Free The Seduction of Sophie Seacrest by Mary Campisi

discretion?”
    Holt cleared his throat and hesitated several
seconds before plunging forward. “I know you think I care nothing
for convention but I do care about you and avoiding unwanted
talk.”
    She stared at him, confusion spreading across
her face. “Why would our marriage create unwanted talk?”
    “Marriage?” He almost choked on the word.
“What in the devil are you talking about?”
    Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What in
the devil are you talking about?”
    “I assure you, it is not marriage!”
    Her voice flattened. “You want me to be your
whore.”
    Blast the woman, why did she have to make
this so very difficult? “I want us to be together. I’ll provide for
all of your needs, as well as your sister’s. You’ll want for
nothing. I’ll even help your father out of his financial
situation.” There, that should appease her. He sat back, thinking
he’d done a rather admirable job explaining the situation and his
willingness to help her family. What more could she want?
    “I’ll not be your whore.”
    “Damnation, stop speaking in such an
unbecoming manner. I want us to be together, why does it need to be
more complicated than that?” When she didn’t speak, he went on,
“Marriage is a sham. It would only destroy us.”
    She said nothing for a long while and when
she did speak, her words fell upon him in emotionless waves. “It
seems we have very different views on what our relationship should
be. It appears there’s nothing more to discuss, other than the
question of honor.”
    She was too calm. Obviously , she
hadn’t liked his idea, but given time she’d see the right of it.
And what was this nonsense about honor? “Whose honor?” he nearly
growled.
    Her look remained serene, her voice calmer
yet. “Why yours of course. I’m a maiden interested in marriage.
You, on the other hand, are not.”
    The words were barely out of her mouth before
he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. “You, my lady,
are no maiden. No woman responds the way you do and maintains her
virginity, so let us dispense of the games.”
    Her back stiffened and she retorted, “Whether
or not you believe me is of no consequence. I ask only that you
refrain from touching me again. I want no further contact with you
and wish to forget we ever had any association with one other.”
    “Not bloody likely.” She was getting out of
control and he was getting angry.
    “You would see me ruined then?” she spat out,
her voice no longer quiet, her eyes burning into his. Fists
clenched and unclenched in her lap as though she fought the urge to
sock him in the face. “You care so little you would parade me as
your whore to all of society and expect they will look the other
way because society dictates mean nothing to you? I won’t deny my
attraction to you but I’ll not be your whore, or paramour, or
whatever fancy name you wish to pin on me. Please, for once in your
life, be the gentleman. Give me your word you will leave me alone
so I may seek a proper husband.”
    He stared out the window into the darkness,
his mouth hard, eyes narrowed. For a long while he said nothing.
Finally, the words came. “My dear lady, I will not bother you
again.” He should have left it at that. But he couldn’t. He pushed
on and spoke words meant to inflict pain. “In truth you are not
worth the trouble when there are so many others eagerly willing to
fill the position.”
    She gasped and flung open the carriage door,
bounding from it and disappearing behind the walls of Waverly Manor
in mere seconds.
    “Good riddance,” Holt muttered. “Marriage,
indeed.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 9
     
    Holt inched his eyes open. Where the hell was
he? He turned his head slowly, trying to still the pounding in his
temples. Another night of too much whiskey. The morning results
were always the same, but at least the whiskey numbed the
nights.
    “Arghh . . .” he groaned, wishing he’d
stopped a whiskey short of