Page 11 of The Moonstone Marquess
“It has nothing to do with that missing limb and all to do with your reprehensible conduct. How are you and Malvern the best of friends? I still cannot reconcile that friendship in my mind. He is a man of character. He would never consider cheating on my sister. He would jump into the bowels of hell to protect her and their children. Marriage for him is a salvation. Is that something so foreign to you? Can you not conceive of ever being such a husband?”
“Do you think I don’t want this? To love someone so wholly and completely, to know they feel the same about me? But that is never going to happen for someone like me.”
“You mean someone who is a stubborn clot and too stupid to see something good even if it slaps him in the face?”
He could not help but laugh.
She was so good at kicking his arse, and he very much needed someone who could put him in his place, especially with her gentle touch.
She inhaled lightly, her expression now heartfelt. “My lord, it will happen. But you’ll never see it or appreciate it unless you first start liking yourself.”
“Not like myself? Phoebe, I thinktoohighly of myself. In fact, so highly, I cannot imagine any woman being adequate as my wife.”
Her gorgeous eyes widened and her lips curved upward in the hint of a smile. “Oh, so you proposed to me because I was inadequate?”
“No, I proposed to you because I do not think I will find anyonemoreadequate.”
“Be still my heart.” She fanned her chest, which only served to remind him just how magnificent he considered her body. Especially those perfect breasts. “I do not think I have ever been spoken to so romantically. The great poets would weep if they ever heard your transporting words.Adequate.Oh, how greatly I’ve aspired to be…adequate. I do believe I am about to fall into a swoon.”
Their laughter mingled.
“Are you through kicking my arse?” But he truly enjoyed being around Phoebe. She did not let him get away with anything. She was quick-witted and direct, eager to point out the absurdity of his thoughts and words.
Her smile was warm, and perhaps this was her greatest strength, to be able to put him in his place and somehow still come across as tender and caring. “My lord, I’ve hardly started.”
She was lively, passionate, and achingly beautiful. For this reason, he wanted to be the one to bed her.
Of course, he would have to marry her afterward…perhaps marry her first.
He shook his head. He had not come here this afternoon to seduce her. But heaven help him, he surely wanted this girl in his bed.
What he did not want was for her to claim his heart.
Well, maybe he did.
After all, he had asked her to marry him. Surely, that had to signify something.
His desperation for salvation?
Lord, he was a pathetic mess.
Perhaps she was right about him. How could he expect anyone to like him if he did not like himself?
Yet if anyone was to help him find his way, it would be this little lioness. Deep down, somewhere in the darkness of his soul, he knew if he ever stood a chance of finding happiness, it would be with Phoebe.
He’d known it the moment he first heard her name mentioned three years ago. Cain and Phoebe’s sister, Henley, had come to him to console him when he first lost his arm. It was shortly before the pair married.
That loss had turned him into such an insufferable wretch, not even he could stand to be around himself.
Cain and Hen had jokingly described Hen’s sister as that, a lioness, beautiful and fierce.
Well, it would take a lion’s courage to deal with him, because he was such an arrogant arse and difficult to handle most of the time.
Was Phoebe up to the task?
Chapter Four
Phoebe walked downthe steps leading from Moonstone Cottage’s garden to the beach and took an early-morning walk along the shore in order to think. She had tossed on a simple morning gown, a pale yellow muslin, and had not bothered to wear her shoes, since she liked the feel of soft sand under her feet. Bringing shoes along would only have given her something to carry while she dipped her toes in the cool waves lapping the shore.
