The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne (Rescued from Ruin, Book One) by Elisa Braden Read Free Book Online

of
this,” Harrison warned.
    She glanced up at him and said, “I’m afraid I
am already very much in this, Harrison.” Pushing past her
brother and stepping farther into the drawing room, she met
Lucien’s eyes again, noting that his smile had faded a fair bit.
“Well?”
    “No, my lady. I came with an offer—”
    “Which I have declined,” Harrison
interrupted. “Lord Atherbourne was just leaving.”
    Keeping her eyes fixed on Lucien’s face,
Victoria reached behind her to place a staying hand on her
brother’s arm. “I would like to hear what the offer was,” she said
softly.
    “It was nothing worth—” Harrison began.
    “Lord Atherbourne?” she prompted, watching
his expression as he moved his gaze between hers and her brother’s.
He wasn’t smiling. In fact, he appeared far more serious than she
had yet seen him.
    “I came to offer marriage.”
    It was as though a horse had kicked her in
the chest. How she wished she had been able to hear more of what
was being said from where she had stood eavesdropping behind the
drawing room doors. At least then the shock of his proposal would
have been tempered a bit. Unfortunately, all she had heard was low,
masculine mumbling. Hardly helpful in preparing her for … well, this .
    “You—” She gasped to catch her breath. “You
wish to marry me? After all you’ve done?”
    The faintest flicker of something—guilt,
perhaps? mild chagrin?—passed through his eyes but was gone before
she could identify it. “As I explained to your brother, it is the
only way to ensure the scandal is contained and the consequences to
your future are minimized.”
    She stared at him silently for a long while,
trying to understand this beautiful, dastardly, confounding man.
Altruism hadn’t brought him here today—that much was clear. But
what could his motivation be? And did it matter? He had put her in
a rather desperate position. By definition, that meant her choices
were few and undesirable.
    She felt Harrison’s hands on her shoulders
and his tall form hovering behind her. “Victoria, I do comprehend
why this might seem a convenient solution to a difficult problem,”
he murmured close to her ear. “But this man is dangerous. He has
already shown an appalling lack of conscience where you are
concerned, and I cannot allow—”
    Reaching up to pat Harrison’s hand where it
rested on her shoulder, she nodded to indicate she understood.
Quietly, she asked if she might speak with Atherbourne alone for a
moment. Harrison naturally resisted quite vehemently at first, but
after a few minutes of discussion, in which she pointed out it was
her life and her future at stake, he conceded. “Five minutes,” he
bit out. “Not one second more. And the doors remain open.”
    She nodded, then thanked him as he strode out
into the hall to speak with Digby. Crossing the room, she gestured
toward a pair of chairs in front of the fire. “Shall we sit, my
lord?” she said, then moved to the right chair and sank down into
it, happy to give her jittery legs a rest.
    As Lucien settled his muscular form into the
opposite chair, she almost laughed at the contrast of such a large,
overtly masculine body seated awkwardly in an ornate, Louis XV
chair. Perhaps it was the gilt that did it. Stifling her wandering
thoughts, she began, “Now then, why should I consider marrying you,
my lord?”
    He opened his mouth to speak, but she waved
her hand and immediately clarified, “Aside from rather neatly
resolving the scandal you used as a weapon against my brother.”
    He blinked and paused, clearly surprised by
her bluntness. “You have preempted my most persuasive argument,
Lady Victoria.” The wicked smile slowly returned. He leaned back in
his seat and crossed his arms, giving her an assessing look. “Are
you asking what it would be like to be my wife?”
    His voice had gone low and a bit suggestive,
just as it had been on Lady Gattingford’s terrace. Unfortunately,
knowing he was doing