Read Online Scottish Brides by Christina Dodd - Free Book Online Page B

pay.
    â€œOf course.” She sounded excited. “You look like her! The hair and the eyes and the . . . you’re both handsome.”
    â€œWell-formed?”
    â€œExtremely,” she answered. “But unlike you, your sister is not conceited.”
    â€œOw,” he said again, although he wasn’t offended. She was teasing, treating him as normally as she had before he’d uttered those fatal words— marry me. It was another breakdown in her defenses, and he began to think that perhaps, just perhaps, his plan would succeed. “So Sebastian is my brother-in-law, and you might think he is prejudiced in my favor. But I assure you, he detests the Fairchilds—remember, I told you the family is the most dissolute bunch of blackguards you’ll find this side of Hell—and if I were like them, he would have no compassion for my suit. He would tell you I was unworthy and blast me for daring to court a lady of integrity. But he helped me go to university, and since then I’ve worked with him and for him, and you can trust him to tell you the truth.”
    He paused and waited until she acknowledged, “I’m sure that he would tell nothing but the truth.”
    â€œExactly. And finally, I must offer my sister. There is no one else alive who has known me my whole life, so it has to be her.”
    â€œFor what reason?”
    â€œMary will gladly testify that I have never proposed to a woman before, not even when I was five and fancied myself quite a ladies’ man.”
    â€œOh.”
    It was a tiny sound, and one he found infinitely fulfilling. “There’s Ian and Alanna I can call on to write me a reference. And the men and women I met and worked with in India, although those letters will take time to reach us, but all of them will say much the same thing.”
    â€œThat you’re not flighty in matters of the heart, and that you can be depended upon?”
    â€œVery good.” He cradled her in both his arms, holding her as close as he could in the hope that, if the words did not reach her, the closeness would. “I will not leave you, no matter how you try to drive me away. I’m not your father or your brother or your uncle; I’m Hadden Fairchild, and I’ve never loved another woman, Andra, and I never will.”
    She didn’t say anything. She didn’t return his vow of love, or say that she would read his references, or that she believed that he would remain with her always.
    Yet neither did she protest his insight that the abandonment of her menfolk had created her terror of the bonds of affection.
    He wasn’t satisfied, of course. What he sought was her absolute surrender. But he couldn’t force that, and he knew that he’d planted a new thought inside her head. That he was the man she could depend on.
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    Andra heard Hadden’s breath deepen as he slid into sleep. She noted that his grip on her did not loosen, and she was reminded of that other night they had shared. Even in the depths of sleep, the man held what he cherished. Did she believe he would do the same in the light of day when faced with the hardships of the life she led? He was a fine, well-traveled English gentleman, used to amenities. Even if he were to throw his fortune into Castle MacNachtan, it would be years before the conditions would be more than just tolerable. Did she believe he would remain with her regardless of the rugged living conditions? More important, could he shoulder the responsibilities of being her husband without shirking? And when they fought, as all married folk must, would he not flee back to London, but still come to her bed and kiss her good night?
    She didn’t know the answers. Not really. Not even if she accepted the references he urged on her. Not even if she considered the man himself and all she knew of him. No matter what decision she made, she might lose.
    Could she bear that? To perhaps once again see the