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took up his wineglass, which had just been filled. “How do you hunt without the hounds?”

      “There’s a bitch in the stables that’s still good, and a dog or two who’ll be up for a romp occasionally, but they’re too lazy to run for long.”

      “They need training, that is all. And steady exercise to build up their endurance.” Looking to Helena, who had maintained a decorous quiet during this entire exchange, he asked, “Do you hunt, my lady?”

      Her lowered lashes lifted lazily. “No, Mr. Mannion, I do not have the slightest interest in chasing poor, defenseless animals. There seems to me to be no good reason for this exercise other than to experience a rush of pleasure at having demonstrated superiority over a hare.”

      “You put it so cheerfully,” he countered as a servant came to proffer a plate loaded with pheasant, “that it makes me absolutely champ at the bit to get out there and track the wretched beasts. I believe it my most profound duty to drive them down into the ground, where they belong.”

      She tried to appear cool, but her lips twitched before she lowered her gaze back to her plate. When the servant came to her, Helena selected a few morsels.

      “Excuse me…Bissel, is it?” Adam asked. “Ah, then, Bissel, if you would place a few more slices of the fowl on your mistress’s plate, it would please me.”

      “Excuse me,” Helena interrupted archly. “You are not presuming to select my food for me, are you?”

      “Indeed, I am. I am concerned about your health, Helena. You skip meals and eat sparingly whenever you do take a meal.”

      “Let me guess.” Her smirk was childish, but it actually looked good on her. She was angry, and the emotion gave color to her cheeks and made those blue-green eyes sparkle radiantly in the candlelight. “You prefer your women plump.”

      “I enjoy many things in a woman, not the least of which is a pleasant disposition, but I am not aiming to please myself. I simply thought that since you were to be fitted for some new dresses, you might want to see to filling them out a bit.”

      She reacted as if he had slapped her. “How dare you make reference to my garments and their…fit.”

      “I was merely observing that it must get damned tiresome being so scrawny.”

      The look in her eyes was murderous. “Did you hear that, Father?”

      “Yes,” Rathford agreed mildly, not at all offended on his daughter’s behalf. “The man has appalling manners, I agree, my dear. Nevertheless, he is correct. You look like an urchin. It’s about time someone told you so.”

      “Father!” She sprang to her feet, clearly devastated. “I cannot believe you would take sides against me.”

      Leveling a serious look at her, Rathford said solemnly, “Never, Daughter. That I’d not do. And if you listen closely, you’ll not hear a disparaging word in what I said. It is merely the unfortunate truth.”

      “Sit down, Helena,” Adam interjected. “I am getting tired of you running out of a room every time you realize you cannot win an argument.”

      She waited a long time before she did anything. Adam was half-afraid she’d dismiss his taunt and run, anyway.

      “Will it help if I ask nicely?” he said, wanting to offer something in return when she slowly sank back down in her seat. “Please eat your pheasant. There. And have the carrots, too.”

      “I will eat what I wish, and you can be damned.”

      Adam merely smiled back at her. “Did you hear that, Lord Rathford?”

      “Indeed, and I agree with her. Now shut up and eat before I resort to paddling the pair of you and sending you off to bed without dessert.”

      Adam addressed the contents of his plate with gusto, pretending not to notice how Helena ate. He would not have put it past her to deny herself out of defiance against him. But she didn’t. She consumed a healthy portion at dinner and had a slice of iced sweetroll for dessert. He even detected her stirring more cream into her coffee than he had seen her use last night.

      He couldn’t keep from crowing to himself at his victory. This marriage might just be fine, after all. All he had to do is refer to his wife as “scrawny” and she’d do his will.

      God, that thought—of Helena doing his will—brought up images no man should have about a woman while sitting in the presence of her father.

      Chapter Seven

      Some days were too winsome to bear. Everything about them was perfection, from the soft yellow of the sunshine, and the sweet smelling breeze, to the call of birdsong, sounding so brave and promising in the wood.

      There wouldn’t be many of these days left in the summer. Already the foliage was beginning to wilt and brown, and the promise of cooler times ahead made the mild weather all that much more precious.

      It was a day such as this when Helena and Adam left the manor and headed in a stylish curricle down to the village. Kepper must have been hard at work to get the vehicle in order. The smell of fresh paint was detectable, as was the lemon oil used to rub the hide seats clean and supple. In no way was it a luxurious conveyance such as Adam’s friends in London utilized, but it was a damned sight better than he had expected. As was Helena. She appeared bedecked in a scarlet cloak and wearing an air of indifference that was as thin as the gossamer tucker folded into the neckline of her dress.

      Climbing into the open carriage, she didn’t say a word.

      Adam took the reins and pulled out.

      After a broad silence, he said, “The banns will be read Sunday.” He kept his eyes trained on the road ahead. “It is useful that we are going together on this outing. It is helpful for us to be seen together. It won’t come as so much of a shock to your friends, then, when the news comes.”

      “There is no one I call friend.” She said it without any hint of sadness or regret.

      He was startled. “How odd. Are you such a misanthrope?”

      “I am simply a private person.” He heard the rustle of her dress as she twisted in her seat. It was an anxious motion. “Which no doubt meets with your disapproval. Everything I do seems to meet with your disapproval.”

      “Not entirely. I like your hair that way, for instance. Your rudeness to me, however, that is an entirely different matter.”

      “Oh, really? And how am I supposed to act toward the man who has so gallantly ridden all the way from London to claim a purse. Oh, and take a bride in the process, a rather minimal consideration.”

      “I do not think it so unusual. Most girls of your illustrious acquaintance no doubt never met their husbands before their papas picked them for them. I always thought it an odd custom of the aristocracy to treat their children like cattle, to be matched and bred for the good of the estate. Don’t tell me you don’t know this.”

      “I am no sapskull. I am rather better versed on the ‘odd customs’ of the aristocracy than you, I should think.”

      “Touché. I am, after all, a lowly commoner. Completely unworthy of your exaltedness.”

      Her voice was full of accusation. “You sound bitter, Mr. Mannion.”

      “Come to think of it, how is it you escaped the net of marriage? Did your father never find a suitable man who was willing to brave your harpy tongue?” Adam looked over at her, his gaze taking in her stiff profile, her face turned resolutely ahead. “Or were you waiting for love, Helena?”

      “For your information, I was engaged once.”

      “Pray tell what happened.”

      “He preferred someone else.”

      The news was a jolt to Adam, wiping

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