Read Online Mystique by Amanda Quick - Free Book Online

dowry for me, sir, else he will likely try to cheat you.”
    A grin tugged at the corners of Hugh’s mouth. He controlled it with an effort. “I have no desire to be fleeced, lady. Never fear, I have had a fair amount of experience in the art of bargaining. You have my oath that I shall make it a point not to pay overmuch for you.”
    She frowned, unconvinced. “Sir Ralf has no scruples in matters of business. He stole my brother’s inheritance.”
    “Mayhap I shall even the score by stealing you from him for a pittance.”
    Alice fell silent again as she continued to pace. “You would do all this in exchange for my help in recovering the green stone and for our temporary betrothal?”
    “Aye. ‘Tis the shortest, most convenient route to my goal.”
    “And therefore, ‘tis naturally the path you elect to take,” she murmured half under her breath.
    “I do not believe in wasting time.”
    “You are a bold man, sir.”
    “I sense that we are well matched,” Hugh said softly.
    Alice came to a halt. Her expressive face was bright with renewed enthusiasm. “Very well, my lord, I shall agree to your terms. I shall spend the winter with you at Scarcliffe as your betrothed. In the spring we shall reassess the situation.”
    Hugh was startled by the degree of exultation that swept through him. It was a simple business arrangement, he reminded himself. Nothing more than that. He tried to temper the surging satisfaction.
    “Excellent,” he said simply. “The bargain is struck.”
    “I foresee a large problem, however.”
    “What is that?”
    Alice paused beside the astrolabe. “It occurs to me that although my uncle will be much pleased at the prospect of ridding himself of my presence in his household, he is unlikely to believe his good fortune.”
    “Do not concern yourself, Lady Alice.” Hugh was impatient to get on with the matter now that he had completed the bargain. “I told you, I shall deal with your uncle.”
    “But he will be extremely suspicious of your sudden desire to wed me,” she insisted.
    Hugh frowned. “Why is that?”
    “In case it has escaped your notice,” she said tartly, “I am somewhat beyond the customary age for a bride.”
    Hugh smiled slightly. “One of the reasons you are soeminently suited to my needs, Lady Alice, is precisely because you are no longer a young, frivolous innocent.”
    She wrinkled her nose. “Aye, there is that, isn’t there? I can well believe that you would not wish to strike this bargain with a female who is still part child or one who has had no experience of the world.”
    “You are correct.” Hugh wondered again just how much experience of the world Alice had had. “I need a business associate, not a demanding bride who will pout and sulk when I do not have time to entertain her. I require a woman of mature years and practical ways.”
    A wistful expression passed across Alice’s face. “A woman of mature years and practical ways. Aye, that is a very good description of me, my lord.”
    “Then there is no reason why our arrangement should not go forward.”
    Alice hesitated. “We come back to the problem of convincing my uncle that you truly wish to contract a marriage with me.”
    “I told you, you may leave that problem safely in my hands.”
    “I fear ‘twill not be so simple as you seem to believe,” she said. “Shortly after Sir Ralf removed my brother and me from our home and brought us here to Lingwood Manor, he made several attempts to marry me off.”
    “The attempts failed, I see.”
    “Aye. My uncle got so desperate that he actually offered a small dowry, but even with that none of his neighbors could be convinced to take me off his hands.”
    “There was not so much as a single offer?” Hugh was surprised. After all, a dowry was a dowry and there were always a few poor men desperately in need of one.
    “One or two knights with small fiefs nearby went so far as to pay us a visit to meet me in person. But upon becoming