“Perhaps you should explain what you have in mind,” she said to encourage him to get on with it.
“Of course.” He leaned forward. Closer. “When I say reconsider our partnership, I mean extend it.”
“You have another enterprise?”
He smiled ruefully. In a blink, he became more himself. “See here, we are bound to each other in this endeavor. Our lives are intertwined.”
“Only if I don’t sell,” she reminded him.
A small glint of steel entered his eyes. Oh yes, very much himself again.
“It seems to me that because we are so bound, we should take the next step.”
“The next step—?”
“Yes. I think we should wed.”
She heard the words, but the meaning of them took a moment to reach her mind. She stared at him while he looked back at her.
“It makes perfect sense if you think about it,” he added.
Good heavens, he was serious.
She swallowed the nervous laughter that wanted to erupt. Whoever would have expected such a proposal? From this man of all men? And in such a manner? He might have been proposing a walk in the park, or something equally uneventful. He put this stunning suggestion on the table as casually as he set down his coffee cup.
“If this is because of last night, there is no need to propose marriage,” she said.
“It is not to make amends for Philip, or for our brief embrace, although—” His gaze turned more intent in that way that discomforted her. “Our embrace was not purely one of comfort. Not entirely. Surely my suggestion does not come as a complete surprise to you.”
She groped through her confusion to find some way to answer him. “The embrace was not a total surprise. This proposal is. Such as you don’t marry such as me.” That truth cleared her thinking. “They kiss such as me. But marriage? No.”
“Yet I have proposed just that.”
She did not know what to say. She could hardly explain that she had a dream, and it was not a life with him, no matter how interesting and compelling she found him at times. She wanted to see Charles again, and try to let that old love find its voice and future.
Other reasons not to agree flew through her mind. He had said he never became enthralled with women. His lack of such emotions hardly recommended him to a woman, no matter how convenient the match might be.
On the heels of those thoughts came memories about the dinner last night, and some of the peculiar things said by Felicity about the late duke’s death. If those insinuations held any truth at all—
Then there were the things he did not know about her. He had no idea just how inappropriate she would be as a wife. While she had been an inconspicuous servant at Mrs. Darling’s, someone might eventually recognize her as a denizen of that house, no matter how fine she dressed or where she lived.
“You are doing this because you want control of my half of the enterprise. This is just like that document you wanted me to sign. That is your goal.”
“That is one reason. The main one, yes.”
How bluntly he said that. He was not even trying flattery. No declarations of affection or praise of her beauty to appeal to her emotions. Direct and honest, that was Kevin Radnor.
She began to resent that. “No doubt the rest of my inheritance is the other reason.”
“In the long run, I have no need of your money. I may not have thousands in a bank now, but I am well situated. I am also my father’s heir.”
“He appeared hale and fit to me when I saw him. As for being his heir, if you marry such as me, he will probably disown you.”
“There are parts he can’t do that with. You don’t have to worry that I have designs on your funds. If you want, we will execute a settlement that makes such a move on my part impossible.”
“That goes without saying.” She would never allow anyone to have that money. Even Charles would have to make such a settlement.
“I think you believe the benefits of this union would be all one-sided,” he said.
“You would be sitting pretty and I would be much diminished. The benefits are all yours.”
“You want to be a lady, for your own sake and that of your sister. I provide that immediately, to a degree few men can.”
I want to be a lady so Charles will be able to marry me.
He did have a point about Lily, though. Damn him. She would not let him disarm her.
“Your own family castigates you for your interests,” she said, triumphant when the idea came to her. “I’m not sure your reputation can provide what you offer.”
“I am the grandson of a duke. Nothing changes my blood. The benefits are not all mine. You pride yourself on being practical. Well, this is very practical, for both of us.”
“Perhaps too practical. You do not want to marry me. You want to marry my half of your enterprise. You are too conceited even to consider what would happen if your grand scheme is not successful. Then you may find yourself encumbered with a practical marriage long after it has outlived its usefulness.”
“Of course it will be successful.”
“Not if my voice is silenced due to this marriage, which no doubt is another reason for this proposal.”
He smiled, not kindly. “Do you truly believe that your judgment regarding this invention and its development is essential to the success of this enterprise? We are not talking about bonnets.”
“We are not talking about brilliant inventions either. Not anymore. The true potential is in the making of this device, and its use, and I do believe that my judgment is necessary there.”
“Zeus, but you are impossible.”
He stood abruptly and walked away five paces. Hands on hips he looked to the sky, then down to the ground. She knew he was containing his temper. Since her own voice had raised, she was
