Page 78 of Road Trip With a Rogue
“Exactly!” Daisy cried. “He only offered out of duty. He doesn’t want me, except physically. If we marry, it will be nothing but a marriage of convenience, and after my mother’s experience, I always said I’d only marry for love. And he doesn’t love me.”
“It sounds as ifyou’realready halfway there, though,” Ellie said bluntly. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
Daisy gave a heartfelt groan. “Ugh. Yes. Not that the idiot deserves it. He’s arrogant and overbearing and positively riddled with flaws. It’s not fair.”
“Love isn’t fair,” Tess said with a grin. “It’s inconvenient and disruptive, but life would be very dull without it. People were moaning about it a thousand years ago, and they’ll be moaning about it a thousand years from now.”
She tilted her head. “You know, Justin only wanted a marriage of convenience when we first met, but he ended up falling for me. Couldn’t that happen with Lucien? Why can’t you make him love you?”
“A strong physical attraction is an excellent start,” Ellie agreed.
“But physical attraction doesn’t last. He’ll tire of me eventually, and then I’ll have the agony of knowing he’s seeing other women.”
“Perhaps. But you’d have the protection of his name and the cushion of his fortune. You’d still have your friends and your job. And you could always take a lover of your own,” Tess suggested. “Besides, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be unfaithful. Men like Vaughan don’t falleasily, but when they do, there are no half measures. It’s all or nothing.”
“And you’re not the sort of woman to accept defeat either,” Ellie said bracingly. “You like nothing better than a challenge. Why not see marrying Vaughan in the same vein? Think of him as a case you have to crack, or a puzzle you need to solve. You’re inventive, clever. Fascinate him. Be like Scheherazade, inThe Arabian Nights. Be so brilliant that he won’t look at another woman for as long as he lives.”
Daisy bit her lip. “You think I should just marry him, then?”
“I don’t see a better alternative. Not unless you want to be banished from society.”
“I could take an extended trip to go and see my mother in Italy. Maybe by the time I come back people will have forgotten?”
“Unlikely. Thetonhas an incredibly long collective memory. Besides, if you’re married to Vaughan, you won’t have to worry about your father trying to foist you off on someone worse.”
“That’s true.”
Tess got to her feet. “So, we have a plan. You’re going to bring Vaughan to his knees, both literally and metaphorically.”
“He hasn’t actually proposed, you know,” Daisy said crossly. “He just keeps announcing that we should get married. I’d give one of my knives to see him on his knees, begging for my hand.”
“You’ve seen my hand, Hamilton. What woman would want something so scarred and unsightly?”
Daisy bit her lips as his previous words rose up to haunt her. She’d laughed at him then, deflected him with a flippant joke. Now, she’d do anything to have him ask again.Tess caught her hand, interrupting her reverie. “The first step in your campaign can be to dazzle him at dinner.” She sent the hastily altered riding habit a scathing look. “Lucky for you, we squeezed in a trip to Madame Lefèvre’s before we left town. She gave us that new dress you ordered last month. We’ll help you get ready.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Why on earth would she refuse to marry you?” Justin potted the green ball in the middle pocket of the billiard table, then glanced at Lucien. “You’re a better catch than half the royal dukes. You’re solvent, sober—most of the time—and you’re not entirely hideous to look at.”
Lucien shrugged and took a sip of his brandy. “She doesn’t care about being a duchess. Or for my fortune. The only reason she’d consider it is to salvage her reputation—and even that doesn’t seem to be a strong enough factor.”
Harry sent him a sidelong glance. “Is that why you want to marry her? To prevent her from being ruined?”
“It’s one factor,” Lucien said slowly. “But not the main one.” He twisted the chalk on the end of his cue and frowned at the table, then waited until Justin was about to pot the blue. “I want to marry her because I can’t imagine marrying anyone else.”
Justin missed the cue ball entirely. He straightened. “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.”
“Are you inlovewith her?”
Lucien bent over the table and casually potted a ball in the corner pocket. “I am. I’ve been in love with her for years, only I was too pigheaded to admit it.”
“Have you toldherthat?” Harry demanded.
Lucien potted another ball. “God, no. She wouldn’t believe me, even if I did. She thinks I’ve only asked her out of some misguided sense of guilt.”
Harry and Justin both nodded, as if this made perfect sense.