A Shocking Proposition by Elizabeth Rolls Read Free Book Online

and his brother the duke and Mr. Blakiston witnessed the signatures. There were three copies, now all formally signed and witnessed. One would be kept with Blakiston, one at Haydon and one with the Ravensfell family records to safeguard both parties to the transaction. She had to remember that, no matter that Ash could set every nerve in her body alight, it was just that: a business transaction.
    It was done. She hoped.
    “It...it is binding, isn’t it?” she asked. “Legally?”
    Mr. Blakiston nodded. “This is your twenty-first birthday. You are of age and your marriage—” he pulled out his watch “—in half an hour will ratify the contract, bring it into force.”
    The vicar, Mr. Parmenter, was hovering in the background. “Perhaps, Miss Kirkby, you might like to come back to the vicarage for a few moments. A time for solemn reflection and prayer?”
    Ash spoke. “I should like to speak to Miss Kirkby for a moment.” His voice was as hard as the gaze that held hers. She swallowed. What had happened? They had signed the settlements. Surely he wasn’t having doubts now?
    She hesitated. “Thank you Mr. Parmenter, but I should like to speak to Lord Ashton privately, please.”
    The vicar frowned. Clearly leaving the bride and groom alone before the wedding, whatever had to happen afterward, was not at all usual. Especially not in his vestry. Bad enough that the wedding was so hasty, and there had been this mad scramble to sign the contracts within half an hour of the wedding. He opened his mouth, probably to object—
    “Of course, of course,” said the duke cheerfully. “The duchess and I will accept your offer, Parmenter. Very kind. A cup of tea would be just the thing, wouldn’t it, my lady?”
    The duchess rose to the occasion. “Indeed it would.” She shepherded the vicar out with a question about the stone carving around the font. “Most interesting. Quite unusual. Is it Saxon?”
    The door clicked shut behind the duke and they were alone.
    “Why the changes to the settlements, Maddy?” His voice was clipped and hard.
    Maddy frowned. Was that all that was bothering him? “They weren’t fair. Essentially they gave Haydon back to me in its entirety. Now it will belong to us jointly.”
    Ash muttered something under his breath. “Damn it, Maddy!” he went on. “The settlements were supposed to protect you!”
    “They still do.” she said. “Now they protect you as well. And if I die without heirs, Haydon is yours.” Most marriage settlements ensured that any property brought by the bride ended up firmly in her husband’s hands, unless her relatives or trustees insisted otherwise. Under the circumstances, having practically begged Ash to marry her, she had not made any stipulations to the contrary.
    “What the devil were you thinking?” he demanded. “Haydon should have been yours, Maddy! And I don’t need protecting!”
    “No, but—”
    “So, why? Why did you do it?”
    “Because I wanted Haydon to be ours ,” she said, simply. “It’s more mine, that way.”
    His jaw dropped. “Then perhaps my birthday gift is not as foolish as I feared,” he said, very softly. “Here.”
    He reached into his pocket and drew out something small. “We found it together,” he said, handing it to her.
    It rested in her hand. Small, solid and warm. The little bronze horse that had endured hidden for so long. Maddy’s throat tightened as she saw again the bright summer’s day he’d found it, the sky a wild arc of windswept blue above them, and Ash, his fingers and eyes reverent as he brushed centuries of dirt from the little figure. In a queer way it was not just a gift from Ash, but from Haydon itself, to both of them.
    A gift from the past, to their future. Her fingers closed over the little horse as tears pricked the back of her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered, and stretched up on tiptoe to kiss him.
    She was aiming for his jaw, but somehow with a slight movement of his head, she