Free A Matter of Choice by Laura Landon

different? Or is it that you fancy yourself in love with him?”
    Allison didn’t answer him.
    “Are you in love with him?” He rose to his feet, towering over her like an avenging accuser.
    “He is someone I can at least trust.”
    She noticed a hitch in his breathing before he whispered.
    “I see.”
    The marquess kept his gaze fixed on her for what seemed forever, then walked across the room. Bright sunlight poured through the window, framing the powerful build of his broad shoulders and streaking the coffee-rich color of his hair with coppery strands. She fought the strange yearning that rumbled inside her like a waking beast. He braced his feet wide and clasped his hands behind his back. The stoic pose gave him a majestic air of invincibility.
    “I do not want to marry you, Lord Montfort. I cannot risk it. And you do not want to marry me. You do not want to marry anyone.”
    “But I, like you, do not have a choice. I need your dowry. Without it I will lose the one thing I refuse to give up.”
    “And what is that?”
    “The estate my mother left me. Graystone Manor.”
    “It is that important to you?”
    He raised his eyebrows and gave her a pointed look.
    “It must be,” she said more to herself than to him. “Or you would never be willing to give up your freedom to save it.”
    She thought for a moment, then locked her gaze with his. “Surely there is another option for you.”
    “No. Just as there isn’t another option for you.”
    Allison felt the room sway beneath her feet. He was right, and he knew it. She could tell by the smug look on his face, hear it in the confident tone of his voice. He knew David had backed her into a corner without a means of escape. She could refuse to marry and lose her dowry and be at the mercy of her family for the rest of her life. Or she could marry. Those were her only choices. Therefore, she had no choice.
    She would marry.
    But it would be a cold day in hell before she would marry the Marquess of Montfort. And by the time she finished with her demands, it would be an even colder day before he would want to marry her either.
    Allison looked into his face, studying his features: the aquiline nose, his bronzed flesh stretched tight across high cheekbones, the square cut of his jaw. A muscle twitched at the side of his face. She could tell he was losing patience with her. With the situation he could not control.
    “Very well, Lord Montfort. I will agree to marry you, but with one condition.”
    His dark brows arched over midnight blue eyes. “And what condition would that be?”
    Allison lifted her shoulders and boldly readied her demand to which she knew beyond a doubt he would never agree. A condition which a person with his reputation did not stand a chance of fulfilling. A condition to which she was confident he would rant and rage at her audacity, then storm out of here in frustration.
    “My demand is that before we marry, you agree in writing to be faithful. That in return for my dowry, you agree you will never take a lover for as long as we are married.”
    His eyes widened in disbelief, his demeanor turned dark and foreboding. “You can’t be serious.”
    “Oh, but I am. On the day I take your name, you will give me your promise to always be faithful.”
    Allison looked into his face and saw none of the rakish humor and seductive teasing she was used to.
    “And what is the penalty if I break my promise?”
    “Are you asking what price you will pay if you are unfaithful?”
    “Yes.”
    She smiled, knowing concern over his penalty was a moot point. He would never agree to her terms. The risk of failure was too great.
    “You will lose it all, Lord Montfort. You will give me back my freedom and repay every pound that came with me. You will also give me every Ashbury property and asset my dowry made debt free.”
    “Is there anything else?”
    “Yes. You will give me Graystone Manor.”
    A long, tension-filled silence stretched between them. He would not