Page 54 of Dropping the Ball

“You wish to marry me yourself instead of having me choose one of my young lady guests this weekend,” Alden said.

Lady Gladys narrowed her eyes at him, seeming to assess not only him, but the entire situation. Alden could see the cogs turning in her mind as she weighed her best course of action.

At last, she said, “You are right. I do wish to marry you.”

Alden let out a breath of relief. Finally, they were speaking openly.

“I wish to marry Lady Bernadette,” he said, as frank with her as she was being with him.

“You cannot,” she said with a half shrug. “Lady Bernadette is already married to Lord Harold Hethersett.”

“I am aware,” Alden said, hoping to surprise her with his knowledge about the situation. “Bernadette has already written to the man to ask for an annulment or some other solution to the bind she finds herself in.”

Alden could tell at once that information came as a surprise to Lady Gladys. She drew in a breath and her eyes went wide. She did not let her shock remain for long, however.

“And how did Lord Hethersett take that request?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

Alden deflated somewhat. “He has not responded.”

Lady Gladys’s lips twitched and her eyes filled with hope and avarice once more. “Lord Hethersett is a proud man,” she said. “And a jealous one. It is very likely that whatever Lady Bernadette requested of him has enraged the man. He is known to have a violent temper.”

Alden had clasped his hands behind his back as Lady Gladys spoke, but he released them and let them hang at his sides at her revelation. He had not accounted for jealousy and anger from the man who was legally bound to Bernadette. The two had not seen each other for a decade, which had led him to assume that Hethersett would not care whether Bernadette wanted to be free.

Then again, Bernadette had said the two of them had corresponded frequently over the years.

“I will protect Bernadette with my life, should it come to it,” he told Lady Gladys stalwartly.

Lady Gladys hummed. “But what will you do if he refuses to grant the woman any sort of annulment or divorce?” she asked. “What will you do if he causes a confrontation?”

“I will defend the woman I love,” Alden said without hesitation.

Lady Gladys smiled slyly at him. “Of course you will. And might I suggest that you could defend her more effectively from abroad?”

Alden clenched his jaw, trying to stay a step ahead of Lady Gladys. “What are you suggesting?” he asked.

Lady Gladys walked away from him, to a small table at the end of a sofa. She picked up a book that someone had left there and pretended to be more interested in it than in Alden.

“Marry me,” she said, dragging her eyes away from the book belatedly to meet his. “Make me your wife in name only. I will stay here and manage your affairs while you take the woman you love and run away to South America.”

Alden clasped his hands behind his back once more. He was not surprised by Lady Gladys’s offer. Running away had occurred to him as well. Having a paper wife who would remain in Wessex to manage things in his absence was not a terrible idea.

“And what do you get out of it?” he asked, frowning.

“Your fortune,” Lady Gladys said with a careless shrug, putting the book down again. “The respect of being your wife. I stand to benefit in a great many ways.”

Alden’s frown deepened. She was correct. The fact that she made no secret of her aims had him strangely more compelled to consider her plan. Lady Gladys was ruthless and conniving, but at least she was honest.

“And that is all you wish?” he asked.

“That is everything,” Lady Gladys said, stepping closer to him. “It is an agreeable arrangement for both of us. You can keep your lady love and I will have the financial security I have lacked these many years.”

Prickles raced down Alden’s spine. Lady Gladys’s offer was not a bad one. By marrying, he would free himself from the Curse of Godwin Castle, and by taking Bernadette away to South America, as he’d hoped to do in any case, he would be removing her from the potential rage of a jealous husband.

If Lady Gladys was telling the truth about Hethersett’s personality.

“I must think on this,” Alden said, rubbing a hand over his face. “I cannot make any sort of decision like this without consulting with Bernadette first.”

Lady Gladys’s expression hardened for a moment before softening into a sweet smile. “Take all the time you like, my dear,” she said, moving forward enough to rest a hand on Alden’s chest for a moment. “Though do remember that you have promised everyone an engagement announcement at the ball this evening.”

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