Miss Winthorpe's Elopement Read Online Free PDF Page B

not seek yours.’
    He was looking at her as though he could not believe what he was hearing. ‘You truly do not understand the gravity of what you have done. I cannot simply throw this on the fire and pretend nothing has happened. Perhaps you can. But I signed it, with my true name and title, and sealed it as well. Drunk or sober, for whatever reason, the result is the same. I am legally bound to you. If my name is to mean anything to me, I cannot ignore the paper in front of me.’
    He stared at the licence, and his eyes looked bleak. ‘You are right that no one need know if I destroy it. But I would know of it. If we had been in England, it would be a Fleet marriage and would mean nothing. But by the laws of Scotland, we are man and wife. To ignore this and marry again without a formal annulment would be bigamy. It matters not to me that I am the only one who knows the truth. I cannot behave thus and call myself a man of honour.’
    She willed herself not to cry, for tears would do no good. They would make her look even more foolish than she already did. ‘Then you shall have your annulment, your Grace. In any way that will suit you. I am sorry that scandal cannot be avoided, but I will take all the blame in the matter.’
    ‘Your reputation will be in ruins.’
    She shook her head. ‘A spotless reputation has in no way balanced my shortcomings thus far. What harm can scandal do me?’
    ‘Spotless?’ He was eyeing her again. ‘Most young girls with spotless reputations have no need to flee to Scotland for a hasty marriage to a complete stranger.’
    ‘You thought I was…’ Oh, dear lord. He thought she was with child, which made her behaviour seem even more sordid and conniving then it already was. ‘No. That is not the problem. Not at all. My circumstances are…’ she sought a word ‘…unusual.’
    ‘Unusual circumstances?’ He arched his eyebrows, leaned back and folded his arms. ‘Tell me of them. If we have eliminated fortune hunting, blackmail and the need to find a father for your bastard, then I am out of explanations for your behaviour.’
    He was staring at her, waiting. And she looked down into those very blue eyes, and, almost against her will, began to speak. She told him of her father. And her brother. The conditions of her inheritance. The foolishness over the book. ‘And so, I decided that I must marry. It did not really matter to whom. If I could find someone on the way to Scotland… And then you fell in front of the carriage.’
    He was looking at her most curiously. ‘Surely you hoped for better than a total stranger.’
    ‘Once, perhaps. But now I hope only for peace and quiet, and to be surrounded by my books.’
    ‘But a girl with the fortune you claim…’
    It was her turn to sneer at him. ‘A plain face and disagreeable nature have managed to offset any financial advantages a marriage to me might offer. Only the most desperate would be willing to put up with me, for I can be most uncooperative when crossed.
    ‘Since I know from experience that I will refuse to be led by my husband in all things, I sought someone I could control.’ She looked at him and shook her head. ‘And I failed, most dreadfully. In my defence, you were most biddable while intoxicated.’
    He laughed, and it surprised her. ‘Once you had found this biddable husband, what did you mean to do with him?’
    ‘Gain control of my inheritance. Retire to my library and allow my husband to do as he chose in all things not pertaining to me.’
    ‘In all things not pertaining to you.’ He was staring at her again, and it occurred to her the things he might expect from a woman who was his wife. Suddenly, the room felt unaccountably warm.
    She dropped her eyes from his. ‘I did not wish for intimacy. But neither did I expect fidelity. Or sobriety. Or regular hours, or even attendance in the same house. I had hoped for civility, of course. But affection was not required. I did not wish to give over all of my