A Breach of Promise (The Rules of Engagement #1)(31)

Nicholas rolled his eyes heavenward. “Surely, the acorn doth not fall far from that tree.”

“One could learn much from my mother,” Marcus said. “But in the end, even my expertise in seduction was not what truly won Lydia.”

“No?” Nick asked dryly. “Then how did you manage it?”

“By diplomacy, of course—aided by a superior understanding of the feminine mind.”

Nick looked thoroughly unconvinced. “Do tell.”

“What a woman wants above all things, Nick, is to believe herself the most important consideration in the world, the center of a man’s universe.”

*



In an adjacent chamber



“Lyddie!” Mariah embraced her cousin. “How wonderful to have you home at last. And you positively glow! Are you truly happy?”

Lydia beamed. “Deliriously so.”

“Then you have no regrets at all?”

“In truth?” Her lips curved impishly. “Only that it took so long to discover how many ways a man and woman can be united as one flesh. Marcus had surely lived up to his promise of conjugal bliss.”

Mariah gasped. “You are truly scandalous!” Recovering from her feigned shock, she asked, “Is it truly so wonderful?”

“Indescribable, my dear, but then again, most everything about Marcus is. Although I once despised him for false vanity, he truly is a gifted man. He has proven both an attentive husband and a most considerate lover, and all that a woman could desire, at least all this woman desires.”

“I am so very glad that you didn’t settle for less, but I never would have conceived that he would finally succumb to marriage. How did you ever convince him?”

“I must actually credit Lady Russell. She explained to me that a man desires above all things to think himself his own master. Thus, I had only to convince Marcus that marrying me was entirely his own idea.”

The End