Page 36 of Crash Landing
“I would never do this to you, Trajan. How can I drag you further into this impossible affair and damage your family name? Nor do I wish to marry because you pity me. So, take back your pity proposal, although I am exceedingly grateful for the offer. You are kinder and more valiant than I deserve.”
“You are refusing me?” He seemed surprised, but why ever would she agree to a marriage that would only bring him endless headaches?
“I would not refuse you if you genuinely loved me, but we all know where your heart lies.” She shook her head and held back her tears, trying not to think of Eden. She was the fortunate lady who had captured his heart. “You have been incredibly good to me. But I cannot live in a marriage as I have lived with my parents. I want someone who loves me best, who puts me first in his heart, and who cannot be without me. Not in a suffocating, all-consuming way. Just someone who likes to have me around, who might smile if I enter a room, and who would talk to me instead of telling me to keep silent.”
“Gad, Florence.” His eyes widened. “This morning at breakfast, I—”
“You wanted me to be quiet,” she said with a gentle smile. “Youhave every right to enjoy your peace and quiet. I know you did not mean it unkindly. You are a bear in the morning, that much is obvious. But I have dealt with silence all my life. I cannot endure it with a husband. I simply cannot.”
“Nor would I ask you to, especially now that I know what it represents to you. I would let you chatter like a magpie at our breakfast table.”
“And give you headaches daily?” She shook her head and laughed lightly. “I appreciate this, and I believe you would sincerely try to put up with me in the mornings. But my reluctance comes from more than that. I cannot marry for the sake of convenience, although how convenient can it be for you, a husband who finds me an imposition and does not really want me around?”
“That is not so. When have I ever wished you gone?”
“Oh, I expect you are wishing it right now. Even if you are not, it is not possible for your feelings to be that strong for me.”
“How do you know?” He stared at her in a smoldering way that burned into her soul. But this ability to melt a woman’s heart was precisely the reason he had become known as a Silver Duke.
“Are you suggesting that you love me?”
He hesitated.
“I thought as much. Do you understand now why I cannot agree to a loveless marriage, even if we are genial to each other and might get along as friends?”
“And you think I merely want us to be friends?”
She nodded. “I am not dismissing its importance. A happy marriage must have more than, er…encounters in the bedchamber for the purpose of siring heirs.”
He groaned. “Cousins, out. I need to talk to Florence in private.”
They all scrambled to their feet.
“I hope you reconsider, Florence. You would be happy joining our family,” Sebastian said in all earnestness. “Trajan will not ignore you.He’ll be a good and devoted husband.”
Andrew expressed a similar opinion.
So did Nathan. “Trajan would not have proposed to you unless he believed yours could be a successful marriage. He just wouldn’t have done it. We know him. He isn’t a soft touch and is not asking out of pity or a sense of noble sacrifice. He sincerely likes you, Florence.”
“I like him, too,” she admitted. “But is this not more reason for me to worry about him? Should I not care that Frampton might hurt him?”
“No,” they all replied at once.
“Out,” Trajan said more gently, nudging his cousins to the door. “I’ll join you in the parlor shortly. Or let Timmons know if you are still hungry and I’ll meet you in the dining room while you have a second breakfast.”
“Good idea,” Andrew said, grinning as he rubbed his stomach.
Florence wished very much to accept Trajan’s offer, for she was already halfway in love with him and had been since meeting him last year. She also found his cousins so kind and welcoming. All these Aubrey men were honorable and brave. Who else would agree to risk their lives for her, a stranger?
She could not allow them to do this for her.
But what a wonderful group they were.
Trajan was the handsomest, of course. His sunburst of golden hair fell in perfect waves even on rainy days when no one’s hair looked good—but his did.The wretched fiend.He also had gorgeous green eyes that she could stare at for hours on end.
Not to mention he was tall. Handsome. Had divine muscles.
His cousins also had the makings of handsome men, although they needed a few more years to fill out as nicely as Trajan had done. All three had hair darker than his, ranging between tawny and very light brown. Their eyes were a dark blue, much like the deepest blue of the ocean. Sebastian, the youngest, had a sparkle to his eyes and an elfingrin. Nathan, the middle cousin, had ears that stuck out and round eyes reminiscent of an owl’s. However, those features fit his face perfectly and did not detract at all from his good looks. Andrew, the eldest, had short, spiky hair that she expected would look devastatingly appealing once his face matured enough to give him a square, rugged jaw to counterbalance his “casually” styled hair that was not really casual at all.
