Page 16 of The Seduction of Lord Sin
“Perhaps I shall use the outing to learn your views on a likely candidate for marriage.” That should wipe the smile off his handsome face.
He nodded, as if deep in thought. “I admit I have been giving it quite some thought myself. Both of us have been married, so I suspect we have something in common. We both understand the institution.”
She very much doubted her experience of marriage was in any way similar to his.
She rose to her feet and loved how Sin did not move back. She could feel his breath on her face, and a shiver raced over her skin. “I shall look forward to whatever outing you have planned. Shall we say three in the foyer?”
He gave her a smile that could melt snow and waited a few moments more than was respectable to move back. “Of course.”
Without looking back, she made her way down to the archery targets to talk to the losing participants. All the way across the lawn she could feel Sin’s eyes on her back and even Devlin’s warm greeting could not diminish the feeling that this outing would destroy all the hard work Flora and she had done to arrange this important week.
* * *
“Have you any idea of what sort of outing you’ll arrange?”
Sinclair turned to Lady Dharma. “None. Care to help me, considering it is because of you I have this opportunity.”
“You noticed? I didn’t want Lord Devlin to win.” She tapped her lip with her finger. “Lottie’s not fighting fit. She’s still sore from her fall, so I’ll have to think of something sedate.”
The pair walked back towards the house.
“I am curious why you entered the competition,” Lady Dharma asked.
“And I wonder why you wanted me to win,” he replied and noticed a faint blush fill Lady Dharma’s cheeks.
She glanced back at the figure of Charlotte talking to the losers. “If Lord Devlin wanted to marry Lottie, he would have asked already.”
“Sometimes it’s more to do with need than want.”
She shrugged. “Need or want—either way, he has not asked, and I know how desperate the family is. It’s obvious Lord Devlin does not favor the marriage, and Lottie deserves more. My step-mama is an intelligent woman, regardless of this hair-brain scheme. Why can she not see that a marriage to Lord Devlin won’t work?”
Why indeed? Did Lady Charlotte hold a tendre for Devlin? Or did Lady Dharma? Now there was an idea. Dharma’s dowry could save Devlin, too.
“Sometimes, the heart wants what the heart wants.”
Dharma scoffed at his words. “My step-mother does not hold a tendre for Lord Devlin. She likes him, he’s familiar, and she thinks he’s the best of the bunch and their estates are near each other.”
Relief flooded through him. “You are very open with your opinions to a virtual stranger.”
“You still have not answered my question. Why are you taking part in this—I don’t know what to call it?”
“Auction would seem an appropriate term. The men are all bidding for Charlotte’s money. I don’t like the idea of that.” And he didn’t. “Why is she doing this? Why the hurry to remarry? If it wasn’t for the fact she has no children…”
Dharma stopped walking and turned to him. “She talks about having a child, but that never happened with my father so…. I think it might be loneliness. She’s nervous I’ll marry soon and then she’ll have no one at home.”
Sin thought that could be right. She was too young to live her life all alone.
“I don’t think my father paid her much attention. He was polite and kind, but it was no love match like my father’s first marriage. She’s looking for something, but not in the right way.”
Sin’s enthusiasm dimmed slightly. He wasn’t looking for a woman to love. But mutual respect, friendship, and passion filled pleasure was a grand basis for a marriage. But not to a woman who was barren.
“So, why are you taking part?”Darn.Dharma had noticed he hadn’t answered the question previously.
“Perhaps I’m lonely too.”
A flash of anger crossed Dharma’s face before she moved toward the house again. “I might be young, but I’m not naïve. Lonely is not a word I think of where you are concerned. Your paramours are renown and so shortly after your wife’s death too. Why are you here? If you are merely playing with Lottie’s predicament, then leave.”
He watched as she walked off ahead of him in a huff. How did he explain to a popular young lady that people could surround you but still you could feel alone?
