LITMIR.BIZ

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are extremely fond of your brother, are you not?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘You would do nothing to hurt him, I trust?’

      ‘Of course not!’

      ‘Then—’ the muscles of his jaw clenched as though he was steeling himself to proceed ‘—having given the matter careful consideration, I believe the best solution for all concerned, is for us to marry.’

      There! He had said it. He had already written to arrange an appointment to speak to her maternal uncle, Lord Callandar, before he had discovered she was not only the wanton Miss Hebden, but also Rick’s sister. Not that it made one jot of difference in the long run. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. It had almost floored him to discover that the temptress whose charms he had sampled under the frosty moonlight, was the same woman one of his closest friends had always described as a paragon. A woman he had decided to help out of the difficulties she was experiencing.

      He had been sure he was doomed to a miserable marriage with a scheming hussy. And as he got progressively more drunk as he saw a long, miserable future pan out before him, married to a woman he could feel no respect for, he began to wish he had not been so picky with Rick, when he had told him Midge needed a husband. He had always thought she had sounded like a really nice girl. Once upon a time, he had thought that if he ever married, he would want it to be to a girl like her. Someone who would be a loyal companion to him, even when they both grew old.

      And though he had believed such happiness could now never be his, since he was committed to marrying Miss Hebden, he had decided to do what he could for Rick’s little sister. Life had been hard on her. She deserved a shot at happiness. And so he had spent the day scouring town for men he knew would appreciate what she had to bring to a marriage. When by rights, he should have gone straight to Lord Callandar’s house and sealed his own fate.

      Not that it made any difference now. Miss Hebden was Midge. The girl Rick had said would enjoy romping about the estates with his neglected little brothers. The girl who would be well able to cope with his difficult father, having nursed her own cantankerous stepfather through his final illness.

      The girl who, he saw out of the corner of his eye, was looking at him as though he had lost his mind.

      ‘What, me and you?’ She was now saying it as though the idea had never occurred to her. ‘M-marry?’

      He gave her the benefit of a cynical smile. ‘Why not?’ The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. He had been attracted to her from the first moment he had seen her. Even though he had known her only as the scandalous Miss Hebden. Now that he had learned more about her background, he could perhaps understand what had driven her to employ such desperate measures to get herself a husband. And there was no denying that she would cope with the situation at Shevington far better than most women.

      ‘Why not?’ she glanced over her shoulder at the groom, who bore the wooden expression of a servant pretending not to eavesdrop, and lowered her voice. ‘Well, to start with, there is my reputation!’

      He blinked. He had not expected her to argue. Leap up and down, and shout with triumph, perhaps. But not to argue.

      ‘Explain,’ he bit out curtly.

      ‘Oh, come! You know all about my mother and father. And I noticed that you took good care not to introduce me as Miss Hebden last night. It is quite obvious that you cannot want the daughter of such a notorious couple in your family!’

      ‘Don’t be absurd!’ Nothing had been further from his mind. In fact, his mind had not been engaged at all when he had first realized that Midge and Miss Hebden were one and the same person. He had just acted from some deep, visceral objection to permitting any other man to make any kind of overture towards his woman. Not that he was about to admit to the wave of possessiveness that had overwhelmed him, the moment she had removed that cloak, and revealed the lush figure he had held in his arms the night before. It would be a grave error at this stage, to let her know what a hold she had over him. She was the kind of woman who would use it to her advantage! So, in a voice that even he felt was verging on the pious, he said, ‘I was considering Rick’s feelings last night. I did not want him to be hurt. And he would be, if he knew men were making wagers about which of them—’ He stopped short.

      But Imogen knew the nature of the speculation rife about her.

      He allowed the horses to trot for several yards, before saying in a more conciliatory tone, ‘No family is ever free from scandal, in one form or another. My own father’s third marriage, for instance, was most unfortunate. His wife was far too young to marry a man already twice widowed, who wished to live in rural seclusion. She had—’ he paused, settling his face into a determinedly blank expression ‘—a series of very well-documented affairs. My father is still haunted by doubts about the legitimacy of my young twin brothers, though naturally, he acknowledges them as his.’

      Imogen gasped, and half turned to him on her seat. ‘I do not know what to say.’

      ‘Just agree to marry me, that is all I want to hear you say,’ he said grimly.

      ‘But you surely cannot want to—’

      He cut her off impatiently. ‘Rick must surely have told you how things stand for me. The earl is desperate to see me married. He cannot bear the thought I might die childless. And now you know why. He wants his own offspring to inherit his lands. Besides which, the longer I dally in town, the less chance I will have…Matters at Shevington are not…’ He shook his head. ‘I should be there.’

      Imogen remembered her aunt telling her that the old man was at death’s door, and laid a hand on his sleeve. ‘I am so sorry. I forgot how unwell he is. Of course, I understand how important it is you get your future settled. But it cannot be with me…’

      ‘I fail to see why. Rick knows us both well, and assures me we would suit.’

      Why on earth was she persisting in saying she did not want to marry him, when she had been doing her utmost to entrap him for weeks? Unless, it suddenly occurred to him, his behaviour on the terrace outside Lady Carteret’s ballroom had frightened her. He probed the inside of his bruised lower lip with the tip of his tongue. The first slap had been delivered in a spurt of temper, but those punches…

      Had he really scared her so much she could no longer bear the thought of marrying him? He felt a frisson of guilt in regard to his conduct towards her. He had insulted her, manhandled her and torn her gown. He shifted uneasily in his seat. At Limmer’s, later on, Rick had told him, his face grim, that his sister had been taken suddenly ill and begged him to take her home. He had been too sunk in his own gloomy reflections to bother questioning him, particularly when Rick proved reluctant to talk. But now he saw she must have been in quite a state for Rick to have felt it was more important to take her home, than storm straight outside and demand satisfaction.

      He glanced down at her, sitting rigid on the seat beside him, her hands clenched into fists in her lap as though she still wanted to hit him.

      Well, it made no difference. He had made up his mind to marry her, and that was all there was to it.

      ‘Miss Hebden,’ he said sternly, ‘I have promised Rick I will look after you. The only effective way to do that is to marry you. He feels guilty for the way his father mismanaged your affairs, and is concerned about how unhappy your maternal relatives are making you. Surely you do not want him to go back to France with worry over your future hanging over his head? A man in his situation needs all his wits about him.’

      ‘His situation? You talk as though he is going straight back into battle. France is at peace now! From his letters, it sounds as though all he has done for months is attend balls and picnics and cricket matches!’

      ‘That is beside the point. A military man needs to be prepared for any eventuality. There has been much unrest in the capital. The Bourbons are not popular. Plenty of people are agitating for Bonaparte to return. If that should happen, Europe will be plunged back into war.’

      ‘That,’

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