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on a school in Aberdeen, called Blue Maid s.
He nodded.  Some of the peerage send their more unruly daughters or by-blows there.
 How did you know about it?
 I m acquainted with a woman who attended Blue Maid s. A severe place, she said. Plain food and
discipline.
 I loved it.
His lips twitched.  You would.
 I lived there for six years, teaching for the last two.
 Did Rutledge come to visit?
 Only once. But we corresponded occasionally. I never went home on holiday, because the hotel wasn t
really a home, and Harry didn t want to see me. She grimaced a little.  He wasn t very nice until he met
Poppy.
 I m not convinced that he s nice now, Leo said.  But as long as he treats my sister well, I ll have no
quarrel with him.
 Oh, but Harry loves her, Catherine said earnestly.  Truly he does.
Leo s expression softened.  What makes you so certain?
 I can see it. The way he is with her, the look in his eyes and & why are you smiling like that?
 Women. You ll interpret anything as love. You see a man wearing an idiotic expression, and you assume
he s been struck by Cupid s arrow when in reality he s digesting a bad turnip.
She looked at him indignantly.  Are you mocking me?
Laughing, Leo tightened his arms around her as she tried to struggle from his lap.  I m merely making an
observation about your gender.
 I suppose you think men are superior.
 Not at all. Only simpler. A woman is a collection of diverse needs, whereas a man has only one. No,
don t get up. Tell me why you left Blue Maid s.
 The headmistress asked me to.
 Really? Why? I hope you did something reprehensible and shocking.
 No, I was very well behaved.
 I m sorry to hear that.
 But Headmistress Marks sent for me to come to her office one afternoon, and 
 Marks? Leo glanced at her alertly.  You took her name?
 Yes, I admired her very much. I wanted to be like her. She was stern but kind, and nothing ever seemed
to disrupt her composure. I went to her office, and she poured tea, and we talked for a long time. She
said I d done an excellent job, and I was welcome to return and continue teaching in the future. But first
she wanted me to leave Aberdeen and see something of the world. And I told her that leaving Blue
Maid s was the last thing I wanted to do, and she said that was why I needed to do it. She had received
word from a friend at a placement agency in London that a family of &  uncommon circumstances, as
she put it, was searching for a woman who could act as both governess and companion to pair of sisters,
one of whom had recently been expelled from finishing school.
 That would be Beatrix.
Catherine nodded.  The headmistress thought that I might suit the Hathaways. What I never expected
was how much they suited me. I went for an interview, and I thought the entire family was a bit mad
but in the loveliest possible way. And I ve worked for them for almost three years, and I ve been so
happy and now  She broke off, her face contorting.
 No, no, Leo said hastily, taking her head in his hands,  don t start that again.
Catherine was so shocked to feel his lips brush her cheeks and closed eyes that the tears instantly
evaporated. When she finally brought herself to look at him again, she saw that he was wearing a faint
smile. He smoothed her hair, and stared into her grief-ravaged face with a depth of concern she had
never seen from him before.
It frightened her to realize how much of herself she had just given away. Now he knew everything she
had tried to keep secret for so long. Her hands worked against his chest like the wings of a bird that had
found itself trapped indoors.
 My lord, she said with difficulty,  why did you come after me? What do you want from me?
 I m surprised you have to ask, he murmured, still caressing her hair.  I want to offer for you, Cat.
Of course, she thought, bitterness welling.  To be your mistress.
His voice matched hers exactly for calmness, in a way that conveyed gentle sarcasm.  No, that would
never work. First, your brother would arrange to have me murdered, or, at the very least, maimed.
Second, you re far too prickly tempered to be a mistress. You re far better suited as a wife.
 Whose? she asked with a scowl.
Leo stared directly into her narrowed eyes.  Mine, of course.
Chapter Eighteen
Hurt and outraged, Catherine struggled so violently that he was forced to release her.
 I ve had enough of you and your tasteless, insensitive humor, she cried, leaping to her feet.  You cad,
you 
 I m not joking, damn it! Leo stood and reached for her, and she hopped backward, and he grabbed,
and she flailed. They grappled until Catherine found herself tumbling backward onto the bed.
Leo fell over her in a controlled descent a pounce, really. She felt him sinking into the mass of skirts,
his superior weight urging her legs apart, the muscular mass of his torso pinning her down. She writhed
in distress as excitement went skimming and tickling all through her. The more she wriggled, the worse
it became. She subsided beneath him, while her hands kept opening and closing on nothing.
Leo stared down at her, eyes dancing with mischief & but there was something else in his expression, a
purposefulness, that unsettled her profoundly.
 Consider it, Marks. Marrying me would solve both our problems. You would have the protection of my
name. You wouldn t have to leave the family. And they couldn t nag me to get married any longer.
 I am illegitimate, she said distinctly, as if he were a foreigner trying to learn English.  You are a
viscount. You can t marry a bastard.
 What about the Duke of Clarence? He had ten bastard children by that actress & what was her name& 
 Mrs. Jordan.
 Yes, that one. Their children were all illegitimate, but some of them married peers.
 You re not the Duke of Clarence.
 That s right. I m not a blueblood any more than you are. I inherited the title purely by happenstance.
 That doesn t matter. If you married me, it would be scandalous and inappropriate, and doors would be
closed to you.
 Good God, woman, I let two of my sisters marry Gypsies. Those doors have already been closed, bolted,
and nailed shut.
Catherine couldn t think clearly, could scarcely hear him through the pounding in her ears, the wild
clamor of her blood. Will and desire pulled at her with equal force. Turning her face away as his mouth
descended, she said desperately,  The only way you could be certain of keeping Ramsay House for your
family is to marry Miss Darvin.
He gave a derisive snort.  It s also the only way I could be certain of committing sororicide.
 Of what? she asked in bewilderment.
 Sororicide. Killing one s wife.
 No, you mean to say  uxoricide. 
 Are you certain?
 Yes, uxor is the Latin word for  wife. 
 Then what s  sororicide ?
 Killing one s sister.
 Oh, well, if I had to marry Miss Darvin, I d probably end up doing that too. Leo grinned down at her.
 The point is, I could never have this kind of conversation with her.
He was probably right. Catherine had lived with the Hathaways long enough to fall into their style of
banter, slipping into the verbal detours that could start one talking about the increasing problem of the
Thames River pollution, and end up debating the question of whether or not the Earl of Sandwich had
actually invented sandwiches. Catherine restrained a miserable laugh as she realized that although she
might have had a slight civilizing influence on the Hathaways, their influence on her had been much
greater.
Leo s head lowered, and he kissed the side of her neck with a slow deliberation that made her squirm.
Clearly he had lost interest in the subject of Miss Darvin.  Give in, Cat. Say you ll marry me.
 What if I couldn t give you a son?
 There are never guarantees. Leo lifted his head and grinned.  But think of how much fun we ll have [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]