Page 25 of Miss Ellis Unleashed

“A very long time,” he admitted, and looked away.

Daisy frowned at him. She realized Throsby was embarrassed to talk about such things with her. As far as she knew, he had avoided all romantic entanglements during the guardianship. But that was long over, and surely, given his new and somewhat roguish appearance, he could attract the attention of at least one lady. Today he looked quite appealing.

They paused at a crossing, and before setting off again, she was shocked to feel Throsby’s hand settled at the small of her back as he steered her across the street.

She found her breath once his hand fell away, as well as the awareness that his touch had not been unwanted. She cleared her throat. “When will you go to take up your duties as guardian to your cousin’s children?”

“Not for some time, I hope. The children are too young to need husbands or get into much trouble yet. They have a mother, and the duke watching over them, so they do not exactly need me. The duke has grown fond of them, or so I’m led to believe.”

“And the widow?”

Throsby pulled a face. “She is fine where she is.”

“You are wise to leave them be in the place with good memories. She will be grieving for her husband for a long time, and would not like to be told what to do or where to go,” she warned.

“If only that could be true,” he muttered softly.

“I don’t take your meaning?”

“She still wishes to become a duchess,” Throsby murmured, inhaling sharply. He let it out slowly before he continued, “She’s written to suggest I come immediately to marry her.”

“Marry her?” Daisy looked at him in alarm, discovering his expression was one of disgust. “She offered herself in marriage to you while only just beginning her mourning period?”

Throsby nodded curtly, a brooding expression on his face now. No wonder he’d been drinking. He certainly had cause.

“How well do you know her?” She put up her hand. “No, don’t answer that.”

“I will answer you so you understand the awkwardness of the situation. We’ve met on three separate occasions. I don’t find her at all appealing. There was never… I could not.”

Daisy put her hand on his sleeve and squeezed, understanding what he could not eloquently or delicately put into words. “How awkward for you. No wonder you’re not keen to take control of your wards’ lives.”

“It is a vastly different situation than I had with you,” he hastened to say, covering her hand. “It is not as if they’re alone in the world, the way you were left.”

Daisy reluctantly pulled her fingers back from his under his grip, remembering how the life she’d known had disappeared in the blink of an eye with her father’s death. Then Throsby had come and taken charge, filling it back up with something new and strange. He probably had done the best for her, but as a grieving girl, she’d resented his arrival and never let it go.

But she had to now. She’d taken stock of her situation and all that Throsby had accomplished in four short years. He’d increased her fortune by leaps and bounds and kept her in her own home with a household of capable staff she thought of as family. He’d left her with an abundance of love, instead of the emptiness that he must have experienced.

How odd to feel gratitude for him finally. She laughed at her reversal. “You might have to beat her off with a stick when you do meet, if she’s already picking out her next husband.”

“Laugh all you like, but it’s not funny to me. She insists that she could provide me with a son in exchange for the title of duchess.”

“Even when she didn’t provide an heir for her late husband?” Daisy gaped, utterly astonished at what some women would do and say just to claim a title for themselves. “Although I suppose you must wait ten months to be sure.”

“They were not sleeping together anymore. They’ve lived separately since the second girl was delivered. Even the duke knew that marriage was broken beyond repair, even for an heir.”

Daisy walked on a few steps more. The thought of Throsby being married to such a woman was not appealing. It bothered her in unexpected ways. She was outraged and felt she ought do something to help Throsby avoid such a fate. But what could she do?

An affection-less marriage was to be avoided at all costs. Even future dukes ought to marry someone they could care about.

But the idea of him with another lady, someone he might enjoy kissing the way he had Daisy, did not sit right with her, either.

The possessive thought was so unexpectedly true that a hot blush immediately climbed her cheeks. She had enjoyed kissing him that one time. He should be kissing someone else like that…but she hated the idea.

Daisy glanced up at him, and her gaze was drawn to his lips. Throsby could try to kiss her again, and she would like to let him.

He suddenly put his hand under her elbow, peering down at her face. “Am I walking too fast?”

“No. Why would you imagine that?”