An Affair So Right (Rebel Hearts #4)(48)
“None taken, my lord. Thank you.” Her eyes glowed with sudden happiness, and she cast a quick glance at her father as she smothered a laugh of relief. She met Quinn’s gaze again, and beamed, no longer the timid mouse he’d first met. “Thank you so very much indeed,” she gushed, her relief obvious that he would not fall in with her father’s suggestion that he marry her. They were both spared a bad decision by him forgiving that debt.
Cushing was pale, but at his daughter’s urging, eventually spoke. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure. I do hope you can enjoy the coming season far better now without that nonsense over your head.”
“We most assuredly will, my lord. Father will never gamble so recklessly again,” Genevieve promised, still beaming with happiness. She was quite transformed.
He escorted them as far as the drawing room doors and then closed them firmly.
No sooner were they gone than William barked out a short laugh.
Quinn scowled at him. “Shut up.”
“Oh my! You should have seen Cushing’s face fall when you turned away. He wanted that marriage very badly, even if his daughter did not.”
“He’d probably been planning for it, expecting I’d agree just to get the money back. Thank heavens for the war. If not for my own income, I might have had to consider it,” he admitted.
“Cushing probably thought you’d be heartsick over the loss of the mad bastard.” William frowned and dug into the seat behind him, only to drag out a riding crop—one of the many that had belonged to his father. William flexed it between his hands, testing the strength of the wood. “Now this is a fine thing to discover today.”
Quinn went cold at the sight of the object of his most recent punishment.
He snatched it from William’s hands despite his protest and snapped it in half over his knee. “Mad bastard. That is too kind a term for him.” He tossed the broken pieces into the fire and watched them blacken and burn. “Good riddance.”
William, who knew the manner of his father’s previous punishments, moved beside him and squeezed his shoulder. “Yes, good riddance indeed.”
Quinn smiled tightly. “That’s most probably only the first caller with such news I can expect to receive in the next few weeks.”
“Oh yes, there are plenty more schemes being plotted to see you cornered into a marriage,” William warned. “Miss Cushing seemed pretty enough, but didn’t tempt you to instantly fall to your knees and declare your undying love?”
William’s ridiculous question made him laugh, and the tightness of his chest eased. “Not in the slightest.”
“Cousin Rothwell’s wife is rumored to have a good eye for matches, and can be counted on to send the girl in the right direction instead of in yours, if you want her help.” His expression changed, growing puzzled. “Speaking of direction, did you have someone in mind for yourself to marry? I’m sure Aunt Pen would be only too happy to help foster a connection that led to marriage, if that’s what you do want.”
Quinn’s thoughts turned to Theodora Dalton so fast, he was surprised at himself. What he had with her was good, but he’d not wish to alter their current arrangement. A wife was a complication he didn’t want to deal with yet. “No, there is no one.”
“Well, whoever you choose eventually, I do hope she possesses a backbone. She’ll be the next Duchess of Rutherford. Your mama and Aunt Pen will eat her for lunch if she’s not up to snuff for the challenge.”
“I’m sure whoever I choose will more than meet their high standards.” Actually, he couldn’t wait for Aunt Pen and Theodora Dalton to meet. Quinn held back a laugh, imagining Theodora and his aunt battling over which of his social engagements were more important for him to attend. He’d always valued his aunt’s advice, knowing she wanted nothing from him in return but his respect, however, Theodora had quite a number of opinions of her own, too, that she was sure to voice. The two could likely clash quite often.
Oh, those meetings would indeed be fun to watch. He’d sit on the sidelines trying to determine which woman loved him more. Except…love had no part in his arrangement with Theodora. If he were to get married, the woman would have to love him without question.
He shook his head before he began to speculate the depth of Theodora’s emotions where he was concerned. His own were clear right now. He was not in love, and lived from day to day. “She’ll have a backbone, shin bones and—”
“A very tidy pair of breasts?” William suggested as he made his hands form the shape of groping a pair.
His thoughts returned to Theodora’s eager little body, and how well they came together in his bed.
Yet he could not easily forget her remarks on that first day in his home. She’d boldly tried to seduce him as a means to gaining employment. She was not sweet, possibly quite devious in her methods of obtaining what she wanted in life. He couldn’t say what her ambitions were now, but she claimed marriage to him wasn’t one of her goals.
Quinn threw a pillow at his cousin. “Stop that. Are you not supposed to be a dull and sensible married man by now?”
His cousin set his hands behind his head and leaned back, smiling. “Married, but not without the imagination of what’s important to all gentlemen of sense.”
Quinn studied William closely. Crusty William had seemed to settle into marriage well, even forsaking his club and friends for the quiet of home life with Matilda, a former maid. Father had been livid about William’s marriage. “Are you suggesting you’ve thought about bedding other women?”