Authors: Lady Hathaway's Indecent Proposal
“Would you care to know what else I believe to be true?”
She lifted her shoulders in a shrug that was meant to seem indifferent. He could tell she’d guessed he knew everything, but she wasn’t about to betray herself.
“I think you still care for me. Why else would you go to such lengths and concoct such a lie to be with me?” He was bluffing, but a man could hope, and hope was all he had to go on at the moment. “But what I don’t know is why you ran away.”
She laughed at that, a small, self-deprecating sound. “I propositioned you one week after my husband’s death and betrayed his memory in the worst possible manner. Do you honestly believe I could go on pretending to be the respectable Dowager Viscountess?”
Now it was his turn to tread carefully. Miranda was as tense as a doe he’d once stumbled upon in a field, and he didn’t want to frighten her away by being too aggressive.
“I never would have called at your town house if you hadn’t left without a word. Never would have had a reason to question James Hathaway and learn that you’d lied.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t.”
He reached out and took her right hand in his. She tried to draw it back, but he wouldn’t let go.
“Why not?”
He didn’t think she was going to reply, but when she did she met his gaze straight on.
“Because you are right. I still care for you, but I know you no longer feel that way about me.”
“Miranda—”
“Yes, you agreed to bed me, but I know I was no different to you than the other women you’ve been with.”
“Do you really believe that?”
She swallowed visibly and nodded. “I don’t blame you. I know I hurt you when I accepted Hathaway’s suit. I could try to lay the blame on my parents, tell you they were relentless in pressing me to agree. Which is true, but it doesn’t change the fact that I was weak. Too worried about disappointing them. So, instead, I disappointed you. I have no excuses, nor do I deserve your forgiveness.”
In the face of her misery, he kept his growing good cheer in check. “You’re right,” he said softly.
She merely nodded again, but her eyes appeared over-bright.
“We seem to have a problem, then,” he continued.
“A problem?”
“Yes. In the beginning, I told myself I could do what you asked. Get you with child, then leave, all the while congratulating myself on having bested Hathaway in the end. And I could finally satisfy my curiosity about what it would be like to have you under me, screaming out my name.”
She looked away, saying nothing.
“It did not take me long to realize I was wrong. I could never have left you to raise our child alone, let alone allow you to pass him off as another man’s son.”
She swallowed. “Yes, well, you needn’t worry about any of that now.”
“Perhaps not, but what about my discovery that I can’t let you go a second time?”
When her eyes met his again, they were wide with disbelief. “What are you saying?”
He clasped her hand between both of his and prepared to bare his soul. “I love you, Miranda. I’ve always loved you and I know now that will never change. I want you for my own.”
“As your mistress?” The words were barely above a whisper.
“No, Miranda, as my wife.”
Her choked sob was not the reaction he’d expected. He’d hoped to see joy at his declaration, but instead a tear escaped and trailed down her cheek. She brushed it away with her free hand and he noticed that it shook. His heart squeezed painfully as she tried to pull away again, but he wouldn’t release his grip on her hand.
“You deserve to marry someone who can give you children.”
“We still don’t know that you can’t.”
“Robert has a daughter,” she said, her voice flat. “She was born to a mistress years before he married me, so the fault for my never falling pregnant did not lie with him.”
He’d already come to terms with the possibility he would never have children before he’d set out after Miranda. But now he had to make her believe that.
“These last few weeks without you have shown me that I cannot bear to live without you. I barely survived the first time. Don’t ask me to go through that again.”
“You’ll come to resent me. After all, a man still wants to have his own son inherit. Nephews and such are never a first choice.”
Her mimicry of the words he’d used when he was trying to draw the truth from her sent a surge of anger through him.
“I’m not Hathaway, damn it, so don’t tar me with the same brush. Do I want you to have my children? I won’t lie and say no.” This time he allowed her to pull her hand away, but he followed and kneeled before her, grasping her thighs in a vain effort to keep her anchored, because he was suddenly afraid she would disappear from his life again. “Unlike your husband, I love my sisters and their many children. Given a choice between Jane’s eldest inheriting and marrying some other woman just to procure an heir…” His grip tightened. “I’d much rather have you.”
She closed her eyes and a spasm of pain crossed her face.
He didn’t bother to hide his hurt when he continued. “Why is it so easy for you to cast me aside?”
She opened her eyes and looked down at him. “You think this is easy for me? I’ve barely eaten or slept since I left you. I could think of nothing else but how much I wanted to go back and beg you to allow me some small part of your life. But marriage…” She shook her head. “I can’t do that to you. You deserve better.”
“What I deserve is the woman I love.”
She started to reply but instead burst into sobs. Horrified, he pulled her from her chair until she kneeled on the floor with him and drew her into his arms. He was afraid she’d resist, but instead she clung to him until her tears began to slow.
“I am so ridiculous,” she said, the words muffled against his shoulder.
He pulled back so he could see her face. “I refuse to allow you to insult the woman I love.”
The smile she gave him was tremulous, but it made his heart lighten.
“What am I going to do with you?”
He raised a brow and gave her an exaggerated leer. “I can think of a thing or two.”
She laughed—a genuine sound of joy this time—and he’d never heard anything so wonderful in his life.
“I’m still in mourning and will be for the next ten months.”
“I can wait if I know you’ll marry me at the end of it.”
“Then I suppose we’re waiting.”
He gave a whoop of joy and sprang to his feet, drawing her up with him so he could swing her around. She gave a small squeak of surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“But I refuse to wait a moment longer before making love to you again.”
This time when she smiled her tears were gone, as was her uncertainty.
“Then you should put me down so I can tell Mrs. Evers she can go home now.”
His eyes followed her as she left the room to find her housekeeper. It would be hard to wait until he could claim her as his own, but he’d do it. Miranda was worth it.
Epilogue
They waited only eleven more months to announce their engagement—one month after Miranda’s period of mourning had officially ended. Miranda returned to town after Andrew found her and they were careful to keep their relationship a secret from everyone until she was out of mourning. Shortly after the announcement was made, they were married in a private ceremony with only their family as witnesses at the chapel on Andrew’s estate.
“I’m worried about James,” Miranda said.
The wedding breakfast had ended a short time before, and she and Andrew had left their guests to escape to the bedroom.
“Perhaps we can talk about your nephew another time,” Andrew said, frowning down at her.
She ignored him and continued. “He’s so aloof around Sarah. I don’t think he’s happy.”
Andrew snorted. “Hathaway adores his wife.”
He tried to draw her to the bed, but she held her ground.
“How can you say that? The two of them barely looked at one another during breakfast.”
“Only a man in love can see the signs in another. He was trying too hard to make it appear as though he was barely aware of her presence. A man does that when he cares too much and doesn’t believe his affections are returned.”
Miranda frowned. “Is that what you did?”
“Of course. After being tossed aside once by you, I wasn’t going to let you know how much you still affected me.”
She allowed him to turn her around and begin undoing the row of buttons down the back of her wedding dress while she went over the meal they’d just shared in her mind.
“Why do you think he doesn’t want her to know he cares about her?”
“I can’t imagine. Perhaps the fact that she can barely bring herself to even look at him?”
Miranda had noticed that as well. “It could be she’s shy. I’ve known a few women who were that quiet, and yes, even with their husbands.”
Andrew laughed. “The new Lady Hathaway is not shy.”
He’d finished the buttons and was working now on untying her corset.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’ve been to a few social events when her parents were trying to marry her off. She could flirt with the best of them.”
He drew her dress down her arms and removed her corset and she turned to face him again. His eyes were hungry as he took in her shape beneath the near-transparent chemise. Her blood heated in response, but she held him back with a hand to his chest.
“Do you think her parents forced the marriage?”
He shrugged. “They would hardly be the first set of parents to set their cap for the Hathaway fortunes.”
Miranda frowned at the reminder that her parents had done just that. “But if she cares for him and he cares for her, why would they need to be so formal with one another?”
Andrew exhaled, the sound impatient. “I think your romantic imagination is running away from you. I saw no indication that she cares for him.”
“She does. You didn’t see the look in her eyes when we were talking about him earlier.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it. But perhaps it wouldn’t be remiss if she showed him she cared.”
“The way he shows her?” She laughed and sat on the edge of the bed. “Oh, what a pair. I wonder if we should make them aware of their feelings since they seem to be so oblivious.”
Andrew lowered himself onto the bed beside her. “In cases like this, it’s best to come to such a realization on your own. I would have flattened anyone who’d so much as hinted that I was still in love with you, and I have no wish to be on the receiving end of your nephew’s fists.”
“I could talk to him—”
“Absolutely not,” he said, lowering her onto the bed and shifting so he was atop her. “They need to figure this out for themselves. We could both be mistaken.”
She was finding it difficult to concentrate on the subject, but was about to insist when he placed a finger over her lips.
“Promise me, Miranda. Meddling will only make it worse.”
She drew his finger into her mouth and watched as his eyes darkened before releasing it.
“Just a small nudge?”
Andrew didn’t bother to hide his impatience to be done with the conversation. “They are already married and there is nothing more we can do.”
“You’re right, of course,” she said, remembering the look of misery on Sarah’s face during the wedding breakfast.
That was her last coherent thought before Andrew made her forget everything else but him.
Thank You
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Lady Hathaway’s Indecent Proposal
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Suzanna
Lord Hathaway’s New Bride
—book 2 in the Hathaway Heirs series—will be released in 2014.
Turn the page to read an excerpt from
Loving the Marquess
—book 1 in the Landing a Lord series. Book 2 in the series will be released in late 2013
Loving the Marquess
—Suzanna Medeiros
Excerpt
Louisa had nowhere else to turn. She’d tried unsuccessfully to find more sewing to take in or to think of some other way to pay Edward Manning the rent he demanded. His suggested alternative was too repulsive to contemplate, let alone accept, and she wouldn’t allow him to approach Catherine with his vile proposition.
In a moment of frustration she’d almost told her brother about their landlord’s visit. The temptation to have someone with whom she could share this burden was great. She knew, though, that John wouldn’t have been able to help, and he was brash enough to do something foolish like challenge Edward to a duel for the proposition he’d made. She couldn’t allow that to happen.
She brought the horse she’d borrowed from a neighbor to a stop at the end of the drive and looked across the manicured gardens that spread out before Overlea Manor. Their former home, while respectable in size, was not nearly as grand as the house before her now—three stories in height, two wings sweeping out at the sides, and an impressive portico that rose up to the roofline, all in a rich honey-colored stone. She could only stare at it in wonder, the knowledge that she was completely out of her depth solidifying.
Asking for Overlea’s assistance had been the only path open to her. She’d managed to maintain her equanimity during the ride, but now that she was here, her heartbeat quickened. She took a deep breath in a vain attempt to quell her nerves before starting down the drive to the front of the house. When she dismounted, a groom was already headed toward her. She smiled as she handed him the reins.
Back straight, feigning a confidence she was far from feeling, she turned and proceeded up the short stairway to the main entrance. She paused at the top, smoothing a hand over the dark blue skirt of her riding habit. The style was more than a few years out of date now, but there was no point in having a habit in the current style when they didn’t even own a horse.