Page 15 of Ruined by the Wrong Earl

Adler set his empty glass down and gaped at him. ‘A biologist? Truly? I’m even more intrigued to learn more about her.’

Ralston still found it unusual. Nora may have placed a shell on his desk, but in his mind, she did not fit the mold of a scientist.

She was too passionate. Unpredictable. Dangerous.

He grew aware of Adler staring at him. ‘Like I said,’ Ralston argued, ‘I cannot afford a scandal. My bill is set for the first reading in the House. A stable marriage of convenience can only help my image as a politician.’ He had begun reading newspapers and pamphlets as a young man. One of the newspaper articles mentioned the harsh conditions of child labor at the cotton mills. The pamphlets covered it even more, and Ralston grew more interested in the topic. It wasn’t unusual to see the factory smoke when his family travelled through London.

‘What about you?’ Adler asked. ‘Other than continued respectability for your politics, what do you get out of this union?’

‘What do you mean?’

Adler shrewdly regarded him. ‘Miss Nora is beautiful. It won’t be a hardship to bed her to get your heir.’

‘No, it won’t.’ Ralston’s blood heated just thinking about her. She was as bold as a skilled courtesan but kissed like a virgin. An arousing contradiction. But desire was not to be confused with emotion. He knew better than anyone never to risk his heart. He had been young, only eighteen, when Margaret had cheated. In hindsight, she’d done him a favor. If he hadn’t found her with her lover, he would have married her thinking the baby was his own. He had taken the cheating hard, but learning the baby was not his had been much, much worse. He’d been young and surprised when she’d told him she was pregnant, but after taking time to think and accept that he was to be a father, he’d wanted the baby and had grieved to know it wasn’t his. It was for the best he’d learned the truth about Margaret early on.

Even though he knew she’d undoubtedly cheat again, for months afterward, a permanent sorrow had seemed to weigh him down. The only thing left was the raw soreness of an aching heart, and he’d learned not to trust again. No, love was a fickle, foolish emotion that only brought heartache. Marriage did not have to involve matters of the heart.

Adler’s normally amused expression turned serious. ‘And what of love?’

Ralston drained his glass and set it down on a dainty end table. ‘What about it?’

‘Your union with Nora may not have come the traditional way with courting and flowers and chocolates, but what if you fall in love?’

Ralston glowered. ‘I won’t. Love is for poets and fools. I don’t have room in my life for it now or in the foreseeable future.’

Adler sat back in his chair, and his normal mocking expression returned. ‘There are still days remaining of this blasted house party. Seeing the two of you together will be more entertaining than anything the Duchess has planned.’

Ralston scowled. ‘You will be disappointed, my friend. Like I said, it will be a businesslike union that will serve both of our purposes. Nothing more and nothing less.’

‘Did you know the auger shell is the home of a carnivorous snail?’ It was the following afternoon and Nora was in her bedchamber reading from one of her research books, Lovell Reeve’s Conchologia Iconica, as she paced her room. Candace sat at the window seat.

‘I didn’t know,’ her sister said absentmindedly as she scanned the pages of a gossip sheet that had arrived from London that morning. ‘But I’m certain you will educate me on the topic.’

Nora turned the page of the thick book and read, ‘The snail uses its venomous barb to immobilize and stun its prey.’ Reeve’s book was one of Nora’s favorites and she’d often study his sketches of shells.

Candace lowered her sheet to look at Nora wide-eyed. ‘Goodness. That’s quite barbaric.’

‘It’s fascinating. It also says the shell can be found in Cornwall.’ Nora shut the book. ‘The coast is calling. Maybe I’ll find one along with the other shells I’m searching for.’

Candace’s lips parted. ‘You can’t be serious! The Duchess has scheduled a visiting pianist this afternoon.’

‘It’s an opportunity for me to sneak away,’ Nora said.

Candace shook her head. ‘I’m not able to accompany you.’

‘I wasn’t asking,’ Nora said.

Candace blinked. ‘You think to go unaccompanied?’

Nora set the book atop the chest of drawers. ‘As far as I’m concerned, a chaperone is not necessary to visit the seaside.’

Candace’s eyebrows drew together. ‘Mother would not agree.’

Frustration welled in Nora’s chest, and she rubbed it as if doing so would make it go away. ‘My research is the reason I agreed to this dreadful house party. And I won’t be long. As for Mother, she won’t even notice if I slip out. She’s been busy cozying up to Lady Ardmore and Lady Worth.’

‘What about the Earl?’ Candace asked.

‘What of him? Ralston claims to support my scientific studies. It was why I agreed to marry him.’