Read Online A Scandalous Marriage by Cathy Maxwell - Free Book Online

sir.”
    Sir Godfrey nodded his head. “Well, carry on. Give my best to your grandfather.”
    “I will when I see him, sir.”
    Swinging his walking stick, Sir Godfrey continued on his way.
    Devon waited until the man turned a corner before sighing with relief. Then, with a heave of his shoulders, he lifted Leah off and caught her in his arms.
    She burst out laughing, laughter he joined in.
    “Do you think he recognized me?” she asked.
    “I’m certain he didn’t. Have you ever met him before?”
    “Not ever.”
    “Then we have no worry. He won’t be expecting a virtuous woman by the docks, let alone London’s loveliest debutante.”
    She grinned. “I can’t believe it. He acted as if it was nothing to see you with a woman standing on your shoulders.”
    “I have a certain reputation,” Devon couldn’t help saying, and they both laughed all the harder.
    He helped her put on her shoes, and they hurried back to the hack, giggling like children. But once inside, and safely on their way, the laughter stopped.
    For a second, they stared in each other’s eyes. Then she said solemnly, “Hold out your hand.”
    He lifted his hand, palm out.

    She placed hers an inch apart, and immediately, an irresistible force pulled their hands together. He clasped his fingers around hers.
    And then their lips found each other.
    Kissing Leah was as natural to him as breathing. Once started, he couldn’t stop, not when she so eagerly responded. Their tongues touched, and he drank her in. His hand rested at her waist but he wanted to explore lower, to lift her skirts, to feel the soft skin of her thighs and to feel her heat, her moistness.
    She broke the kiss. “Why is this happening to us, the two people in London who can never be happy together?”
    “Don’t ever say that. It’s not true. I am going to marry you.”
    His bluntness caught her by surprise. She searched his face. “But how?”
    “I will talk to your father—”
    “No! Why, Julian would never let you close. He hates you, Devon.”
    “He doesn’t know me except by reputation. We’ve never said two words to each other.”
    “He doesn’t have to know you. He hates you for no other reason than your last name is Marshall.”
    “Are you refusing me?” The words came out stilted. He had never thought of asking a woman to marry him, let alone that she might reject him.
    She hesitated.
    “Say it,” he demanded. “Just blurt out what you are thinking.”
    “I don’t know.”
    It was not the answer he wanted.
    Leah laid her hand on his arm. “Please, Devon. If I agree to marry you, then it may mean turning my back on my family forever. I don’t know if I can do that. And think about yourself. Do you really believe your grandfather would accept our marriage?”
    “I don’t answer to my grandfather.” Anger and disappointment colored his words. He broke the silence between them. “Do you at least return my love?”
    She pulled her hand back and clasped both hands in her lap, squeezing her fingers before answering. “I don’t know. I need time to consider it more. There is so much at stake. Can you give me just a bit more time before demanding an answer?”
    Bitterness filled him. “I wait… but not forever.”
    “That’s fair,” she admitted, but there was sadness in her voice. They didn’t say any more to each other after that. Silence seemed best.

    Devon had the hack stop at the baroness’s house, and he borrowed a maid to play the role of a Hamlin servant. He wasn’t certain, but he thought he caught sight of tears on Leah’s face as the hack pulled away.
    “Something is amiss, cher,” Charlotte said to him. “You are not your swaggering, cheerful self and Miss Carrollton seems unhappy.”
    “I’m in love,” Devon confessed brutally.
    “Ah,” she said with understanding, and then, “love is never easy.”
    “Now you tell me.” He tipped his hat, not wanting further conversation. He needed to be alone. He would have started on his