“Wait a moment!” Beatrice said, a bit too loudly for Algernon’s liking. He turned on the stairs with an unamused expression.
“You speak of inappropriate things, yet you yell loud enough to wake up all of Mayfair?” he retorted.
“What do you mean I am not to marry you?” Beatrice demanded as she caught up to him on the staircase.
To her credit, though, Algernon admitted that at least she had not yelled that time.
“That is precisely what I mean,” he retorted. “ThatIwill not marryyou.”
Hurt flashed through her eyes in a way that Algernon did not understand. They did not know one another. Why would she be offended that he was not her future husband?
“Is the woman you just bought like cattle not enough for you, Your Grace?” she asked, her tone barely above a whisper now yet still laced with just as much offense as before.
Algernon groaned then reached up to wearily rub his face. He had thought that the auction would be the quickest solution to his problems, but now, he was starting to regret ever having such a thought. It was not only that the entire process had disturbed him far more than he ever would have imagined, but now, he was also dealing the guilt of purchasing a woman. A woman that both amused and greatly annoyed him at the same time. Like a feral barn kitten, she was a strange mixture of downtrodden and spitfire—of manners and cattiness.
“Do not speak as if you know me,” he warned, his eyes snapping open to meet hers.
“Now come inside,” he commanded, growing weary of their bickering. “And I will explain all to you. Just, for the love of God, will you keep quiet until we get into the house?”
CHAPTER FOUR
“This is where I will be staying?” Beatrice asked, slowly turning in a circle in the middle of the opulent room.
Even though she was still wary of what was happening, she had to admit, the room was beautiful. With its ice blue silk wallpaper, matching drapes, and a large, four-poster bed with champagne silk bedding, it was the epitome of luxury. There was also a large white marble fireplace across from the bed with a wide, white fur rug stretched across the large space in between. Opposite the wall of windows sat a white marble vanity, already laden with ivory-handled brushes and other products for ladies. Between the door and the fireplace sat a small round table with two chairs laden with plump light purple cushions.
It was a stark difference from the room she’d been in for the last fifteen years, so much so that it made Beatrice feel oddly emotional as she once more took in all of the finery.
“For the time being,” Algernon stated from behind her. “Should my brother choose to marry, you will of course move in with him. When that happens, you will have an entire suite of rooms.”
Beatrice turned around to face the man that had purchased her. Taking in his handsome features, she brought her hands up to her arms and wrapped them around herself—something she did when she felt small and insecure.
“Are you cold?” Algernon asked, his green eyes grazing down her body in a way that made her shiver. “I can light the fire.”
“You?” Beatrice asked, raising a curious brow. “The Master of the House?”
Algernon barked out a laugh as he shrugged his jacket off of his wide shoulders.
“It is late, and I do not need to wake my servants for something as so trivial as starting a fire,” he replied.
Beatrice felt warmth flood through her cheeks as Algernon took off his jacket. She had seen his wide stature plainly before, but without the jacket, she could see the bulk of his muscular form clearly beneath his black cotton shirt. She watched him curiously as he knelt down to the hearth and went to work starting a fire.
He was by far the most confusing man she had ever met—not that she had had the opportunity to meet many. He was gruff one second and kind the next. Then in the next breath, he wasaloof and distant, and yet now, he was lighting a fire for her simply because she’d touched her own arms.
“Perhaps we should start again,” Beatrice said as Algernon breathed life into the fire then rose to his feet. “I must be honest. I am in need of a husband, so I am willing to go along with much if that is where I shall end up. Despite how it came to be so, I am grateful to be away from my father and would like to stay that way. Would you please tell me why you purchased me?”
Algernon shifted on his feet as he frowned, as if the question made him uncomfortable.
“That is what you did, did you not?” Beatrice asked for clarification.
“I must insist you do not state it that way,” Algernon replied as the small flames grew into a raging fire.
Beatrice shivered as heat poured from the fireplace, and she took a few steps closer to bask in the warmth. It might have been late spring, but given the day’s events, her body, she realized, had been trembling nonstop since the moment her father told her she was leaving.
“Very well,” Beatrice agreed with a nod.
Algernon seemed to study her for a long time before he moved again. He took a bottle of wine from the mantle, grabbed two glasses, and nodded at her to join him at the table.
“Have a drink,” he insisted, uncocking the bottle. “It will settle your nerves.”