To Tame a Dangerous Lord (12 page)

She drew back at the physical contact. Despite knowing he expected her to be intimidated by his intimate gesture, she didn’t dare risk letting him touch her so brazenly.

“I have no doubt,” Madeline said in a dry voice of her own. “You probably know a great many shady characters from your previous occupation.”

“That I do.”

“Even so, my attendance would provide a good excuse
for you to be there, one that Mrs. Sauville could readily accept. I don’t see why you will not let me help.”

“Because I don’t want you endangered in any way. Your father would have my head if he were still alive.”

“My father has nothing to do with this.”

“He would want me to protect you.”

Madeline’s chin came up. “I don’t relish being treated like a fragile, helpless female, Lord Haviland. I am not made of china.”

“I never thought that for one moment.”

Giving a doubtful huff, she crossed her arms over her chest, which had the unexpected result of making Haviland glance down at her bosom.

His gaze lingered there for a heartbeat or two before returning to her face. “Why are you so damned insistent on accompanying me?”

Madeline was silent for a moment, not wanting to reveal how badly she wanted to be on more equal footing with Haviland. It was rather humiliating, always having him take care of her. She wanted to help him for a change.

“Because I like to earn my way. And you did me a generous service by helping me to secure a teaching position with Lady Danvers. I would like to repay the favor.”

“You will be doing me a service if you stay well out of it.” He held up a forbidding hand. “That is enough about Freddie’s letters, love. I have another subject I wish to discuss with you.”

It exasperated Madeline that he refused even to listen, but she swallowed her protest. She would not give up so easily, yet for the time being, she thought it wiser to allow Haviland to have his way. “Very well, what do you wish to discuss?”

“I want to ask for your hand in marriage.”

Madeline stared at him with incomprehension. Surely she had not heard him correctly.

“Will you do me the honor of marrying me, Miss Ellis?” Haviland said more plainly.

A dozen chaotic thoughts streaked through her mind, while a riot of feelings flooded her—disbelief, confusion, elation, suspicion….

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you roasting me, Lord Haviland?”

“Certainly not.”

“You cannot possibly be serious,” she insisted, her voice rising in pitch. “You want to
marry
me?”

His expression sobered. “I assure you, I am entirely serious, Madeline. I would like to have you for my wife and countess.”

He honestly was not jesting, she realized, dumbfounded with astonishment. He could not have shocked her more if he had suddenly offered her the moon on a silver platter.

She parted her lips in an effort at speech, but then shut them again when she realized she had nothing to say. She felt as if the very breath had been knocked out of her.

“Pray contain your enthusiasm,” Haviland said dryly.

In response, Madeline scrutinized his face. Was she dreaming? Only moments ago she’d been lamenting the fact that Haviland would never look twice at her, and now he was proposing
marriage?

She swallowed hard, striving to regain her wits. “You must admit your proposal is extremely far-fetched,” she finally rasped.

“It isn’t far-fetched in the least. I am in need of a wellbred
wife to give me an heir. You need someone to support and protect you. By marrying we can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.”

Her heart sank. So
that
was his motivation. She should have realized his astounding proposal had nothing to do with any growing attachment he felt for her.

“I am not fond of killing birds,” Madeline replied distractedly. “Why would anyone wish to harm innocent creatures?”

He laughed softly. “You know that is a figure of speech. And you are evading my question. Will you marry me, Madeline?”

Evading his question even further, she responded with one of her own. “Why ever would you offer for
me
? You could take your pick from half the female population of England.”

“I don’t want half the female population. I want you.”

“Why?”

“You have any number of qualities I want in a wife.”

“Name a single one.”

“I can name several. I feel comfortable around you, for a start.”

The joy Madeline had momentarily experienced was swiftly dissolving. “Comfort is a lackluster basis for wedlock.”

“It is a good beginning. I cannot say the same for any of the young chits I have considered thus far. And you are not bent on flattering me or attempting to impress me. Believe me, I find that extremely refreshing.”

Thankfully, Madeline was recovering from her initial shock. The more Haviland explained his rationale, the less inclined she was to accept.

“I don’t believe you are enthralled by my qualities,”
she said flatly. “You are only proposing to fulfill a perceived obligation to my father. But you have already repaid any debt—if indeed there was one—by helping me to find employment.”

Haviland hesitated. “It is true that I still feel an obligation toward your father. He saved my life, and that is a debt I can never repay. But I would never let obligation alone determine so serious a decision.”

“Well, I won’t marry anyone who is proposing from a misplaced sense of guilt.”

“And you should not refuse because of a misplaced sense of pride.”

Conceding the point, Madeline bit her lower lip. “I doubt my pride is misplaced,” she said with an edge of stubbornness. “You consider me an object of charity.”

“You are willfully misunderstanding me.”

“I believe I understand you perfectly. You want me for a broodmare.”

His expression showed a faint trace of exasperation. “You would be my
countess
, Madeline, as well as the mother of my children. With all the advantages of wealth and privilege the title entails.”

He made a good point, she admitted, suddenly questioning her wisdom in refusing the Earl of Haviland. This was her very first proposal by the man of her dreams. Why on earth was she not leaping to accept?

Because he had said nothing about love
, Madeline reminded herself. Only that he wanted an heir. And he had made his offer in a dispassionate, businesslike manner that had indeed stung her womanly pride.

On the other hand, Haviland could give her the children she longed for. Could she turn down such a tempting proposition? Just a few short days ago she would
doubtless have been ecstatic at the chance to have children, but now, unfathomably, she wanted more for her future than a loveless union for the sake of procreating.

Am I mad to want more, Maman?

Perhaps she shouldn’t reject Haviland out of hand, though. Perhaps she should give herself more time to consider his tantalizing proposal….

Madeline shook her head, corralling her unruly thoughts. She had come solidly down to earth and meant to remain there.

“I have never sought a title, Lord Haviland. And I don’t require a life of leisure. In fact, I would probably loathe it. I am accustomed to working for my living.”

“As am I. It is another reason I think we would suit.”

“But there are numerous reasons we would
not
suit. We may frequently be at loggerheads.”

“That does not concern me. Some men want a dutiful and obedient wife, but I am not one of them.” He sent her a soft, persuasive smile. “Think of it as a bargain. You provide me with children in exchange for financial security.”

Her frown, Madeline suspected, held all the dismay she was feeling. “That is certainly a cold-blooded way of looking at marriage.”

Haviland gave a shrug of his broad shoulders. “We would be making a simple union of convenience. It is done all the time.”

“Perhaps in
your
family, but not in mine.” Without giving him time to reply, Madeline pressed on. “You could choose any number of ladies to give you an heir, my lord. Indeed, I hear you already have. Freddie Lunsford told me that you wanted to wed Roslyn Loring this past summer.”

“Freddie has a loose tongue,” Haviland said, grimacing slightly.

“True, but he said only that you courted her, that it was
rumored
you proposed to her. Did you?”

“Yes.”

“But she refused your offer? Why?”

“Because there was no love between us. In fact, she was madly in love with Arden.” Haviland’s gaze suddenly became intent as he observed Madeline. “That is one advantage you have over her. You are not madly in love with another man—are you?”

His tone was surprisingly hard, almost a demand, and Madeline was taken aback. Yet she answered evenly. “No, I am not.”

“Then I don’t see the difficulty.”

She raised her eyes to the ceiling. “The
difficulty
, my lord, is that I don’t care to enter into a loveless marriage, either.”

When he failed to reply, she glanced up at him. “I still don’t believe you truly wish to marry me. If it is not charity, then you are simply acting on impulse.”

“Perhaps. I am following my instincts, and my instincts have served me well these past many years.”

“They are mistaken in this instance. Come, admit it. You don’t
want
to wed me.”

His mouth curved. “I admit that you would be doing me an immense kindness if you accept my offer. I could call off my search for a bride and wouldn’t have to endure any more vapid debutantes.”

She gave a humorless laugh. “Ah, now we get to the heart of the matter.”

“I was jesting.”

“But I am not.”

“Tell me why you don’t wish to marry me,” he challenged.

Madeline shivered. It was
not
that she didn’t want to marry Haviland. On the contrary. He was offering her a future she could only imagine in her wildest dreams. Yet she would be taking an enormous risk by accepting him. So uneven a match—a plain, penniless spinster wedding a handsome, charismatic lord who had no interest in love—would likely lead to unhappiness and even heartache for her.

She was already far too enamored of Haviland. She had never met a man who could fire her passion and inspire her as he did. If she were freely offered any husband in the world, she would choose him without a doubt. He was heroic, compassionate, intelligent, generous, alluring…. From the very first he had bowled over her wits and her senses.

And therein lay the trouble. She was much too susceptible to falling in love with him, while her ardor would remain unrequited.

Haviland must have seen her shiver, since he reached back to close and latch the window while he waited for her to gather her thoughts. Madeline was grateful for his consideration, even though the chill seeping into her heart had nothing to do with the night air wafting into the nursery.

When she spoke, however, she tried to keep her response light. “I am idealistic enough to want love in my marriage.”

His expression turned enigmatic, his tone cool. “Love is vastly overrated in my experience.”

Searching his face, Madeline knew that she had read his sentiments correctly. He obviously did not care
about such maudlin emotions as love. Yet she did. Fervently.

Granted, she had never really expected to find the wonderful love her parents had known. And she was prepared to be stoic about her loss. Yet if she wed Haviland now, she would likely be cutting off any hope of true love—and she couldn’t bring herself to destroy her dreams just yet.

Madeline had no intention, however, of revealing her deepest yearnings and fears to him.

“You have yet to mention any of my faults,” she said instead. “I am far too outspoken, to begin with.”

He seemed prepared for that argument. “I can deal with outspokenness. In truth, I find your frankness as refreshing as your honesty.”

She had always felt free to speak her mind with Haviland because she’d thought he would never look twice at her. Now, however, she was feeling highly self-conscious.

“But I am much too plain for someone like you, my lord. The fact that you proposed to the Duchess of Arden before you offered for me only proves my point. You are a man. You want beauty in your wife.”

“Not necessarily. Beauty like hers can be cause for jealousy and strife. I value loyalty over beauty any day.”

Madeline winced, even though she didn’t think he meant his remark as a slight. Averting her gaze, she murmured in an offhand way, “If you want loyalty, you should purchase a dog.”

He didn’t laugh or even smile as she expected. Instead, surprisingly, Haviland placed a finger under her chin and compelled her to look at him. “You have little faith in your feminine appeal, don’t you?”

It was unnerving, the way he seemed to know her thoughts. “I see no reason to delude myself.”

Haviland’s gaze softened. “You may not be considered a ravishing beauty, Madeline, but you are not plain in the least. A liveliness of spirit can make up for any number of physical imperfections.”

It was absurd how his words stung when he was only trying to reassure her. And he spoke no less than the truth. She had never been beautiful and never would be.

Hiding her chagrin, Madeline responded with a careless retort, although she was not feeling at all careless.
“Now
who is offering false flattery?”

His reply held a note of seriousness. “I would not insult you by offering you lies. Especially knowing you would not welcome them any more than I do.”

She gave a sigh. “It is pointless to continue this discussion, Lord Haviland. I understand that the proper response is to first thank you for your kind offer, but I must refuse.”

That made him pause. “You won’t even consider it?”

“No.” She wouldn’t let herself hope, for she would only be cruelly disappointed.

“Still, I would like you to think on it. You needn’t make your decision just now. My offer will remain open for a time.”

“Until you find another candidate who entices you more than I do,” she muttered, unable to keep the bitterness from her tone.

Haviland’s gaze fixed intently on her. “I’ll have you know, you
do
entice me.”