Every Time We Kiss. Christie Kelley
wealthy bride was all he was after. There was no reason it had to be her.
Finally, she looked up at him. “I cannot marry you, Matthew. But perhaps I can help you in another way.”
“I won’t take your money. I need a wife who will correct my position with the ton. I need an heir to carry on my name, inherit the title and the money I will ensure is plentiful.”
As he walked to the far side of the pergola, she thought about running back to the house and calling a footman to toss him out on the street. But when he turned back toward her, the desperation etched on his face stopped her. She and John had caused his ruination. She had no choice but to help him if she could.
“I have an idea,” she said quickly.
He stopped in front of her and tilted his head. A lock of chestnut hair fell upon his forehead. “Oh?”
“I will find you a bride. A woman wealthy enough to suit you and willing to be your countess.” A woman with a diligent father to watch over his daughter’s husband to ensure he didn’t gamble the money away.
A sharp laugh escaped him. “And how do you propose to do such a thing when I’m not even invited to a simple musicale?”
He made a good point. But she had connections and by pleading his case, she might obtain the coveted invitations for him. She could be quite convincing when necessary.
“Leave that all to me,” she replied softly. “I might be a spinster but I do have my ways.”
A half-smile curved his lips upward. “I have no doubt about that, Jennette. But I don’t trust you.”
Taken aback, she glared up at him. “I beg your pardon?”
“Why would I trust a woman who has never defended me to her friends?”
“I was supposed to defend you when you claimed to have killed my fiancé?”
“Accidentally. You could have at least reiterated that piece of information to them,” he said harshly.
“You know how that would have looked to them.” She looked away so he wouldn’t see the guilt written on her face. He was right. She should have supported him.
“Yes, it would have looked as if you were protecting a friend. God knows there are so few people in this world capable of doing such a thing.”
“You were the one who told me to go back to my life, forget what had happened. Pretend as if nothing happened that day.”
That damned guilt for treating him so poorly washed over her again. There was no possible way he would understand how hard it was for her to pretend she was the eccentric spinster who’d had her heart broken by her betrothed’s untimely death. To pretend she was the harmed party in the situation.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, staring downward.
He walked back and forth across the lawn, looking more like a caged tiger than a man searching for a wife. Suddenly he stopped.
“How exactly would you find me a wife?”
“Well,” she stalled, “I would talk about you at all the social occasions.”
“That would take too long. I need a wife now.”
“All right, then,” Jennette sighed. She had no real ideas about how she could manage this task. “I have a few friends who are getting rather desperate to marry before they are considered permanently on the shelf.”
“Go on,” he urged, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I will speak kindly about you to them. I shall tell them what an honorable man you are.”
He laughed scornfully. “And how will you succeed at that when the most honorable thing I ever did was what stuck me with this damned reputation?”
Jennette frowned. “Surely you have done other honorable things in your lifetime.”
“Such as…?” he asked with one chestnut brow raised.
“You donate to charities?”
He shook his head. “Unless you consider my mistress a charity.”
“No,” she said with a pause. A smile formed upon her lips. “Although, I’m quite certain we could say you assist needy unmarried women.”
This time his laugh sounded completely real. “I rather like that. What else?”
“If you could give five pounds to a home for orphaned children my friend operates, I could say you are generous to the poor orphans.”
“Done.”
“Over the next day or so, I will find other brilliant things to say about you.”
He approached her slowly until he stood directly in front of her. She strained her neck to look up at him. Most men of her acquaintance barely matched her height, but not Matthew. As he bent down to her level, she gasped at his nearness. It had nothing to do with his perfectly molded lips, she told herself.
She couldn’t still be attracted to him. It had been five years. No, the nervous feeling in her belly stemmed purely from the fact that he could ruin her.
“You have one month,” he whispered.
Jennette blinked. “Pardon?”
“One month to find me a bride. If after one month you don’t have me well-matched, I will have a special license with both our names on it.”
She pressed her lips together and swallowed the lump of fear down. She could do this. All she had to do was find the most desperate spinster she knew and throw her at him. Besides, her ship to Florence departed in less than a month. If she failed, at least she would be gone before he could marry her.
But she would not disappoint him—her guilt wouldn’t allow it. He deserved some happiness in his life after all that she’d put him through.
“Very well.”
He stared at her with those cold gray eyes burning into her soul. “If you try to dupe me, I’ll make sure everyone in Christendom knows who killed John.”
“I understand.”
“Now,” he said as he straightened to his full height. He reached behind her and fixed her crooked wings. “Put a smile on your face and get back to your party. And happy birthday, Jennette.”
“Thank you,” she said.
He smirked. “Save me a dance.”
“You’re coming inside?”
“There is no better time to start your plan than now, don’t you agree?”
Matthew didn’t wait for her reply. After tying on his mask, he strode for the terrace, leaving Jennette behind. As he entered the ball, a footman walked by with glasses of wine. Matthew pilfered a glass and drank the fruity liquid down in two gulps.
His talk in the garden had not gone as he’d hoped. Somehow, that woman had twisted things around until he was threatening her with marriage. He’d only intended to speak with her. Inform her that he would be reentering Society. But his damned emotions had taken over.
Walking to the refreshment table, he pondered his predicament. He highly doubted Jennette’s ability to find him a willing bride in such a short time frame. She probably had some information on a few people and planned to use it to blackmail one of them into marrying him.
Not that he didn’t appreciate that bit of irony.
But at the same time, he didn’t trust her. He would give her one week to show him what type of woman she could offer him. If he didn’t approve of them or they wouldn’t have anything to do with him, Jennette was fair game.
He was being reasonable. And he knew the only way she’d agree to marry him