“I can think of a much more obvious way for us to live in style.”
“Can you?” he asked, kissing the crown of her head. “My clever little Kitty Kat, tell me what it is.”
“You could simply…use my money. Because,” she said, sitting up straight, so she could look him directly in the eye as she broke the news. “Susannah Hullworthy’s name was not the only one Acton should have put on your list. I am worth almost as much as her.”
He flinched, turning pale. “The devil you say!”
“Please do not be angry. My money comes from…coal.”
“I did not know,” he grated. “You have to believe me.…” He seized her hands, a look of anguish contorting his features. She reached up, and soothed his frown with her fingertips. “I know. That is why I had to…compromise you.” She blushed, her eyes darting furtively towards the tree. “I was suddenly scared that you might try to wriggle out of our engagement, if you thought there might be any suspicion you had deliberately targeted me for my money—”
He leapt to his feet. “You seduced me!” For a moment, he looked aghast. And then, to Katherine’s relief, his lips twitched, a gleam came to his eye, and then he began to laugh.
“My God,” he said, when he could eventually form words, “the fortune hunter hunted! Tell me, what was it about me—” he sat down beside her and hauled her into his arms “—that drove you to such lengths? My looks?” He kissed her hard on the mouth. “My rapier-like wit?”
She pretended to look pensive. “Your sense of honor,” she said with a grin, which sent him off into peals of laughter all over again.
“Now, seriously, Tarquin,” she said, “there is no need for you to sell your estate and put the girls into school. They can have a governess—”
“Oh, no they can’t!” he objected. “If I cannot spirit you away to India and become a nabob—which was the height of my ambition, you know,” he said in mock disappointment, “then at least I can have you all to myself. I am not having those hoydens underfoot. Nor would I wish to subject some poor female to their terror tactics. It would not be fair.”
“Very well, we shall send them to school,” she said meekly.
“Oh, I do like the sound of that.”
He kissed her again.
“I had no idea you disliked your sisters so much!” She frowned.
“Oh, no, you mistake me. It was you saying we shall send them to school. Hearing you making plans for the both of us was what I liked the sound of so much. For it struck me, that from now on, it will always be we and us.”
“Then I have only one more thing to say about our future, Tarquin,”
“What is it, my love?”
“We are going to live happily ever after.”
“I think you may be right,” he said. Then, after spending several minutes kissing her, amended that to, “Yes, most definitely right.”
Hungry for more? Read THE EARL'S UNTOUCHED BRIDE by Annie Burrows, available February 2009 in print and ebook format from Harlequin Historical.
Enjoy more passion through the ages with the sensual Harlequin Historical UNDONE titles on sale now:
THE UNMASKING OF LADY LOVELESS by Nicola Cornick
LIBERTINE LORD, PICKPOCKET MISS by Bronwyn Scott
THE VIKING’S FORBIDDEN LOVE-SLAVE by Michelle Willingham
SHIPWRECKED AND SEDUCED by Amanda McCabe
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Annie Burrows has been making up stories for her own amusement since she first went to school. As soon as she got the hang of using a pencil she began to write them down. Her love of books meant she had to do a degree in English literature. And her love of writing meant she could never take on a job where she didn’t have time to jot down notes when inspiration for a new plot struck her. She still wants the heroines of her stories to wear beautiful floaty dresses, and triumph over all that life can throw at them. But when she got married she discovered that finding a hero is an essential ingredient to arriving at “happy ever after”. Please visit her Web site at www.annie-burrows.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2605-4
Notorious Lord, Compromised Miss
Copyright © 2008 by Annie Burrows
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