Page 12 of Love, the Duke (Say I Do #3)
C HAPTER 12
MAN’S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO APPREHENDING A THIEF
SIR BENTLY ASHTON ULLINGSWICK
Avoid danger at all costs.
Hurst caught himself, as well as Ophelia, off guard. They were both speechless, staring at each other in astonishment.
He hadn’t planned to say, “ Marry me .” Hadn’t even thought about the possibility of proposing to her today or any day, but the moment the words left his mouth unbidden, he knew he meant them. They felt right. She felt right for him. He’d known it the first night they’d met, the way he was attracted to her even though he shouldn’t have been. The way he was still attracted to her even though he shouldn’t be. However, from the expression on her face, he wasn’t sure she was as convinced as him that they were meant to be together and should marry.
He pushed aside his instinct to pull her close, smell the scent of her fresh-washed hair, nuzzle the warmth at the curve of her neck, and kiss the slight swell of breasts showing so pillowy soft from above the neckline of her velvet spencer. She wouldn’t be convinced they should marry because of enticing kisses and sweet words. Nor because he’d felt she was the one for him almost the moment he saw her. Ophelia needed a reason and a plan.
When he’d held her in his arms and kissed her, damnation, he hadn’t wanted to stop, hadn’t wanted to let go of her. She was where she belonged. With him. Of all the women he’d been with or could have been with, he had no doubt she was the one lady for him.
Ophelia suddenly took a cautious step back and looked behind her and around the garden as if to make certain no one was listening or watching. “What did you say?”
“Marry me,” he said again without any reservation. Hurst didn’t mind repeating it. He felt as sure of it as he ever had about anything in his life. There was so much more than his desire for her. She was strong, loyal, and filled with more determination than a young lady should have. He admired her courageous spirit and certainly wanted his sons to have her attributes.
“We should go inside, and I’ll make my offer official by asking your mother’s permission for your hand in marriage.”
“Wait.” Her voice remained confident and steady. “You are talking too fast, Your Grace.” She straightened her shoulders and moistened her lips. There was a determined set to her expression and validity in her eyes. “I know it’s what the church believes, but I didn’t think you would be catering to their strict views. Just because I allowed you to kiss me, and I kissed you in return, doesn’t mean you have to ask me to marry you. No one will ever be the wiser about what just happened between us. Especially if we act normal and forget it happened ourselves.”
Forget how she felt as if she belonged in his arms? Belonged to him as his wife? That would never happen.
Hurst smiled. Her response was so clear, rational, and charming he wanted to pull her and kiss her again. Her innocence and absence of guile or pretense were easy to add to the many things he enjoyed about her and made him want her all the more.
“You think I’m asking you to be my wife to keep there from being damage to your reputation?”
“Of course, but have no worries, Your Grace. Unlike some and even most people in the church and Society, I don’t believe I am ruined for another man or for life. It was a kiss, not a—a union between us. That would be cause for concern that we couldn’t possibly overcome, but I am not compromised. You don’t have to be concerned about my reputation or my stability in handling this situation.”
Situation?
She never ceased to amaze him. Her tenacious spirit had been evident from the moment he’d laid eyes on her, and he was still drawn to it like a beast to beauty.
“That’s not why I want to marry you.”
Ophelia gave him a quizzical look and folded her arms across her chest in a proud stance. “Please don’t tell me that, at last, you have an attack of conscience and feel you must offer for my hand as a belated way of honoring your promise to my brother. You’re too late for that.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d spoken to him in such an impertinent way. He had come to expect it and oddly looked forward to their spirited, spritely exchanges.
“Indeed, I am too late, and no, I don’t feel I have to do anything to atone for that.” But in hindsight, he wished he’d gone to see Winston instead of keeping his promise to his aunt and tending to the blights that had ravaged his lands when he returned to London. He had no doubt that the current relationship between him and Ophelia wouldn’t be so complicated if he’d made different decisions. His eyes narrowed. “Maybe you are still upset with me because I didn’t agree to marry you when your brother asked me to and feel you can’t trust me?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She puffed a loud breath and glanced around the garden again as if needing time to gather her thoughts. “I didn’t even know he was going to impose on you and ask. If I had known, I would have had him not do it and he wouldn’t have. Winston would have never done anything I asked him not to. He considered it his place to care for me after Papa died, and he did. There were those who offered for my hand, but I wasn’t interested. He never tried persuading me to settle on anyone even when there was a gentleman who would have helped our station in life.”
So, she had other offers of marriage. That wasn’t surprising. “So then, did Winston only decide to tell you he contacted me after I refused to offer?” That seemed a little cruel.
“No, of course not.”
Her eyes seemed to bore directly into his, and for a moment he was sure he saw a glistening at the corners. “I’m sorry if asking about this upsets you.”
Ophelia seemed to swallow hard again and took in a deep silent breath. “It never upsets me to talk about my brother. He was the kindest man I’ve ever known. He never told me anything about contacting you. I don’t believe he ever would have. I found a copy of the letter he sent to you and your reply when we were searching among his things for the chalice. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have ever known.”
“I’m glad that’s not the reason you often seem to find yourself dismayed with me.”
“What unsettles me about you is that you were too busy with your own life and you let your good friend down and never went to see him when you knew he was ill.”
“That is a regret I’ll always carry with me, but it can’t be undone.”
“No, it can’t.” She nodded once and lifted her shoulders. “So, now that is settled and we have that business about marriage finished, I will bid you goodbye.”
Settled? Finished?
Most ladies would have accepted his proposal immediately and other issues be damned. But not his beautiful, headstrong Ophelia.
And it was probably best for him not to try to explain to her what he was feeling about marrying her. That she had somehow been destined for him long before her brother wrote to him proposing marriage, or the first time he’d met her. It was difficult to understand and would be even harder for him to express the instinct that he knew to be true. He’d been waiting for her. No one else would do.
A more practical approach would be far better for her.
“My wanting to marry you has nothing to do with your brother at all. One of the reasons I didn’t make it to see him was because I had plans to visit my aunt. She had arranged for me to meet three different ladies in hopes I’d agree to marry one of them. I’ll be thirty-one in a matter of weeks. I need a wife and you’re the one I want.”
She blew out an audible breath. “I am a simple vicar’s daughter. You are a duke.”
“You are a member of Society by birth as am I,” he argued. “And I can assure you that your father was better than mine.”
“That aside, I know nothing about being a duchess.”
His breath hitched. Did that mean she was receptive to the idea? “You don’t need to. You can learn the same way I had to learn about being a duke. You didn’t know anything about sneaking around in houses looking for a thief either, but you have done a very fine job learning how to do that.”
She screwed up her face as if wondering if she should thank him for the compliment or rail against him for the slight. “I read a book that has been somewhat helpful.”
How could he forget that? “Ophelia, what I am offering you is an arranged marriage of sorts.”
That obviously piqued her interest. She looked at him closely to determine what he was trying to explain. “What kind of an arrangement?”
He grinned. “You mean other than a marriage of me conveniently saving you from Newgate?”
Ophelia pursed her lips and then frowned. “I’ll have you know I haven’t come close to getting caught.”
“Except by me,” he said with a hint of devilment in his tone and shining in his eyes. “So far. How long do you think your luck on that will last? I’m offering a marriage that will benefit you and me. I have been wanting to marry for a long time.” She didn’t need to know how long. “You will give me an heir to continue the title. I will do more to help you search for the chalice.”
Her brows and lashes lifted in concern. “There were over a dozen young ladies at the Duke of Wyatthaven’s ball and close to that number at the card party. Every one of them was almost begging to give you an heir.”
“I know.” He gave her another amused grin. “But I’m not asking them. I’m asking you.”
A small flicker of emotion flashed in her blue eyes. “I don’t know why I’m the one you want to marry when you’re constantly annoyed with me and don’t even like me.”
He stepped closer to her as he slowly shook his head. “Oh, no, Ophelia. That is where you are wrong. I more than like you. I desire you and find myself constantly thinking about you and your enchantingly bold ways. There is a powerful attraction between us and has been from the first. Will you admit that?”
“Yes,” she answered in an unhurried voice. “I’m not sure I understand it since we have a difficult time seeing eye to eye on something that is very important to me.”
He wasn’t sure he understood it either, but he had no doubt it was real. And right now, he couldn’t help but have a pang of remorse that he’d rejected Winston’s suggestion. If he’d accepted, Ophelia would already be his. He wondered if maybe Winston had somehow foreseen his sister and Hurst were meant to be together.
“Desiring each other is quite important in a marriage, Ophelia. After our kisses, I think it’s quite clear we see eye to eye on that.”
He watched her breathing kick up. So did his.
“In any case, I think you are being hasty, Your Grace. Marriage is sacred and for life. It shouldn’t be taken lightly and certainly not simply just for the thrills of wanting a few kisses.”
Only a few? Never.
She really didn’t know what magic, wonder, and contentment awaited her in the marriage bed. That made thoughts of showing her even more exciting.
“I’m not taking anything lightly,” he admitted honestly.
“Why don’t you continue to help me as you have with your cousin and the book? I think, perhaps, you see marrying me as some sort of grand redemption because of your past misdeeds.”
Ophelia was right. He was full of misdeeds. With a father like his there was no choice but to sometimes do the wrong thing. Hurst wasn’t looking for any kind of liberation from them. Not concerning his father or even for the promise he’d made when he was a boy. There were many things Hurst would change in his past if he could, but he didn’t think about them anymore.
“And what are you are seeking?” he asked her in return. “Revenge against me?” He softened his frown into a smile as he looked into her eyes and brushed the strand of hair that had been bothering her all afternoon behind her ear again. His fingertips trickled across her cheek as his gaze sailed down her face. “Because I am the beast you didn’t expect and not the angel of rescue you wanted.”
The tenderness in her eyes and expression let him know he was right, but it gave him no pleasure.
“Redemption and revenge are powerful motivators, and hard to settle in reality and in one’s mind.”
“Forget about both and say you will marry me, Ophelia. You will get the help you need to find the chalice and I’ll get an heir with your strong attributes.”
She clasped her hands together at her waistline and held them tightly together. A wrinkle appeared at the beautiful space between her eyes as she studied hard on what he said. “And will you allow me to continue in my pursuit my way?”
“Everything you are doing—except searching homes, of course.”
“But that is where the vessel is.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I feel it in here.” She placed her hand on her chest.
“All right. Once you are my wife, I will look at your list and ask the gentlemen written there if we could possibly come and look at their book room because you want to renovate mine. That way you won’t need to slip away and search on your own. You could help by asking the friends and the hosts of parties to give us tours of their homes or just the book rooms. But it will take time to get around to the peers you haven’t already cleared from your list. While we wait, you must give me your word you will stop doing it on your own. You will be a duchess, Ophelia. I can’t have you traipsing around other people’s homes unescorted on a wild goose chase.”
That stiffened her spine instantly and set her lips in a straight line. “You can’t have me? You are not my guardian. You are not responsible for me.”
“I will be after we marry,” he insisted ardently. “I may not have agreed to what your brother asked of me, but he chose me to ask for your hand, not someone else. Did you see where he had written letters to any other gentlemen asking if they would agree to marry you?”
“No. Only you,” she answered heatedly.
“Right,” he confirmed, feeling his temper rising at the frustration of not getting the simple yes he desired from her. “Because he wanted me to take care of you and take responsibility for you. He must have had some inkling you’d be doing something to get yourself in trouble. Now, say you’ll marry me.”
“If I marry you, I will be obligated to abide by my vows to obey your wishes, will I not?”
He shrugged as the cool breeze rustled the budding tree limbs overhead. “That is the way of it. All wedding vows are to be honored.”
“I’ve always believed that too. The wife listens to the husband, and he to her, but in the end, he is the one who has final decision over disagreements.”
His gaze focused fully on hers, and in a more relaxed tone, he said, “I agree with that.”
“And that’s why I can’t marry you.”
Hurst stared at her with growing irritation. What the devil was this all about? Was she just being stubborn? Hurst let his gaze slowly peruse her lovely face. She wasn’t just making idle talk, she was serious, and that was concerning. “I’m not asking anything of you that is impossible for you to do.”
“As your wife, I would feel duty bound to honor my vows to you and follow your wishes and not deliberately disobey something you had forbidden me to do, so I will not make wedding vows I can’t say I intend to keep.”
“Of course you wouldn’t.” Frustration knotted in his stomach and the back of his neck. He shook his head again. “That’s what wives do. Why would you have a problem keeping your vows to me? I’m giving you what you’ve wanted, Ophelia. My help. I’ll hire a runner from Bow Street to start looking into the theft immediately. I’ll hire men to look through every shop in London and elsewhere if necessary to see if it’s been sold.”
Interest flared in her eyes. “Will you hire one to sneak into the houses in the middle of the night through a window? Is that how he would get inside to look in the book rooms?”
“Of course not.” He didn’t like that possibility any better than what Ophelia had been doing. And damnation, he didn’t like having to work so hard to get her to say yes. He was doing the best thing for her and for him. “I’ve told you it’s wrong to invade the privacy of another person’s home and start looking through their things and taking what you want.”
“Did that happen to you?”
“What?” Hurst relaxed his stiffened body. Once again, he’d said too much to her. He couldn’t let her drag him into a past he had no intention of talking about. “I don’t know what is to be done until I talk to a runner. I’m sure there are many things he would do, including going to Wickenhamden to question some of the—”
“Wickenhamden?” she interrupted quickly.
Hurst forced himself to talk normally, though it was hard when she sounded outraged, but he was outraged too. He’d always known she was unreasonable when it came to what she was trying to accomplish.
Exasperated, he offered, “The usual place to start an investigation is at the scene of the crime.”
“But he can’t do that. Maman and I have gone to great lengths to keep this matter quiet. If someone travels there to ask questions about the chalice, it will raise suspicions and the vicar or someone else might go looking for it. That is the last thing I’d want a runner to do. I’ve told you no one knows it’s missing, and we must keep it that way. Besides, I believe it’s here in London. This is where we need to be looking.”
Hurst rubbed the back of his neck again. It seemed everything he was saying was the wrong thing. He knew how important this was to her. “But the truth is you don’t know where it is,” he insisted. “Maybe the runner won’t need to go to Wickenhamden. Maybe he knows what questions to ask without making anyone curious. You wanted my help, Ophelia. I’m trying to do that.”
“Yes, help,” she argued. “Not that you would take over and do everything the way you want instead of what I want.”
“Your way isn’t working,” he insisted.
She gasped.
He realized how harsh his words sounded before he saw the depth of hurt in her eyes. Their color changed from bright to a dark stormy blue. Regret and anger at himself pierced him sharp as the tip of a blade. She knew she wasn’t getting anywhere. It hadn’t been necessary for him to say it out loud.
Ophelia’s whole body seemed to lift in indignation. “I’m not doing this to gain some type of curious pleasure for myself but because I must. I will not promise to submit to your will concerning my quest, so therefore I cannot marry you, but I do thank you for the Debrett’s book and your offer of marriage.”
Without looking at him again, she reached down, picked up the book, and hurried around the corner of the house. Moments later, he heard the door shut.
For a second, he thought to follow her inside, but he caught himself and didn’t. She needed time to think. So did he.
He hadn’t won her over. Fine, but he wouldn’t let her lofty rejection stand. A man was supposed to enjoy the hunt of pursuing the lady he wanted. He’d always understood that, but the truth was now that he’d decided he wanted Ophelia, he didn’t want to wait. He had already hunted and found. All he had to do was capture her.