’t be sure,” Conor said. “I can’t just assume that the girl is interested in marrying me.”

“You don’t have to assume anything,” Henry said. “Haven’t you been listening? Talk to her.Askher what she wants. Tell Dawson you can’t make a decision about his offer until you’ve had the opportunity to get to know his daughter personally. It’s more than sensible.”

“Do you think so?”

“I think he’d be mad to refuse you. And once you’ve met her, you’ll be able to figure out whether she’s afraid of your scary, scary reputation.” Henry laughed. “I very much doubt it, by the way.”

“It would be nice to have all the information,” Conor admitted.I’d feel much more comfortable making this decision if I didn’t feel like I was deciding for someone else, someone I’ve never met. If she seems frightened of me, I can always decline the offer. And if she seems to like me, I’ll feel much better about saying yes.

Henry nodded, as if everything he had said was no more than obvious. “And it’ll give you a chance to see if you actually want to marry her, too,” he said. “I think you should, but I guess if she’s awful to look at—”

“She’s not, I told you.”

“Or if she has an unpleasant personality, then you might want to rethink your options and make another choice.” He grinned. “Either way, a meeting is exactly what you need.”

“You’re right,” Conor decided. He swallowed the last of his scotch. It warmed him on the way down, and he smiled. He was already feeling better, more sure of himself. He knew what he needed to do now, and that was more than he had been able to say an hour ago.

“Good,” Henry said. “Are we done with this, then? Because I’d like to open the club for the night, if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead.” Conor waved a hand in the direction of the door, indicating that Henry should begin admitting the evening’s clientele.

“Are you going to go talk to Dawson right now?” Henry asked.

“No,” Conor said. “I think I’ll wait until morning before I speak to him.”

Henry nodded. “Good idea. Let him fret about it for a while before you put him out of his misery.”

Conor nodded, uninterested in correcting his friend, but the truth was that Henry had it wrong. He wasn’t trying to cause Dawson any further anguish. Now that he had decided on his course, he was ready to carry it out.

But if he went to give his answer in the morning, he felt there was probably a better chance that he would get to see Astrid right away.

And, he found, he wanted to see her as soon as possible.

Now that he had set aside his worries about which course of action was the right one, all he could think about was the lovely young woman who had been offered as a wife.

He couldn’t wait to get to know her better.

Chapter 8