Page 44 of Defying the Earl

“You’d make a dreadful spinster,” Nathan said as he brought her closer. “You were made to be in a large family.”

“I wouldn’t know. My family was dismally small,” Bea replied, feeling breathless.

“We’ll make up for that, together.” He leaned down and brushed his lips lightly over hers. “Why did you never tell me your grandfather was Houndseith?”

Bea blinked and stepped back slightly.

“Is that why you’ve had a change of heart? Am I now suddenly more appealing to you because I am higher on the social strata than you had earlier thought?” She almost burst into tears but managed to clench her jaw and stem the flow.

Nathan would not relinquish his grasp on her hand, pulling her closer again. “Don’t be a ninny, my darling. It was a relief to know that you wouldn’t be uncomfortable in those social realms, but I actually thought your skills as my aunts’ companion would make you the perfect countess. I have always thought so. It just took me too long to argue the matter with myself.”

Bea laughed at that. “But then why are you only speaking to me like this now?”

Nathan sighed, pulling her even closer, putting both arms around her despite the open door. “I thought I wasn’t ready to wed. I haven’t even removed my black armband, I’ve just taken the Earl’s seat in the House, there is so much I yet need to do and learn. But hearing that you might be snatched out of my reach before I even had a chance to declare myself made me realize that it would be better to do and learn all those things together. Do put me out of my misery and say you’ll have me. Please, I beg of you.”

“Even you have succumbed to the competition then?” Beatrice couldn’t allow herself to merely be an object to fight over much like a pack of dogs with a bone.

“No, Beatrice, I swear to you, that only forced my hand on the timing. I have known all week that you were perfect for me. I am not yet perfect for you. That was the source of my hesitation. I’mnot ready to be a husband in so many ways. But I need to be your husband. And I cannot allow you to go off with someone else without telling you and trying to be right for you even now. With you by my side, I will be right, I know it.”

Beatrice nearly melted into a puddle right then and there, but she needed to be absolutely certain after all the bumps they’d been through along the way to this moment.

“So you think I’ll make an acceptable countess, then?”

“Fishing for compliments, Bea? I believe I already said you’ll be a perfect countess.”

“Far from perfect, Nathan, but you haven’t really said why you think we should be wed. And what of the wager? Have you just decided that you wish to keep your horses after all?”

“Beatrice Harrison, now it is you who is being unbearably foolish. Horses have nothing to do with this in the least. In fact, I shall tell Douglas that you are the greater prize and I shan’t need his pair after all. And if I haven’t told you why we should wed, it is for this very reason: because I love you, most distractedly. I shan’t be of any use unless you agree to take me in hand. It doesn’t matter that I’m not ready. You will make me ready. With you by my side, we can do whatever we set our minds to. Do say you’ll try to love me too.”

“Of course, I love you. I’ve loved you these past two years and more. I loved you so much I was never going to wed.”

“What of Henley, then?”

Bea sighed. “I was going to refuse him. He deserves a wife who doesn’t love someone else.”

“Well that’s perfectly perfect, then, isn’t it?”

Bea was prevented from replying by his lips sealing hers, leaving her head spinning and her heart soaring.