Read Online An Invitation to Seduction by Lorraine Heath - Free Book Online Page B

that was sealed with wax embossed with his ducal crest and held it toward her. “My formal request. I know it should have been delivered before I voiced my intentions, but time seems to be of the essence.”
    “Are you mad?”
    “Probably. I am not a man who acts impulsively, Miss Robertson. But neither am I a man who easily gives up what he has determined that he wants.”
    The horror transformed into disbelief. “And you’ve decided that I am what you want?”
    “Precisely.”
    Her lips curling slightly as though she were suddenly amused, she shook her head and began to walk again. “We are not well suited.”
    “I disagree.”
    “You may disagree all you want. I assure you, we are not well suited.”
    “Give me this Season to prove otherwise.”
    She stopped again, her eyes traveling over his face as though she sought to memorize each facet of his appearance. “I have loved Farthingham from the moment I met him.”
    “Then why did you seek me out at dawn?”
    Tears welling in her eyes, she averted her gaze. “It had nothing to do with love.”
    “Is it possible that it could?”
    She looked back at him, holding his gaze, honesty and regret in her eyes. “I could never love you. And I won’t hurt Farthingham or risk damaging what he and I have by even entertaining the notion that you are more suited to me than he.”
    “And if Farthingham loved another?”
    She smiled with absolute certainty. “He doesn’t.”
    She turned back to their walk. “It was wrong of me to meet you by the sea. I hope you’ll forgive me for any false hope I might have given you that anything more than a passing moment could exist between us.”
    He was damned near tempted to take her in his arms, there within the garden, and prove to her that considerably more existed between them. A wise woman to insist that they walk where her mother could keep a watchful eye on them, where a man of his rank wouldn’t behave badly.
    “So you will not consider me?”
    “No, Your Grace, I will not.”
    “I am not in need of funds, Miss Robertson.”
    She hesitated, but did not cease her walking. “It doesn’t matter.”
    “You would be a duchess.”
    “It is not rank that I seek, but love.”
    “I would have thought you could have found that in Texas.”
    She spun around, anger in her eyes. “I have beenbrought up to be a lady, to manage a household of immense size, to stand beside a man of tremendous influence. That I have fallen in love with an Englishman suits me, and I suit him. We’ll be happy. I won’t settle for less. Like you, Your Grace, I’m accustomed to gaining what I desire. I made a grave error in judgment in seeking you out, and I do not intend to pay for it for the remainder of my life. It was a mistake, but no harm came of it. You profess to be Farthingham’s friend, and here you are striving to steal me away from him. What sort of friend would do such a despicable thing? Is he aware that you’re here?”
    “No.”
    “Can you conceive of him approaching a woman who holds your regard and asking her to turn away from you?”
    He slowly shook his head. “No, I cannot.”
    “Would he betray you?”
    He released a low sigh. “No, he would not.”
    “And yet here you are, striving to betray him. That , Your Grace, is only one of the many, many reasons why I am absolutely positive that I could never love you. I value loyalty.” She quickly held up a finger. “And before you chastise me or remind me of our prior meeting, I am well aware that I strayed, and I’ve vowed to dedicate myself to forgetting that encounter and ensuring I never again do anything similar.”
    “A harsh punishment for so innocent an act.”
    “Not a punishment. I’m simply recognizing a failing on my part. It won’t happen again.”
    Strange how he found himself more enamored of her than before. He desperately wanted her loyalty bestowed on him, wanted her dedication, and her heart.
    “Will you at least postpone your betrothal