Page 33 of Second Duke's the Charm
“Well, on the one side he’s suggesting a cool, businesslike arrangement, for you to marry him and be his wife. And on the other, he’s making an offer based purely on passionate desire.”
Tess dipped a shortbread biscuit into her tea and nibbled on it. “He said they’re both logical solutions to our mutual problem.”
Daisy snorted again. “Logical, my arse. He’s fooling himself. He might be using his brain for the first option, but his cock’s definitely responsible for the second. Men always claim they’re being logical when they’re trying to talk you into bed.”
Ellie chuckled.
“I suppose I always thought that, in a perfect world, the roles of wife and mistress would be happily combined,” Tess said.
“They are, in some marriages,” Ellie said. “Just look at my parents. They’re still nauseatingly happy after more than thirty years of wedlock.”
“But they’re the minority,” Daisy countered. “Happy marriages are few and far between, especially in theton. Just look at my family. They’re worse than a Drury Lane melodrama.”
“Do youwantto be his lover?” Ellie asked.
Tess flushed, but forced herself to be truthful. “I do. I’ve met hundreds of other men and never found them attractive. Thornton’s the only one who’s ever had this effect on me. He makes me all hot and shivery, like I’m both nervous and excited at the same time.”
Daisy shook her head with a wry smile. “You’ve got a terminal case of lust. The only way to stop it from being fatal is to get it out of your system.”
“And what do you suggest, Dr. Hamilton?”
“I prescribe a lengthy course of energetic exercise with a handsome male partner, to raise your heart rate and bring a rosy glow to your skin.” Daisy wiggled her eyebrows.
Tess laughed. “All right, say I do agree to the physical side of his bargain. There’s still the problem of my inexperience. What if I bleed the first time I’m with Thornton, and he finds out that way?”
Daisy set down her teacup. “Actually, we were misinformed on that. Noteveryvirgin bleeds. I didn’t, the first time I was with Tom. Nor any of the times afterward.”
Her face took on a softer cast as she recalled her own “passionate adventure” and Tess sent her a sympathetic look.
Tom Harding had been a handsome rogue, one of the stable hands at Hollyfield. Despite having to keep their liaison a secret, he and Daisy had been inseparable for almost three months, until Tom had been called up to join the army. Tragically, he’d been killed at Waterloo, only a few weeks later.
Despite Daisy protesting that it had merely been a youthful fling, that she’d liked Tom more as a friend than as a lover, she always spoke of their time together with fondness. Tom might not have been the love of her life, but she had no regrets that she’d given herself to him before he’d died.
“Tom said that girls who ride horses don’t always bleed. But if you do, just pretend you pricked your finger on a hatpin or something.”
“It’ll be another lie.” Tess sighed. “I’m trying to avoid those.”
Ellie took another biscuit. “Even if hedoesdiscover you’re a virgin, so what?”
“He’ll be angry with me for lying. He’ll probably go straight out and find another, more experienced woman to satisfy his needs.”
“Which is exactly what he’s going to do after your time together is over, so what difference does it make? You’ll still be a duchess with no husband. What have you got to lose? Apart from your virginity.”
“If I take another lover, he might divorce me for adultery.”
“The legal term is ‘criminal conversation,’” Ellie said absently. “And I doubt he’d do that. He seems to be a man who values his privacy. He won’t want his name dragged through the courts, or to be mocked as a cuckold in every scandal sheet and gossip rag.”
“True, but an absent husband is very different to a dead one,” Tess said. “The old duke wasn’t around to make my life a misery. If I marry Thornton, I’ll lose my widow’s jointure and he’ll control my finances. He could cut off my allowance and lock me up at Wansford.”
“We’d rescue you. And besides, you wouldn’t mind living at Wansford. You love it there.”
“Beside the point. I don’t want to do anything that might threaten King & Co. and steal our independence.”
“If the queen finds proof of your father’s loan to the king and repays it, you won’t need any money from the duchy.”
“There’s no guarantee that loan even exists.” Tesssighed. “And the queen won’t ask her secretaries to look unless we get those letters back.”
Ellie sipped her tea. “As long as Thornton puts a provision for you in the new marriage settlement, you shouldn’t be any worse off than you are now. You should still get a third of the duchy’s income, and lifetime use of the dower house if he dies. But you should negotiate a better deal while he lives. You should ask for full use of Wansford Hall,plusan extra monthly allowance. If he’s as rich as they say, and as keen to marry you for the convenience, he’ll have to pay for the privilege.”