Free Persuading Prudence by Liz Cole Page A

end that gave him a look of boyishness, his lips full and sensual. But those eyes of his! They were what had made Prudence melt. Their rich, chocolate brown, sometimes soulful depths, which, more often than not, twinkled with mischief and a passion for life, and unerringly drew not only her, but every woman he met.
    She was fourteen when she had first seen him—really seen him—as a man. He was back from traveling the continent after graduating Oxford. At two-and-twenty, he made a striking figure of a man, at least in Prudence’s adolescent opinion. He was suave and elegant, yet undeniably male. He had greeted the young, self-conscious Prudence with a gallant bow, and not even a twitch of his lips gave any indication he noticed her clumsy attempt at a curtsey as he took her hand and kissed the air above it. It was the first time a man had treated her as the young lady into which she was quickly maturing, and she was touched by his thoughtfulness.
    Now, after years of admiring him from afar, an opportunity she had never thought would be hers was being offered—marrying him. Would she accept, or turn her back? Prudence had allowed herself the occasional fantasy of a life with the Earl of Ravensbrook, but rarely since she left the schoolroom had she indulged in frivolity. She’d known dreaming about a future with him was just that—a dream. So she’d packed her girlhood fantasies away along with her hopes of attracting a husband when she had realized her body had betrayed her and blossomed into a mirror image of her mother’s. If her father had not died of consumption but a few months after her mother, he surely would have been as disgusted with Prudence’s rounded curves as he had with her mother’s. He would have likely settled a large dowry on her and sold her off to the first eligible man available, happy to have her off his hands.
    Prudence had resigned herself to remaining unmarried long ago. She’d almost convinced herself spinsterhood was better than living under a husband’s thumb. However, fate possessed an ironic sense of humor and had chosen to intervene, dropping a difficult decision squarely in her lap. Could she marry Kolton without the hope that he might love her? Would his professed attraction to her wane and, when it did, could she live with knowing he warmed the bed of a mistress, possibly more than one?
    This is what bothered her most. She didn’t want to be the kind of desperate creature her mother had been in her marriage: stripped of pride, clinging to a man who could not stand the thought of sharing her bed. Prudence refused to sink to that level of self-depreciation, begging for love from a man who didn’t want her, perhaps even grown to resent her. But, if she could keep from loving Kolton, refuse to let her attraction to him become something deeper, perhaps it could work. At least she prayed so. They had the potential to be friends. She enjoyed his company and, from what time they spent together out of bed, she thought he might have come to enjoy hers as well.
    Kolton turned as she closed the door quietly behind her. She almost missed the brief flash of nervousness he masked behind an expression of mild curiosity as he approached her.
    His lips formed a welcoming smile, the sight making her knees turn to jelly, and motioned for her to sit. She declined with a slight shake of her head and moved to the place by the window he had just vacated. She looked out over the small clearing between the house and the forest, while she organized her thoughts.
     
    ***
     
    “Pru?” Kolton prompted, glad the apprehension churning his insides did not show in his voice.
    Pru turned and faced him, her hands clasped calmly at her waist. “I won’t keep you wondering, my lord,” she began, her eyes not quite meeting his. “I have thought your proposal over quite seriously, and I have but a few questions I would like to ask first, if I may?”
    He felt the hairs prickle at the back of his neck, a sense