Page 17 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife
The dimple deepened as he smiled.“You are indeed.”He turned his head and spoke more loudly.So far, he’d kept his bass voice to a soft rumble.“Paul, we’re not far from home.Run to the stables and get Fogg to prepare a hot mash for the horses.They’ve behaved like angels and deserve a treat.”
“Aye, Sir Hugo.”The boy jumped off the slowing carriage and disappeared down a side street.
Sir Hugo slowed the horses to a walk.“He can’t hear much from the back, but I’d prefer privacy for what I mean to say.”
“Will I need the pistol?”Athene asked darkly, telling herself she should worry, now their chaperone had vanished.
Sir Hugo gave a grunt of amusement.“It’s possible you’ll want to shoot me when I’ve said my piece, but I hope not.”
“Other men have asked me to be their mistress, sir.”
But other men hadn’t attracted her the way that this one did.Before this, saying no had always been easy.Despite all her dismal experience with the male sex, she had a horrid feeling that saying no to Sir Hugo wouldn’t be the usual doddle.Damn his bright blue eyes.
“Have they, the cheeky sods?”
That made her laugh.“That’s rich when you’re about to be a cheeky sod yourself.”
She expected him to smile.He didn’t.“I’m not after a mistress, my dear Miss de Smith.I’m after a bride.And I’d be honored if you’d consider my proposal.”
“Oh, hell.”
To her surprise, that prompted a laugh.She wished to heaven that she found the circumstances humorous, but instead she felt sick and guilty and ashamed.When she’d sacrificed her future for that tin idol George Foster, she’d been young and stupid.She’d spent the last ten years trying to and on occasion succeeding in forgiving herself.
Then something like this happened and forced her to count the cost of her sins all over again.
Unless…
“Were you joking?”It seemed an odd joke.But then it seemed odd to the point of eccentricity for a rich baronet to propose to a shopgirl.
He caught his breath and shot her a sharp glance.“Not at all.”
She struggled to create some distance between them, but the restricted space made it impossible.“So why did you laugh?”
“‘Oh, hell’ isn’t exactly the response a man expects when he at last summons up the nerve to ask a lady to be his wife.”
Athene could imagine.She had so much that she needed to tell him, and she didn’t want to say any of it.So she focused on something that hardly mattered, even if it warmed her tattered heart.“You haven’t proposed before?”
“No.And it’s clear that I needed the practice, because I’m making a dog’s dinner of the whole damned palaver.”
“No, you’re not.However nonsensical the situation.”
“Why nonsensical?”He leveled a considering look on her.“Have I got it all wrong?Don’t you like me?”
Her lips tightened.“That’s not the point.”
“I rather think it is, if we’re contemplating making a life together.”
“Which we’re not.”
“I like you.”
“I can’t imagine why.”She struggled not to melt at his declaration.He might like her now.He wouldn’t if he knew anything about her.“I look like a horse.”
She expected him to laugh again.But those perceptive eyes surveyed her face with such attention that she feared he penetrated right to the frightened, lonely soul lurking under her stoic outer shell.“You put every other woman I’ve ever seen in the shade.”
She regarded him open-mouthed.“But Sylvie is so beautiful.”
“Yes, she is.So are you.You took my breath away, the moment I saw you.You’re strong and fine and brave.And full of fire.A man can’t help wanting to warm himself at that fire.”
