theater? It’s absurd, especially when you can continue in your pleasant situation merely by marrying—”
He broke off with a groan. The damnable vixen had his head so twisted around, he didn’t know what he was saying. For the love of God, why was he trying to convince her? He didn’t want her to marry him!
“You’re entitled to your opinion,” she bit out, “but it doesn’t change how my sisters and I feel. None of us want to marry your employer. It was most generous of Mr. Knighton to consider Papa’sproposal, but we shan’t change our minds. Nor will we fault him if he decides to look for a wife where his attentions are better appreciated.”
He gaped at her. The woman was actually refusing a marriage offer he hadn’t even made! Of course, technically Lady Rosalind hadn’t refused him —she’d refused Daniel. That fact only slightly assuaged his trampled pride, however.
They emerged suddenly from the woods onto a hillside that sloped down toward the fruit orchards below. The sun had broken through a phalanx of creamy clouds to make the air once more sticky, warm, and tangy with the scent of crushed grass.
They paused at the top of the hill to survey Swan Park, but he felt as if the ground fell away from him in every respect. All his expectations about his visit had proven wrong. The spinsters wished to remain spinsters. They weren’t shrews, but amiable and attractive. And they were all too eager to hand his inheritance over to him unencumbered.
Yet one thing hadn’t changed—he still didn’t have his parents’ marriage certificate. So although he’d happily oblige the ladies by leaving, he couldn’t.
He considered striking a bargain with Lady Rosalind: She could wheedle the certificate out of her father, and he would leave as she wanted. But he feared she was too intelligent to accept a simple bargain. She’d ask why he wanted it, how her father had come by it, what the history of it was. And once she learned all his plans…
No, that wasn’t a chance he could take. So until he found what he wanted, he—or rather, Daniel—must continue to pretend an interest in an alliance, despite what Rosalind thought and Griff himself desired.
“I perfectly understand what you’re saying.”Griff stood viewing the land— his land—with his hands gripped together behind his back. “But I fear you won’t convince my employer. He seems amenable to your father’s plan.” He slanted a look at her. “I doubt he’ll refuse it merely because of your assertions.”
“What!” she cried, rounding on him. “You mean he truly wants to marry one of us? But why? He’ll inherit Swan Park one way or the other, so what possible advantage could marriage to one of us give him?”
He shrugged. “Prestige. He has money—now he wants something more. Possibly a better position in society. Or perhaps he’s simply enamored of you all. In any case, he can hardly make a decision about your father’s proposal on only one day’s acquaintance. He’ll probably want to remain here at least a week or so.”
With a snort of disgust, she started off down the hill. “Well, that’s just wonderful. Your blasted employer is looking for a wife, and my foolish father sanctions the entire idea, so what my sisters and I want doesn’t even signify.”
“I didn’t say that,” he said as he followed her down the hill, unable to take his eyes off her fetching derriere.
“Men!” she grumbled. “They never learn! ‘What is wedlock forced but a hell?’ Shakespeare wrote that while locked in his own unhappy marriage, yet his words go unheeded.”
Did the woman quote nobody but Shakespeare? He was fond of the bard himself, but he didn’t consider every pronouncement the greatest wisdom. Not to mention that her sweeping interpretation of an obscure passage to suit her needs irritated him. “No one knows if Shakespeare’s marriage was unhappy or not.”
“For pity’s sake, he left his wife here in
He broke off with a groan. The damnable vixen had his head so twisted around, he didn’t know what he was saying. For the love of God, why was he trying to convince her? He didn’t want her to marry him!
“You’re entitled to your opinion,” she bit out, “but it doesn’t change how my sisters and I feel. None of us want to marry your employer. It was most generous of Mr. Knighton to consider Papa’sproposal, but we shan’t change our minds. Nor will we fault him if he decides to look for a wife where his attentions are better appreciated.”
He gaped at her. The woman was actually refusing a marriage offer he hadn’t even made! Of course, technically Lady Rosalind hadn’t refused him —she’d refused Daniel. That fact only slightly assuaged his trampled pride, however.
They emerged suddenly from the woods onto a hillside that sloped down toward the fruit orchards below. The sun had broken through a phalanx of creamy clouds to make the air once more sticky, warm, and tangy with the scent of crushed grass.
They paused at the top of the hill to survey Swan Park, but he felt as if the ground fell away from him in every respect. All his expectations about his visit had proven wrong. The spinsters wished to remain spinsters. They weren’t shrews, but amiable and attractive. And they were all too eager to hand his inheritance over to him unencumbered.
Yet one thing hadn’t changed—he still didn’t have his parents’ marriage certificate. So although he’d happily oblige the ladies by leaving, he couldn’t.
He considered striking a bargain with Lady Rosalind: She could wheedle the certificate out of her father, and he would leave as she wanted. But he feared she was too intelligent to accept a simple bargain. She’d ask why he wanted it, how her father had come by it, what the history of it was. And once she learned all his plans…
No, that wasn’t a chance he could take. So until he found what he wanted, he—or rather, Daniel—must continue to pretend an interest in an alliance, despite what Rosalind thought and Griff himself desired.
“I perfectly understand what you’re saying.”Griff stood viewing the land— his land—with his hands gripped together behind his back. “But I fear you won’t convince my employer. He seems amenable to your father’s plan.” He slanted a look at her. “I doubt he’ll refuse it merely because of your assertions.”
“What!” she cried, rounding on him. “You mean he truly wants to marry one of us? But why? He’ll inherit Swan Park one way or the other, so what possible advantage could marriage to one of us give him?”
He shrugged. “Prestige. He has money—now he wants something more. Possibly a better position in society. Or perhaps he’s simply enamored of you all. In any case, he can hardly make a decision about your father’s proposal on only one day’s acquaintance. He’ll probably want to remain here at least a week or so.”
With a snort of disgust, she started off down the hill. “Well, that’s just wonderful. Your blasted employer is looking for a wife, and my foolish father sanctions the entire idea, so what my sisters and I want doesn’t even signify.”
“I didn’t say that,” he said as he followed her down the hill, unable to take his eyes off her fetching derriere.
“Men!” she grumbled. “They never learn! ‘What is wedlock forced but a hell?’ Shakespeare wrote that while locked in his own unhappy marriage, yet his words go unheeded.”
Did the woman quote nobody but Shakespeare? He was fond of the bard himself, but he didn’t consider every pronouncement the greatest wisdom. Not to mention that her sweeping interpretation of an obscure passage to suit her needs irritated him. “No one knows if Shakespeare’s marriage was unhappy or not.”
“For pity’s sake, he left his wife here in
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