“She won’t trouble you anymore and if she does, you’re to phone me immediately and I’ll deal with it.”
Julia swallowed and nodded, too afraid to say a word, his eyes were so dark indigo, they appeared black.
At that moment, she almost felt sorry for Monique.
Almost.
“I… uh, thank you,” she finally broke the silence.
“Don’t thank me, I’m not through yet.”
She nodded again, stupidly, the heat of his body seeping through her hand.
“As for Tamsin’s wishes, I intend to carry them out to the letter. There was a reason she wanted you here, you and your delectable body and your enticing perfume and your legs that go on forever.” She was stunned by his words and could barely process them before he went on. “My sister was a romantic and she cared for us both. She had very specific intentions for this little arrangement she created and I’ve no doubt she talked Gavin around to her way of thinking.”
He was exerting pressure on her hand and she was finding she needed more and more of her strength to keep him at arm’s length.
“What… what way of thinking was that?” Julia spluttered, thinking, from his words, that he’d gone mad, utterly and completely insane.
What he said next proved she was right.
“She wanted me to marry you and I’m going to do it.”
Julia’s entire body froze.
Then she shouted, “What?”
Her arm failed and Douglas took advantage. He moved the rest of the way and she retreated until she felt the heel of her foot hit the wall. She was caught and he moved close.
“It’s the perfect solution to this mess,” he informed her calmly. It registered that he’d referred to her as a “mess” and her eyes flashed but before she could say a word, he continued. “You’ll have the protection of my name and thus status over my mother, the children will have a stable family unit, you’ll have freedom to live and work in this country as long as you please and –”
“Why?” she cried, the word filled with anger and confusion.
“Why?” he asked calmly, as if he asked women he barely knew to marry him every day.
“Yes, why? I don’t love you, you don’t love me. What if you found someone else and you and I were married, what would you do then?”
“I wouldn’t. You wouldn’t. I’ll have my solicitors draw up a contract. We’d stay married while the children are underage. When Ruby is old enough to leave the house and doesn’t need our guardianship anymore, you can decide to move on if you wish. I’ll be certain throughout our marriage that you have a generous allowance and when, or if, you left, I would give you healthy settlement. So healthy, you wouldn’t need a pension. In the meantime, you can work, if you like, and –”
She could just move on?
“Marriage?” she whispered, her eyes narrowed. “Have you lost your mind?”
He shook his head and she stared at him in disbelief, casting around for anything that would get this crazy scheme out of his head.
“So what do you do when you…” she stopped, flustered, then started again, “need to see to your needs? Or when I do for that matter? You just ignore my lovers and I ignore yours?”
“There’ll be no lovers,” he announced implacably, almost forcefully, his hands furthering the point by coming to grip her upper arms firmly.
“A platonic marriage of convenience with no release?” She couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. She couldn’t believe he of all people was making this suggestion. He was a known womaniser, even a celebrated one.
“I never said the marriage would be platonic, Julia.”
At that, she jumped away with a surprised yelp and slammed against the wall.
Trapped, she could do nothing but stare at him in astonishment.
“You’re saying you want to marry me, marry me. As in a real, full-blown, consummated union of the souls?”
“There’ll be a union but I cannot guarantee it’ll be of souls,” he replied and she gaped at him open-mouthed.
Then she snapped her mouth shut.
“No,” she shook her head, unable to cope with this latest announcement, “no way, no.”
“May I ask why?” he queried calmly.
“Because it… is… insane,” Julia enunciated her words carefully then she demanded, “Step back.”
“No,” he replied and her panic rose. “You’ll have a good life, I promise you that,” he vowed softly, changing tactics, his voice was now coaxing. “Anything you want, you’ll have. Command of this house, control of the children. We’ll offer all of this to William as my heir or we could make our own –”
“Children?” she asked, her voice a high-pitched squeak.
“If you wish,” he replied as if it mattered less to him than… her mind raced but she couldn’t think what mattered to him at all.
“This is nuts, insane, crazy. Absolutely beyond –”
“I’m not insane, Julia. I’m a busy man who has assumed a terrible responsibility I’d rather not have. Not because I don’t care about those children but because my responsibility for them means my sister is dead.”
That shut Julia up and she stared at him in wonder. It was the first time he’d ever spoken of it with any emotion. His dark eyes were darker, if that could be possible, and blazing.
“God,” she breathed, “you’re doing this for Tamsin.”
“Not just for Tamsin, no.”
“Then why?” she asked, incredulous and curious at the same time.
“Because I need a wife and because you’ll make a good one.”
She stared at him in open-faced shock at that unlikely pronouncement.
Then she gathered control of herself and declared, “I’ve tried marriage before and I’m here to tell you that I am not good at it.”
“You were fine, it was the bastard you chose who wasn’t good at it,” he informed her like he was their long-term marriage counsellor and could make such a judgement.
She tried another tactic. “Okay, then I don’t want to be good at it. I don’t want to be married to you or… or anyone!”
He leaned in, put his hand up on the wall at the side of her head and when he spoke his voice was low and smooth. “Then I’ll have to persuade you to change your mind.”
She knew exactly what he meant.