The Property of a Gentleman by Helen Dickson

Author:Helen Dickson [Dickson, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

This was better than Marcus had hoped for. ‘And when do you expect him to arrive?’

‘In about a month, I think.’

‘Very well. We will be married within the month—just as soon as it can be arranged. However, no matter what our feelings are for each other, I must insist that we make it appear to the world that we live amicably together. Is that understood?’

There was a warning underlying the lightness to his words that Eve was fully aware of. ‘Yes, I understand perfectly.’

‘And you have no objections to this?’

‘No. Providing you abide by the bargain we made.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘Bargain? Please—refresh my memory. What bargain was that?’

‘That ours will be a marriage in name only.’

‘Yes, I remember saying that—and I meant it. But I will make it clear here and now, Eve, that it is not a situation I will allow to persist indefinitely. Do you really expect me to live with you in marriage and not complete our union?’

He rose from where he was sitting perched on the edge of the balustrade, intimidating Eve with his imposing height. His eyes glittered in the dim light like steel flints and she eyed him warily, aware of the tension between them.

‘No—but—I—I hoped—’

‘Then don’t,’ he said sharply. ‘I shall keep the bargain I made until there is better understanding between us—but it will be only a temporary situation of short duration; a situation, as your husband, I shall feel at liberty to remedy any time I choose, and there is not a law in the land that will say I do not have the right.’

His jibe, savage and taunting, flicked over Eve like a whiplash, and his eyes glittered with a fire that burned her raw. For a moment she stared at him in horror and shrank back into the shadows, her eyes darkening, both frightened and fascinated by his anger, but then she seemed to burst into life as her chin came up and her lips tightened, her eyes blazing in defiance at what he implied.

‘You mean you would force me?’

The smile that broke across his white teeth was infuriating. ‘I have never forced my attentions on a woman who didn’t want me—and I feel no temptation to do so now. Despite your hostile manner and waspish tongue—which, I might tell you, I will not endure when we are married—I have seen in your eyes and felt on your lips that which gives me hope for better things. I do not think, when you become my wife, I shall have too long to wait before things change.’

Temper flared in Eve’s eyes as hot, angry words bubbled to her lips. ‘Then I think I should make it plain here and now that I have no intention of changing—and if I do not live up to your expectations then you can go to the devil and be damned.’

She was so angry that she turned abruptly and moved across the terrace, intending to return to the drawing room, but before she realised what

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