Page 5 of His Arranged Duchess
Miss Knight clenched her jaw tight, then turned on her heel and strode away. She was wearing a pale green silk gown, thick with embroidery and studded with pearls, the train sliding out behind her. Her fair hair was mostly loose, falling down her back in a golden torrent, braids pulled back from her temples.
Suddenly, Lucien had a powerful vision of a fairy nestling in a mossy clearing. He shook his head to get rid of the strange idea and followed her.
When they were more or less out of earshot, Miss Knight rounded on him.
“What are you doing?” she whispered. “Who are you? I’ve never met you in my life. This precontract nonsense is lies.”
“I’m afraid it is not,” Lucien responded smoothly. “I’m surprised you chose green, by the way. For your wedding dress. It’s supposed to be unlucky, isn’t it?”
Miss Knight flushed, smoothing down the bodice. “I like green. Besides, I don’t hold onto superstition. If I did, well, I already have green eyes, so my wedding is already cursed. Having said that, considering how this wedding has turned out, I might have to think differently in future.”
Lucien allowed himself a faint smile. “Perhaps. Well, the contract is unfortunately real.”
“We don’t have to act on it. Another minute, and I would have been married already. Here, let me see it.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “You think I am lying?”
She fixed her steady gaze on his face. “I think that I don’t know you at all. You may be a liar, you may not. But one thing is abundantly clear to me, and that is this: you want my dowry. Lord Easton—Nicholas—wants it, too. It’s all anybody thinks about in marriage. Money, money, money. Well, people wouldlie for a smaller dowry than mine, so show me the contract, if you please.”
Her gaze had hardened into a glare, but Lucien found himself fighting back a smile.
She’s so small,he thought, amused.So small and so angry.
“Of course,” he said aloud, withdrawing the document in question from where it was folded in his breast pocket. “By the way, in case you are thinking of tearing it up, I should warn you that there are plenty of copies, and one is lodged with my solicitor.”
She gave a most unladylike scowl. “I’m not going to tear it up. I’m not a child.”
She then snatched it from his hand, turning her back to read through it. Lucien folded his arms behind his back and waited for her to finish. Her back turned to him, he could see the curve of her shoulder sliding out from under the curtain of hair, white and soft.
She hadn’t adopted the modern style of plunging necklines in wedding gowns, and he found himself regretting that. She had the curves to hint at a pleasingdecolletage.
At last, Miss Knight turned around again, face carefully shut.
“It’s very old,” she muttered, thrusting the document back at him.
“And yet, still in effect,” he sighed, replacing it in his pocket.
She chewed her lower lip, glancing over at where her mother stood with Lord Easton. The latter looked black as a storm, glaring over at Miss Knight with a clenched jaw.A muscle ticked in his cheek.
“I know you don’t care for him,” Lucien murmured quietly. “Believe me, I have done my research. If I believed this were a marriage of love, I would not have intervened. But this is a marriage of convenience, is it not? If convenience and practicality are your only concerns, why not marry a duke instead of a viscount? Both of us men require your dowry, and I am quite honest about that. I think you’d make an excellent duchess. It’s a rather fun position.”
She let out a long, ragged sigh. “Well, I suppose the marriage really can’t go ahead now. I shall have to talk to Mama about all this. You and I will have to continue this discussion in the upcoming months. We’ll revisit terms, I suppose.”
“Months? Why should we wait so long?”
She glanced up at him, baffled. “What do you mean? We can’t marry much sooner than that. There are wedding notices to be sent out, licenses to be procured, and so on. It takes time. To get married any sooner would require…” She trailed off as Lucien withdrew another piece of paper, holding it up for her perusal.
He grinned.
“A special license?” he remarked, grinning. “Don’t worry. I took the liberty of procuring one already.”
She stared at the document, mouth slightly agape.
“You… You really were prepared,” she stuttered.
“As I said,” Lucien remarked quietly, leaning forward. “You’re mine, my dear.”
CHAPTER 3
