AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you, my lord.”
Thomas raised his eyebrows. She’d been calling him Thomas yesterday afternoon.
Ah, yes… Yesterday afternoon. His groin tightened as he recalled the delicious interlude.
And he’d paid her absolutely no mind since then even though he’d been thinking of her nonstop. Rather, he’d been focused on the issue with his cousin and the viscount.
Tricia was a brief respite, but he knew his worries would be waiting for him when the dance was done.
But to have her in his arms, even with their clothes separating them this time, felt every kind of right.
If he had to marry, why shouldn’t it be to her? She was young, yes, but most of the ladies were young, some even younger than she. He could wait, hold out for the rest of the season, see who else showed up in London, but with Tricia’s beauty and her sparkling personality, another gentleman could sweep her up at any time.
“Tricia,” he said.
“Yes?”
“I should like to speak with you and your mother later.”
“About what, my lord?”
“In light of recent events”—he cleared his throat—“I think it prudent that I…”
Her cheeks flushed. “That you what, Thomas?”
He cleared his throat again. “I must marry.”
“And I told you, Thomas, that I have no intention of marrying for anything other than love.”
“I know what you said, Tricia.” He looked away from her beautiful dark-blue eyes. “But the fact of the matter is that I’ve ruined you.”
“But no one else knows that,” Tricia said. “I’m certainly not telling anyone.”
He looked at her sternly. “Sweetheart, you already told my sister.”
Tricia’s eyes widened.
“She didn’t mean any harm, Tricia. She was coming only to scold me, really. Insisting that I do right by you.”
“I thought she was my friend.” Tricia glared in the direction of the duchess.
“Oh, she is. A bloody good friend at that. You won’t find a better person than my sister. She may be unconventional, but a purer heart there never was. She was acting on your behalf.”
“I don’t want anyone to take me to wife out of obligation,” Tricia said.
“My dear, surely in the few years that you’ve been a member of the peerage, you’ve learned how things work. Marriages are alliances, Tricia. They’re not made for love.”
“Lily and the duke are in love. Rose and Cameron are in love. I believe your own parents were in love, as were mine.”
Damn it all. She was going to make him say the words.
He did hold her in high esteem, and those lips of hers… Of all the women he’d taken to his bed—and there had been more than one virgin among them—Tricia had the tightest and most delicious little pussy he’d ever devoured.
He cleared his throat. “I do love you, Tricia.”
She tilted her head.
“You don’t believe me.”
