Free A Reckless Promise by Kasey Michaels

not to exclude the fact that you don’t really do anything, do you, my lord?”
    â€œDo anything? I’m a viscount. That’s what I do.”
    Why couldn’t she stop talking? Was she trying to get herself booted out the door?
    â€œThat was an accident of birth. But what have you done that you can point to and say, ‘I did this thing. I made this difference’?”
    He pushed at his left temple. “Are we having our first fight, Sadie Grace?”
    â€œDo you feel useful, my lord?”
    â€œAt the moment? No. Shall we make it a part of our business arrangement that you save me from my feckless ways and point my toes in the direction of good works?”
    â€œThere could be worse fates,” Sadie said, suddenly feeling more in control of her own future, which she hadn’t done for a long, long time. “I do not wish for Marley to grow up believing she is nothing more than a fashionable ornament.”
    â€œSo you’re accepting my proposal?”
    She looked at him curiously. Why so suddenly formal? “I thought I had no real choice.”
    â€œThere are always choices, Sadie Grace. I need to hear you tell me that we will marry.”
    â€œPerhaps you’d like me to write it down?” she asked, yes, facetiously.
    â€œI’ve already seen one example of your letter-writing skills. A simple yes will do.”
    â€œVery well, then,” she said, getting to her feet once more. “Yes. Yes, my lord, I agree to our arrangement.”
    â€œNot my lord, but Darby,” he said as he rose, as well. “And I like to think of our marriage more as a bargain, with benefits on both sides.”
    â€œThat only seems fair. A bargain, with benefits on both sides, I imagine, although I’m not quite certain what you believe to be your benefits. But we really must rejoin the ladies now.”
    He followed behind her, down the hallway, down the stairs, and only said as they stepped into the drawing room: “About my benefits, Sadie Grace. Did I perhaps fail to mention that I’ll want an heir?”

CHAPTER FIVE
    T HE AIR WAS COOL , the breeze brisk, but most of Grosvenor Square was still washed in sunshine, making a stroll reasonably pleasant. Save for a few nannies and their charges, the area was also conveniently devoid of possible interruptions. Residents of the square who did leave their homes headed directly into carriages, and visitors to the square did much the same in reverse.
    Society was social only when it wanted to be, and when it had specific destinations in mind it might as well be wearing blinders.
    Darby had counted on that when he’d first suggested the stroll. Propriety ensured, the chance of interruption slight, Mrs. Boxer feeling assured she was within easy reach of the duke’s mansion, the safety of her new friends.
    Now he could kiss Miss Sadie Grace Hamilton senseless smack in the middle of the square and, save for a few raised eyebrows and giggles from the nursemaids, nobody would so much as give a damn.
    And the stroll no longer a reason for an inquisition meant to pry her secrets out of her. What a lucky turn of events bringing the puppy to Marley had been, but then Darby knew himself to be a lucky man.
    A lucky, apparently useless grasshopper of a man in Sadie’s eyes.
    â€œYou have the headache again,” Sadie said, the first words she’d spoken since they’d escaped the mansion ten minutes earlier. “And again, it’s my fault.”
    Darby realized he was rubbing at his forehead beneath his curly crowned beaver and quickly dropped his arm to his side. Yes, he had the headache. The familiar vise had gripped his head while they were still in her bedchamber, and he doubted it would let go anytime soon.
    â€œI believe there’s enough blame to go around.”
    â€œYou’re correct. There is. You certainly didn’t have to take my hand and drag me into the drawing room to announce