Page 32 of A Lady of Conscience

“As do mine.”

“Then you allow that the emotion is necessary for a happy marriage?”

“I wouldn’t say necessary. Many couples deal well enough together without the added burden of being in love.”

Her brows lifted. “A burden, you call it?”

“It can be if it overrides rational thought.”

Hannah couldn’t conceal her disappointment at his bleak pronouncement. “I don’t believe love is ever a burden.” She paused, adding, “And it is necessary for me. When I marry, it will only be for love.”

James’s face was inscrutable. “And you don’t love me, of course.”

Heat flooded her cheeks. She could summon no reply. She hadn’t anticipated him being so blunt.

“However, you did admit to liking me very much,” he said. “Was that true?”

“Yes.” She did like him. Rather too much, all things considered. He wasn’t at all right for her, no matter that he was the only gentleman of her acquaintance to make her heart beat so swiftly.

“A strong liking might grow into love, given adequate inducement,” he said.

“I expect it could, but…”

“But?”

“I would think it unlikely in this case. We are too different. We want different things of life.”

“I want you,” he said.

Her pulse quickened.

“All I ask is that you give me a chance to prove I’m worthy of your affections,” he said. “If I fail, you may send me away again, and I’ll trouble you no more.”

“I didn’t intend to send you away at all,” she said in a rush. “I’d no idea you would leave Bath after I refused you. I was very sorry you did.”

“No sorrier than I,” he replied with uncommon gruffness. “I hadn’t been in London above two days before I realized what a mistake it was.”

“I’m glad you came back.”

His gaze flashed to hers. “Are you?”

“If you hadn’t appeared when you did, I’d have had to summon a constable to deal with that costermonger. It would have been an awful spectacle.”

His mouth hitched with wry humor. “Is it only my assistance with recovering purloined pet donkeys that makes you glad of my return?”

She shyly returned his glance. “No,” she said. “Not only that.”

His eyes betrayed a flicker of warmth. “Do you give me reason to hope?”

Hannah’s heart thumped hard. If she were wise, she would rebuff him again. She had plenty of valid reasons to do so. He wasn’t sweet enough. Gentle enough. Romantic enough.

But what if he could be?

What if, beneath all that icy sternness and formality was a man to whom she might safely entrust her heart?

It was surely too small a chance to pin her future on, but in these cases, a lady had to go with her instincts. And every instinct in Hannah was whispering only one answer.

“Yes,” she said.