Free Love With the Proper Husband by Victoria Alexander

they?”
    “They do. It is most annoying.” He nodded firmly and paused. A wry smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “Perhaps if I had ever talked to them the way I’m talking to you they would think differently of me. Good Lord, I have never spoken about such things with anyone before, let alone a woman. The circumstances we find ourselves in must be wearing more heavily on me than I had suspected.”
    “Apparently.”
    “And what of you, Miss Townsend? We—or rather I—am in this mess because neither of us has wed. You are extraordinarily pretty and—”
    “Extraordinarily?” She thought of herself as somewhat attractive but not extraordinarily pretty. In point of fact, she thought she was rather overdone: the color of her hair was too intense and her hips and bosom too round for her stature. To have a man like Pennington describe her as extraordinarily pretty was quite the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her.
    “Extraordinarily.” He nodded firmly. “I cannot believe you have not had the opportunity to marry before now.”
    “I was a mere governess, Lord Pennington. The opportunities for marriage were limited. Besides, I have explained—”
    “Yes, yes, forgive me. I forgot for a moment. Marriage is not something you aspire to. Still, if you were married at this point, I could keep my fortune.” His face brightened. “Maybe it’s not too late? If you won’t marry me, we can have you married off to someone else in no time. I know my friend Lord Berkley, the gentleman I was with the other day, would marry you in a moment. He was quite taken with you, and as it does seem there is rescuing to be done here—”
    “That’s enough, my lord. I have no intention of marrying anyone, let alone this friend of yours. Besides, if I were inclined to marriage at all, I would most certainly marry you.” She knew the words were a mistake the moment they were out of her mouth.
    Before she could utter a word of protest, he crossed the room, bent on one knee at her feet, and grasped her hands in his.
    “My dear Miss—do you have a given name?”
    “Gwendolyn.”
    “Gwendolyn.” He nodded with approval. “It’s lovely. Gwendolyn and Marcus. They sound perfect together. See, I told you it was fate.
    “It most certainly is not.” She tried to pull her hands free, but he held tight.
    “Save me, Gwendolyn.” His tone was as intense as his gaze. “Save those people who depend on me.”
    She stared down at him for a long moment. It would be rather easy to give in and agree to marry him. And she suspected it would be equally easy to care for him. Perhaps love him. Far too easy. But love would lead to no good. She would not tread the path of her mother and sister and all the women who’d gone before her to give their love to a man only to see their lives cut short or their hearts shattered.
    No, aside from all the other reasons why it would be absurd to marry this man she’d just met, the best reason of all for running as far away from him as she could was love.
    “I am terribly sorry, my lord.” She pulled her hands from his. “But I will not marry you.”
    “Oh but you will, Miss Townsend, because you see, I will not give up.” He got to his feet and stared down at her. It was most intimidating. “I have almost a full three months to persuade you to change your mind, and do not doubt that I will.”
    She stood and glared up at him. “I shall not change my mind.”
    “I will be at your door every day and every night. I shall do everything in my power to convince you to marry me, and I will not give up until the day I have completed thirty years of life.
    “The retention of my fortune is far too important to far too many people. There is only one way to truly get me out of your life, Miss Townsend, and that”—he smiled slowly in a wicked and far too suggestive manner—“is to marry me.”

    Chapter Four
    On occasion men, and what they provide, are a necessary evil that can be borne as long as a