To Marry an Heiress by Lorraine Heath Read Free Book Online Page B

discover about her.
    “You were going to explain what I could expect if we got married,” she said.
    If? Did these Americans never commit to anything?
    “Right,” he answered succinctly. “Our marriage would be typical of the English aristocracy. We would spend the summer in the London house and the rest of the time at my country estate.”
    “ Your country estate?”
    Wealth gave her an advantage over him he didn’t much fancy but knew he would have to accept. He fought to keep the irritation from seeping into hisvoice. It would not do at this early stage of the courtship to give her cause to doubt his sincerity. “ Our country estate.”
    “How would you treat me?”
    “With the utmost respect, naturally.” He glanced over at her, lost in the shadows. He’d suggested the walk because he found it easier to speak when he could not look directly into the eyes of another—when pity was absorbed by the darkness. “And with gratitude. My estate, the life I have always known, is crumbling around me.”
    “You could get a job,” she suggested.
    Or slit his throat, his preferred choice if only allowed the two. “People of my station do not get jobs .”
    “I have to confess I don’t understand your aversion to working.”
    “A gentleman does not work. It is the one remaining aspect of our lives that separates us from the masses.” Those of the middle class who were becoming landowners, those who were acquiring wealth and imitating the aristocracy. Those who could never buy their way into the position in which Devon had been born.
    Men such as her father. Yet it seemed what he couldn’t acquire for himself, he could boldly purchase for his daughter.
    “But if it’s a matter of going hungry—”
    “I am not yet at the point of hunger. Marriage is an acceptable solution. Besides, your father informs me you wish to have a child. That I can give you.”
    “That?”
    She sounded truly horrified. An Englishwomanwould be tripping over herself to gain his favor, and this woman was waging war against the subtle nuances of their conversation.
    “We’re talking about a child—” she began.
    “I realize that,” he interrupted. “I chose my words poorly. I simply meant that I have the ability to give you a son or daughter.”
    “And you’ll be willing to give me a child?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “Will you love this baby or resent him?”
    “Why would I resent it?”
    They had circled back to the spot where they’d begun their journey. She stopped walking and stared at him, giving him the distinct impression she could see through the night into his soul.
    “You strike me as being a proud man,” she said softly. “I suppose I worry you’ll come to resent what marriage to me gained you.”
    “As I stated earlier, you may rest assured that particular circumstance will not happen. I grew up knowing my place in society and understanding well its cost.”
    Distant lights made it easier to see her silhouette. She nodded slightly, and he wondered if she’d been contemplating his words. They seemed wholly inadequate to express what he felt and what he was willing to sacrifice in order to ensure the well-being of Huntingdon. It was not so much the present that concerned him, but the future…and the past.
    He felt as though he was disappointing those who had come before and failing those who would come after.
    “Will it embarrass you to have such an unsophisticated wife?” she asked.
    “Sophistication can be learned.”
    “And if I’ve no desire to be taught?”
    Her tone issued a definite, defiant challenge. What a contradiction she was: hiding out one moment, challenging him the next.
    Obviously she would not change for him. Could he change for her? Whatever embarrassment she might cause him would pale when compared to the mortification he was on the brink of enduring.
    “Then I shall adjust my thinking,” he assured her.
    “Tell me about your family’s estate,” she ordered gently.
    His chest tightened