The Wedding Game(36)

‘There is a reason my father is respected as a master politician,’ she said with a grim smile. ‘It would take a smarter man than you to outwit him.’

He knew he should be insulted by her assessment. But since it had been proven true there was no point in arguing. ‘What am I to do now?’ he said, more to himself than to her.

‘I suggest you do exactly as you planned to do from the first. Marry my sister and take the seat in the Commons that is offered you. Perhaps she is not as you assumed she’d be, but she is not beyond hope. She is quite good with some things and hopeless at others, of course. But her temperament is pleasant and she is very, very pretty.’

And she had a sister who knew her strengths and weaknesses better than anyone on the planet. She had learned to display her to best advantage and guard her against peril. It was the reason Belle’s entry into society had been such a success. ‘You have been keeping her secret, for all this time?’

‘For as long as I can remember,’ Amy replied. ‘In the classroom, I did her work as well as my own so our tutors did not punish her. And it is not really so necessary that a woman be as learned as a man.’ She glanced in the direction of her father’s office as if she’d got those words from him. ‘Men expect very little of us, save that we be lovely.’

‘And Arabella is that,’ he agreed.

‘As are you,’ she said, giving him a look that said she had no patience left for handsome but foolish men. ‘Marry my sister, retire to the country and raise a mob of perfectly beautiful offspring between you.’

‘But, I cannot...’ He should have known that a simple life with a quiet woman was an illusion. Nothing with women was ever as it appeared. And in this case, it was not just difficult, it was impossible. Arabella had proven today that it was not a simple matter of obedience that led her to this marriage. She had hesitated when he’d proposed, because she had been searching for the words to refuse him. When she had not found them, she’d been as trapped as he was.

Now they would be wed and she would feel nothing for him other than what she had been told to feel. And when he looked at her, he would feel nothing but obligation.

‘There will be nothing wrong with those children, if that is your concern,’ Amy said, interrupting his introspection. ‘What happened to Belle occurred at the moment of her birth. When she was finally delivered she was blue from lack of air.’ Amy tapped her forehead. ‘It was not good for her mind. But the rest of her is as perfect as she appears.’

‘It is not the children I am concerned with,’ he said, horrified. ‘Does she even know what is expected of her?’ He had never lain with a virgin. He had been told that their first time was painful. No passionate reward could induce him to hurt her. He would never forgive himself.

‘Do not worry on that account. I will take it upon myself to explain to her. She will be prepared to do her duty.’ Now Amy looked as burdened with obligation as he was.

‘And how much do you know of such things?’ he said, not sure he wanted the answer.

‘There are books on the subject,’ she said primly.

‘Does your father know you’ve read them?’ He could not decide whether to be shocked or impressed. But for propriety’s sake, he was sure he should not be feeling as aroused as he was at the idea of her puzzling over pictures of copulation.

‘For the smartest man in London, my father can be woefully obtuse when he chooses to be,’ she replied. ‘He has no idea what his daughters have got up to, nor does he fully recognise Belle’s incapacity. But in the matter of her future, someone had to provide her with the details of her womanly duties.’

‘And you took that upon yourself,’ he said.

‘Among other things.’ She shrugged. ‘Father means to see her married, whether I think it is a good idea or not.’ She paused. ‘The plan is not impossible. She could make the right man very happy, and he could make her happy in turn. But the final decision did not rest with me. So, I have been planning accordingly. I did not want to risk her being totally ignorant of the process and terrified by an equally ignorant man who did not care for anything but his own needs.’ She gave him a long, searching look, as if trying to decide if he fit that description.

‘I can assure you, I am quite capable of putting a woman’s pleasure before my own.’ He’d had years of experience doing just that, his own needs and desires subsumed by a demanding woman. He’d thought that when he married, he might finally be lord and master. Instead he would be more caregiver than husband.

And worse yet, he was discussing the intimacies of marriage with the woman who he should be treating as a sister. No matter how sophisticated she might pretend to be, her understanding of love making was based on purloined books and a few vague fumblings in Vauxhall. Her cheeks had gone so crimson at his last response that the blush must have extended all the way to her toes.

Which meant that it had spread to all the interesting places in between. He cleared his throat. ‘Enough about Belle. What plans did you make for yourself?’ But his thoughts of the immediate future had him imagining her skirts around her head as he gave her a practical demonstration of the subject she meant to teach. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the image, and set down the glass, cursing the brandy in his hand for clouding his judgement. ‘I mean, what do you mean to do once your sister is settled?’