“Thea,” Neal’s voice said from the other side of the door. “Let me in.”
She stared at the door as if she could burn a hole through it and set him on fire.
“Thea? Talk to me.”
She didn’t want to talk. He’d already said enough.
“Very well, then,” he said, “let me tell you what I’m going to do. Tomorrow, I will send a man to procure a special license from the bishop. That shouldn’t take long. We could probably marry the day after. Of course, if you wish to marry in London so that your sons could attend—”
Thea was across to the door in a blink. She threw it open. Neal stood there, handsome, relaxed, completely in control of his emotions.
She wasn’t.
“What do you believe you are doing?” she demanded.
“Marrying you,” he replied.
Thea slammed the door in his face.
She turned away, raising a hand to her forehead as if her head hurt. But it wasn’t her head that worried her, it was her whole life.
The door opened. “That wasn’t courteous,” he chastised as he walked in.
“Leave me,”she ground out.
His response was to shut the door, with him inside the room. “Thea, no one will believe we want to marry if you continue these dramatics.”
His calmness threw her into hysterics. “Do you not know what you’ve done? You’ve ruined me.”
Neal shook his head. “I don’t agree. I think I saved you.”
“And how is that?”she demanded wildly.
“No one will speak against you with me to protect you,” he said, as if he was being quite noble.
“How little you know of women,” Thea answered. “Protect me by marrying me? I’ll be surprised if any door will be open to me. This story will fly through London. They may behave one way toyourface, but they will let me know what they think behind your back. I’m destroyed. And what of my sons? What will happen to them?” She collapsed onto the tufted bench in front of her dressing table.
He knelt in front of her. “I don’t care what those women think. They don’t matter—”
“How naive you are!”
“Fine. Women control the world,” he conceded without conviction. “They are all going to eat us alive—”
“They will. Lady Carpsley—”
“Is a bully. All of London knows she leads her husband around by his boll—” He paused, catching himself before he saidbollocks,and finished, “Nose. She leads him around by his nose. In fact most of those women handle their husbands that way. You don’t think I know Lady Montvale can be a terror?” Neal shrugged. “I’ve managed this far in my life without her approval.”
“That’s because she has always approved of you, my lord. And she probably will continue the pretense of doing so, although one day you may need to speak to the Prince Regent about a matter of some urgency and find your request denied—”
“No, that won’t happen. He owes me money,” Neal countered, but then he frowned. “Then again, because he owes me money, he has already been avoiding me—”
“You are not listening to what I’m saying.” Thea raised her hands in frustration and let them go before adding, “And you sound as if you think this is a lark.”
“It is, Thea. And perhaps you are the one not listening to me. Marriage between us makes good sense. We’ve known each other a long time. You won’t fall in love with me, and I won’t fall in love with you.”
“How can you say that? Didn’t you toss asideour friendship because of fear we would grow too close?” And they would. She could sense it. Andthenwhat would he do?
“We are older and wiser now,” he replied dismissively. “Together we can beat the curse—”