Page 48 of How to Tempt an Earl

Her stomach tilted and she felt lightheaded.

“What’s wrong?” Adam asked, looking at her curiously.

“Nothing, darling.” She gave him a reassuring smile, then turned to the butler. “Please see the earl to the drawing room.”

She found Ian looking out the drawing room window. In the afternoon sunlight, he was even more handsome than last night. He was dressed in a meticulously tailored coat of olive green kerseymere, buff-colored trousers, and shiny black hessians. His dark hair gleamed in the sunlight. His tailors must have worked tirelessly—he appeared to be a gentleman of fashion. She was struck at how different he appeared in his finery.

He turned at the rustle of her skirts. “Grace,” he said.

She stepped into the room and shut the door. “What happened last night? I fear I cannot wait a second more to learn the truth.”

Rather than speak, he motioned toward the sofa. “Please sit, and I will explain.”

She walked to the sofa, her nerves stretched taut, and settled on the cushions. He joined her, his long legs crossing at the ankles.

His dark eyes searched her face. “How are you faring this morning?”

“If it’s any consolation, I woke with a pounding headache. I suppose I deserve it. I’m a ruined woman.”

“No, you are not.”

She looked at him incredulously. “Don’t tell me you managed to convince your mother to remain silent. I might believe that, but not of Lady Taddlesworth. Never of her.”

“My mother wrote this morning. Lady Taddlesworth has agreed to hold her tongue for now.”

The way he spoke, with confidence, only served to arouse her curiosity. “I don’t understand. You said Lady Taddlesworth agreed not to speak of it for now. How long will she remain silent? Am I to live in fear of her exposing my shame? And what of your mother, the countess? I don’t know if I can look her in the eye ever again.”

She turned away and blinked back tears. She couldn’t cry in front of him. She refused to succumb to such weakness. It was bad enough she’d retched outside of his home the prior evening.

He took her arm. Surprised at the contact, she glanced down to see his large hand slide down to hold her much smaller one.

“I have a solution to both our problems. Is your father home?” he asked.

Her gaze rose to his. “My father?

“Yes, the baron. Is he home?”

“He’s still abed. Why?”

Just as the question left her mouth, she felt a shock run through her. The only reason Ian would want to speak with her father was for his debts or his daughter, and she didn’t think it was because of his debts.

Ian couldn’t mean…could he?

He slipped to his knee and reached in his waistcoat to pull out a small box. He opened the lid to reveal a stunning sapphire ring surrounded by diamonds nestled in black velvet. “It belonged to my grandmother. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

She stared at the exquisite piece of jewelry, then raised her startled gaze to his. “What?”

“I’m proposing marriage.”

“Are you crazed?”

A corner of his lips twitched. “That’s not the response I had hoped for.”

“But you don’t wish to marry, and I don’t wish to marry you. From what I recall, you said you’d never wed.”

“Yes, well, last night changed things, didn’t it?”

That was an understatement. “But…but…I don’t know what to say.”