Free Lions and Lace by Meagan McKinney Page B

of sounds, not entirely unpleasant. Instead of saying "Where's the sacrifice?" he'd said " Whare's the sacrifice," rolling in an extra r. She didn't want to think about the reason for his slip, but while he stared at her in all her ruined finery, there was no hiding from the lust burning in his eyes. She threw her arms across her chest and backed away like a frightened kitten.
    "You don't like some Irisher looking at you that way, do you, Miss Knickerbocker," he said, tormenting her.
    All the years of training to play society belle came back to her. She painted on her most frigid facade and gave him a stare that told him exactly what she thought about his looking at her that way, and it had nothing to do with his being Irish. "I'm not about to be bought and sold this way, no matter how terrible my circumstances," she retorted, angry at him for treating her like some kind of expensive whore and angry at herself for weakening toward him when he used that seductive brogue.
    "Think about why you need your money back. Will that convince you?"
    "No!" she burst out. Then her thoughts turned to Christabel . But she couldn't completely martyr herself for her sister, no matter how much she loved her. Yet when she pictured her sister sitting in the filth of Bloomingdale Asylum, where she'd have to go when the money ran out, it nearly drove her insane. "No—" she choked, wanting to fight him.
    "Then you can go back to your uncle, penniless as before."
    "Why must you do this? It's madness. Find a more willing girl. You could marry anyone!"
    "If we Sheridans could marry anyone, we wouldn't be in this fix, now would we?"
    She met his glance and couldn't stop herself from surrendering a small moan. "What if I can't help you? You will have married a stranger for no reason."
    "You can help. I bet Mara will be married within a year if you guide her." His stare never wavered.
    She turned away. There was no possibility that she could go through with this crazy idea. She couldn't marry this stranger and throw away all her future happiness. Sheridan wasn't the man for her, the man in her dreams, the one who lived in that simple white house she could never quite reach.
    "I'll give you an annulment as soon as Mara is happily married. And of course I'll see to it that you'll never want for anything again," he promised softly.
    In some ways his offer was the worst thing that had ever happened to her; in others, it was the best. She couldn't picture herself married to this enigmatic stranger standing before her, but the appeal of his money and the worry that would be off her mind because of it was almost too sweet to resist.
    Yet resist it she must. It was a terrible idea, necessitating things she couldn't even foresee now. He spoke of an annulment, but what if that wasn't possible? She knew a consummated marriage could not be dissolved that cleanly. She looked at him, and the thought of consummating their marriage made her blanch. What if their separation required a divorce? She couldn't live out the rest of her life as a divorced woman. The shame it would bring to her family name would be beyond bearing.
    No, she could not marry this stranger. Even though it would remove her from Didier, and allow her to take care of Christabel as long as Christabel needed it, she couldn't do it.
    "This won't work. Don't you see? I can't make Mara fall in love with a Knickerbocker," she whispered.
    "You won't have to. I want Mara to be happy, and I'd rather she see your peers for the shallow persons they are. I believe in my sister. She'll fall in love with a good man, be he a Knickerbocker or not."
    She couldn't hide her bitterness. Facetiously she asked, "But what if she gives up on you and this entire mess and retires to a nunnery? What then, Mr. Sheridan? Shall we be stuck with each other for all eternity?"
    He smiled, displaying even white teeth that hinted at carnivorous appetites. "That's up to you, Miss Van Alen . Put my sister on the right path, and you'll