Page 26 of A Wicked Kind of Husband

“It suits you, I suppose.” She looked him over again. “Your bruise has faded to a fetching shade of yellow. Like a kingcup.”

“Perhaps Vickers can find a matching waistcoat. I shall be the envy of every dandy in town.”

She didn’t seem to be listening. After a brief hesitation, she crossed back to him. “Why did Harry, I mean, Lord Bolderwood punch you anyway?”

“How the blazes did you know it was him?”

“You didn’t hurt him, did you?”

“Sonowyou have sympathy. ForHarry.”

“Well, you’re bigger and more dynamic and…”

She fluttered her hands at him. It took him a moment to realize she was indicating the size of his shoulders and chest.

“He is a bit puny, isn’t he?” he said. “Not all men can be as powerfully built as I am, you know. I trained as a blacksmith in my youth, and I worked as a stevedore. I’m still so strong I can balance a ton of steel on my little finger.”

She gave an endearing huff. “You would need to be strong to carry your vanity, which must weigh more than a ton.”

“Who said anything about vanity?” He feigned affront. “You’re the one who started talking about how broad and muscular my chest and shoulders are.”

“I never said a word about muscular shoulders!”

“So now you’re saying I’m puny too. Well.” He folded his arms over his chest, watched her eyes follow the movement. “That’s a bit unkind.”

“Of course you’re not puny! You’re shaped like a classical warrior and you know it. But that…Oh. You’re impossible. Why…Oh.”

Words having failed her, she closed her eyes and covered her face with one hand.

Faced with her charming embarrassment, Joshua could not maintain his act. He did enjoy teasing her, and her obvious curiosity about his body provided a marvelous source of entertainment. To strip away her polite facade and explore the real woman beneath would be…

Would be a very, very stupid thing to do.

“Baltic investment,” he said.

She pulled her hand away from her face and peered at him with bright eyes. More green than brown today, they were. “I beg your pardon?”

“Bolderwood lost money on a Baltic investment scheme and blames me for it.”

“Oh.”

Her eyes glazed over, somewhere around “investment,” which fortunately put an end to her questions. He would rather not mention Bolderwood’s ridiculous accusation that Joshua had his eye on Bolderwood’s wife. It was Joshua’s frank declaration of Lady Bolderwood’slackof appeal that had earned him the punch.

“Anyway, please desist from any arguments tonight, and behave like a polite gentleman.”

“Smug and idle, you mean? Wasting hours tying my cravat and composing stupid odes to women’s eyes? Is that your notion of the ideal husband?”

She flashed a half-smile and he realized that, yes, that was her ideal. After all, useless, pretty Bolderwood had almost been her husband.

“Too bad,” he said, irritated with her again. “I might have been a polite gentleman, but I’m not. And I’m glad of it. I’m a businessman, a Birmingham man. Everyone in Birmingham walks fast, did you know that? Because we all have purpose and activity. And as for these polite gentlemen of yours, strolling about with fancy cravats because they have nothing else to do with their time—bah! What a shame you didn’t manage to marry one of them.”

“Never mind that now. You are not the kind of husband I need, but you are the one I have. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,” she added hastily. “I am immensely sensible of the sacrifice you made in marrying me.”

He shrugged and wandered away from her. “No sacrifice,” he said. “It means no one else can try to marry me. I don’t want a wife, so one who hardly exists suits me well. The sooner you can go back to not existing, the better.”

Silence filled the room, as if he had already gotten his wish. He resisted the urge to check that she was still there.

Until she came to his side and laid a hand on his arm, her expression soft and pleading.

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