"Do you not like Sean?" Corinna finally asked.
"I would like to have his skill for investing," Griffin said dryly, leaving it at that for now. He shifted to look at the man in question. "Given Lincolnshire's attitude, I suspected he wasn't planning to make you pay for your deception. But I felt no responsibility either way. As far as I was concerned, you had dug your own grave."
Slowly Delaney nodded. "And now I expect I have to lie in it."
"No, you don't," Corinna disagreed heatedly. "Griffin will allow us to marry. I have a secret that will ensure it."
"Another secret?" Suddenly Griffin wasn't finding this so enjoyable. His headache was getting worse. "What the hell sort of secret?"
"Maybe he kissed her for half an hour," Rachael suggested sweetly.
Griffin cracked another tooth.
"Open your eyes, Griffin," Juliana put in. "A blind man could see they belong together."
"I see they seem to be glued together," he said darkly.
Delaney immediately put space between himself and Corinna, and Corinna immediately scooted right back against him. Griffin found that slightly amusing, which worked to calm him down a bit.
Delaney's pretty blond sister cleared her throat. "Lord Cainewood, you admired Lord Lincolnshire, didn't you? I'm thinking you should trust his judgment regarding my brother."
"I'm thinking this is none of your concern," he said, thinking she was the only one with an intelligent argument.
Unsurprisingly, Juliana wasn't ready to give up. "What do you think, James?"
Her husband looked at her as though flowers had just sprouted from her ears. "I think I'm staying out of this."
"Alexandra, Tristan?"
They both shook their heads, Alexandra doing so while still maniacally bouncing the baby.
Crossing her arms, Juliana looked back to Griffin. "You have to let them marry."
"I don't have to do anything."
"They can elope to Gretna Green," she pointed out with more than a little smugness.
"I won't do that," Delaney put in quickly. "I won't go behind her brother's back."
"I knew you'd say that," Corinna said. "That's why I'm prepared to use the secret."
Griffin swung back to her. "What secret?"
"Maybe he kissed her for more than half an hour," Rachael suggested.
Which made Griffin wonder if maybe things had gone beyond kissing. "Did he paw you, Corinna?"
She looked confused. "Did he what?"
An awful thought occurred to him. "You aren't in the family way, are you?"
"No, I'm not in the family way! He didn't do anything that could get me in the family way. Sean's much too honorable to even consider such a thing. He's the son of a vicar, if you didn't know."
Griffin hadn't known, and he was rather pleased to hear it. "So, then, what's the secret? What did he do?"
She hesitated, her gaze darting about the room. She appeared to be holding her breath. Beside her, Delaney looked like he wished the floor would open up and swallow him. Alexandra stopped bouncing, and the baby began crying.
Griffin saw Corinna's breath rush out, saw her suck in another one—a single, shuddering, ragged breath—and then she opened her mouth—
"You know what? I don't want to hear it." Suddenly, he didn't. He was absolutely certain it was something that would make him furious, something that would make him demand Delaney marry his sister immediately.
In fact, he was going to do just that, just in case.
So much for a late summer wedding at Cainewood.
"You two will be married tomorrow."
Corinna finally left Delaney's side, rushing over to smother Griffin in a hug. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you for not making me use my secret. You won't be sorry."
"I'm sorry already," he muttered. "It's a miracle I have any teeth left in my mouth."
"They cannot marry tomorrow," Juliana said. Smugly. "They'll need a special license. And she'll need a dress."
"She has dozens of dresses. I know, because I paid for all of them." Griffin disentangled himself from his sister and set her away. "Very well, then, you have until Friday to get a license and pick a dress. Not a day later. And you and the vicar's son will not be alone together until then." The baby was still bawling, a racket loud enough to rattle his aching teeth. He had a raging headache. "Leave, all of you, please. Except for Corinna. Now."
Most of the family shuffled out. Mercifully, the baby's cries faded away with them, and as they left the house, the noise ceased altogether.
"I'm going to walk Sean and Deirdre to the door," Corinna said quietly. "I'm not leaving." The three of them walked into the foyer.
Rachael had stayed put, naturally. Now she moved closer, enveloping Griffin in her damned come-hither scent again. Against his better judgment, he shifted to face her.
"I've reconsidered your offer," she said in her low, sultry voice.
"What do you mean?" he asked, fearing he knew what she meant.
"I said I wouldn't wait until your sister married. But as I can wait until Friday without becoming a shriveled old lady, I've changed my mind."
She moved closer, so close her mouth was a whisper from his.
And she licked her lips.
"Do you want to kiss me, Griffin?"
His head hurt. He felt beaten down. And he was being manipulated again, damn it.
But he very much wanted to kiss her.
He loved Rachael. She was so open and refreshing, so competent and levelheaded. Having run an earldom for a number of years, she would be a fine helpmate. He didn't want to lose her to a rake with the gall to touch her luscious derrière.
The next man to touch her luscious derrière was going to be him.
Her sweet breath washed over him, tantalizing him, making his own breath catch. Her mouth was so close he could taste her already. Struggling for control, his heart pounding double-time, he leaned in. She met him halfway and nipped at his bottom lip, and he yanked her close, feeling his control snap, crushing his mouth against hers.
A bloodcurdling scream came from the foyer.
His heart pounding triple-time, he leapt to his feet and rushed out to see who was being
