Three Proposals and a Scandal: A Sons of Sin Novella Read Online Free PDF

throat and made it difficult to speak. But speak she must.
    She raised her chin. It was childish to pine for some mythical beau who wanted her because without her, his life turned into a barren desert. “My lord, you honor me with your proposal—”
    “My dear Marianne,” he said with a warmth she’d never heard before. “You make me the happiest of men.”
    Staring into his face, she was shocked to see that while he didn’t love her, he wasn’t averse to sharing her bed. Perhaps passion might have a chance after all. She tried not to gag at the images invading her mind.
    She withdrew her hand and dredged her soul for the words that would make her this man’s wife. “Thomas, this is—”
    His eyes brightened and he leaned forward, making the couch seem suddenly uncomfortably cramped. She licked dry lips and made herself speak.
    What emerged wasn’t what she expected to say or what he expected to hear.
    “I beg your indulgence and ask for a few days to consider my answer.”

 
    Chapter Four
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    “Sidonie, my dearest darling, what are you up to?”
    At her husband’s sardonic question, Sidonie Merrick, Viscountess Hillbrook, raised her head from the letter she was writing. The stark gray light through the window illuminated her like a woman in a Dutch painting. She’d bundled her glossy mahogany hair into an untidy knot and her deep bronze merino gown made her skin glow like a pearl. Jonas was always conscious of his wife’s beauty. Sometimes, like now, her loveliness struck him like a physical blow.
    Which didn’t mean he trusted her ingenuous smile. “I’m telling Pen about our house party.”
    Jonas’s eyes sharpened on Sidonie where she sat at the large, masculine desk she’d ordered to replace the useless piece of feminine frippery he’d originally chosen for her sitting room. Sidonie had expressed blatant contempt for its practicality. His wife was closely involved in his activities and took responsibility for running his estates, while he concentrated on trade and manufacturing. He usually counted her as his greatest business asset—but not today.
    “I’m sure you are. Is there anything you’d like to tell your husband?”
    She rose with the grace that even after two years of marriage set his heart stuttering. “I love you?”
    The canny wench knew how to reach him. Until Sidonie’s advent in his life, love had been a rare commodity. Now thanks to this remarkable woman, love was the very air he breathed.
    “Are you asking me if you do?”
    She stretched up on her toes to brush her lips across his. “Aren’t you sure?”
    He stared down into her shining brown eyes and because he couldn’t help himself, bent for a more leisurely kiss. When he raised his head, he was pleased to see that she looked considerably less arch. Instead she regarded him through a dreamy glow.
    Sometimes the power of what he felt for Sidonie terrified him. He’d learned young that solitude was the safest option in a world more inclined to cruelty than kindness. Occasions like this reminded him that, inexplicable as it seemed, she loved him, too.
    “Yes, I’m sure,” he murmured and caught her upper arms in his big hands. “Even if I want to take you over my knee right now and spank you.”
    Her eyes sparkled with mockery—and a trace of excitement. “I might enjoy that.”
    “Then I definitely won’t spank you,” he said, tucking the idea away for revisiting later. She retained the power to surprise him, his gorgeous wife. His headstrong, self-willed, meddling wife. His voice firmed, partly to remind himself that he hadn’t come in here to flirt. “You’re out to scupper my plans for a deal with Baildon.”
    This time she didn’t bother pretending innocence. “I’m out to achieve a friend’s happiness. That’s much more important than a few pennies in the family coffers.”
    Despite his vexation, he couldn’t contain a grunt of laughter. “A few pennies? Those fields in Hampstead promise to