Valan was loath to admit that even a flesh wound could ache. He was getting too old for such nonsense. Despite the fact he had bled only enough to ruin his crisp white shirt, Jeanine was still applying pressure to the ‘wound.’

Valan regarded her with a stern eye. “That was foolish of you.”

“Me?” She dropped onto the couch beside him, her fingers still pressed against the wound. “You are the one who ran straight into the barrel of a pistol.”

He grunted. “Gordon has always been a bad shot.”

Jeanine’s eyes widened, then she burst into tears and buried her head in his chest.

He grimaced when she squeezed his wound. Valan grasped her hand and held it. “Shh, sweet. All is well. I am not really hurt.”

“You could have been killed,” she wailed.

“I am not so easily killed.”

“You would have been better off to have never known me.”

His life had been far less complicated before her, quieter, colder…without love.

“Now the scandal will ruin you,” she sobbed into his shirt. “You won’t be able to marry Lady Claire.”

He frowned. “I believe I told you that I had no intention of marrying Lady Claire.”

“You just said that to make me feel better.”

“I never say things just to make anyone feel better. I have never had any desire to marry Lady Claire.”

“You wanted to walk with her in the gardens,” Jeanine blubbered.

He laughed. “That is a far cry from wanting to marry someone.”  

She drew back and turned her tearstained face up to him. “What is wanting to marry someone?”

With the pad of this thumb, he gently wiped tears from her cheek. “Wanting to marry someone is being unable to imagine a day without them.”

She straightened. “Oh dear.”

He tensed. “What is amiss?”

She looked at her lap and shook her head. With a finger beneath her chin, he tipped her face up toward him. He lifted a brow and waited.

She stared back for a long moment, then sighed. “If wanting to marry someone is not being able to imagine a day without them, then I want to marry you.”

Longing twisted through him. “Perhaps there is a bit more to it than that,” he said.

“Such as liking to play chess with them? Or…” Her gaze dropped to his mouth and lingered there for two heartbeats, then lifted again to meet his eyes. “Or wanting to kiss them?”

He tweaked a lock of her hair that had come loose of the chignon. “You want to kiss a young man. I am too old for you, my dear.”

“That is silly. I said from the start that I wanted an older man.”

“You said that you wanted a man with one foot in the grave. I am, I hope, too many years away from that to qualify.”

“I do not want you to die,” she blurted. “I want—” She looked up at him through her lashes and nibbled on her bottom lip. “I want you to marry me.”

He smiled gently. “I do not think that’s what you really want.”

“It is. You must marry me.”

He lifted a brow. “Indeed?”

She nodded. “It’s the only way to save you from scandal. You know that what happened here tonight will be all over Edinburgh by breakfast.”

She was right about that.

“And the story will be twisted to paint you in a very poor light.”

She was right about that, as well. “It won’t be the first time, and not the last,” he replied.

“People marry all the time to save themselves from scandal,” she said.

“Perhaps, but I am too far gone to be saved.”

She continued to nibble her bottom lip. “Then marry me to save me from scandal.” He started to reply, but she added, “I cannot return home. My mother’s new husband would never allow it.”

He wouldn’t allow that, anyway. “What of Joshua?” he asked gently.

Surprise flickered in her eyes. “Joshua is kind, but if rumors reach him that I am pregnant with your child…” She shrugged.

Valan pictured Gordon slumped between Brendan and Anthony when they dragged him from the room and was glad he was gone. If the two men hadn’t take him away, Valan would kill him. Still…Gordon wasn’t wholly to blame.

He looked at Jeanine. “There is no need for you to sacrifice yourself. I have found an elderly gentleman for you to marry.”

“You did?” she exclaimed, then frowned. “I do no’ care. It’s marry you or be ruined.”

He laughed. “More experienced women than you have tried to coerce me into marriage.”

“I think you mean ‘tricked.’ I am not tricking you. I am telling you directly that it’s marriage or ruin.”

Sadness squeezed his heart. “Why would you want to marry me, love?”

She looked at him in surprise. “Because I love you, silly.”

Peigi and Miss Stone entered. Peigi wore a soft yellow day dress, and Miss Stone carried a basin and pitcher, and had clean cloths slung over her shoulder. They stopped inside the doorway.

“Marry the elderly gentleman, Jeanine,” he urged. “Your comfort will be assured.”

She stared up at him, eyes shimmering. “Don’t you love me just a little?”

He smiled sadly. “I love you far too much to marry you. I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes, you do—and I deserve you.” She threw her arms around his neck. “Say yes. I promise I will not be one bit of trouble anymore and I will do everything just as you tell me to.”

“I don’t think you can,” he said with a laugh.

She pulled back and looked up at him, her expression serious. “Marry me and I will make certain you are never sorry.”

“It isn’t me who will be sorry, love.”

She tilted her head to one side. “Will you be sorry if you don’t marry me?”

“Yes, but that is my penance.”

Jeanine stood. “Do you want me to be happy?”

He sighed. “With all my heart.”

She held out her hand.

He clasped it and stood.

She looked up into his face. “I cannot imagine life without you.”

“It’s insanity,” he whispered.

Tears glistened in her eyes. “Insanity?” she repeated. “It is insanity to be apart.”

He wondered how he would face tomorrow without her bursting into his study with some new gift or a story about Miss Stone.

“You are certain?” he asked. “If we wed, I will not let you go.” He wondered if he could let her go if she refused.

Jeanine frowned. “Where would I go?”

Valan crushed her to him and closed his eyes. Something primal twisted in his chest. She loved him. The urge to protect her nearly suffocated him. She didn’t need his money, his house…his body.

Him. She wanted him.

He released a deep breath, then loosened his hold on her and looked over her head at his cousin. “Peigi, if you are available, we require your presence three days hence for a wedding.”

Peigi clapped her hands. “We must start planning immediately.” She turned and frowned at Miss Stone. “Stop gawking, Miss Stone, and see to his lordship’s arm before he feigns death in order to escape his own wedding.”

Miss Stone started toward him, but Valan dipped his head and kissed his future wife.

 

 

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