Page 30 of So Wild A Heart

“She is. So is my mother. But I fear both of them are doomed to disappointment.”

“Why? It sounded a good thing for you. I mean, she is an American, no name and all that, but…”

“I know. In my position, one cannot afford to be too choosy. Money overcometh all.”

“Actually, I was going to say that Miss Upshaw sounded as though she would make you an excellent wife.”

“Hmm. If I cared to be shackled to a shrew.”

“My. That scarcely resembles Rachel’s description of the woman.”

“Rachel doesn’t face marrying the wench. Miss Upshaw is hard, manipulative and entirely without feeling.”

“Indeed?” Richard took a sip of his drink, watching Devin with interest over the glass. “It sounds as though she has made a rather bad impression on you.”

“She accused me of selling myself to the highest bidder. Well, not accused, exactly, because she seemed to have no problem with my doing it. As if it were a matter of course for a British peer to go on the block. ‘Several Americans are purchasing nobles for their daughters to marry. My fellow countrymen seem to be peculiarly fond of titles,’” he mimicked savagely. “That’s when I told her that this British peer was not for sale.” He sighed, looking down darkly into his glass. “Of course, it is all the more infuriating because I am for sale. One title, man attached, for the price of enough money to live as I am accustomed to.”

“And save Darkwater,” Richard pointed out. “That is scarcely a small matter. Your estate is in desperate shape, from what I’ve heard, and not just the house itself. There are a number of people who depend upon you and your family. I am afraid that Americans find it hard to understand the concept of duty to one’s family and to the people who have depended on the family for years. There is a feudal quality to it that escapes them.”

“I’m not a saint, Richard. You know that.” Devin downed the remainder of his drink and got up to pour another one. “If I married her, it would be because I can’t fancy myself in debtor’s prison.”

“I can’t say that I would, either. You know, Dev, if you need some funds…”

“I know. You’re a generous man. But I have reached point non plus. A temporarily plump purse will not suffice.” He sighed. “Uncle Rupert assures me that the estate is tapped out. It isn’t making money anymore, it’s losing it. And it would need massive infusions of cash to make it profitable for future generations. The house is falling down about their ears, and the grounds are choked with weeds and brambles.”

“Ah. Thus speaks the man who is concerned only with the state of his own pocket.”

Devin grimaced. “I don’t give a damn about Darkwater. But Mother will plague me to death about it.”

“Then why not marry the girl? You will have your money, and Lady Ravenscar will cease to plague you. There is no one else you’ve a mind to wed, is there?”

“No. And you needn’t tell me that no one of good family will marry me, anyway. Everyone delights in pointing that out to me.”

“Rachel tells me the American girl is attractive and charming.”

“Attractive, she is. Charming? I wouldn’t say that. She is blunt, aggravating and completely impossible.”

Richard’s eyebrows lifted, and he hastily took a sip to cover the smile that came to his lips. “Indeed? Well, obviously she would make your life miserable.”

Devin shrugged. “I can pack her away to Darkwater. That is what they all tell me.”

“All who?”

“Leona, Stuart, even Uncle Rupert. But…”

“But what? It goes against your conscience to take the woman’s money, then immure her in Darkwater alone?”

“A little,” Devin admitted. “And I would have to, because I know I could not live with the witch.”

“Why is that? What does she do?”

Devin shifted uncomfortably, then burst out, “Dammit, I don’t know, Richard! She just makes me feel…she looks at me with contempt. She says things that no one in polite company would say. She is utterly cold.”

“Well, you would not have to occupy her bed frequently,” Richard stated.

Devin scowled, his loins tightening involuntarily at his brother-in-law’s words. “She’s not cold in that way. In fact, she’s quite—” He shook his head as if to clear it. “She confuses me. She plagues me. I keep thinking about her. Tonight I saw her at the opera, and she looked at me in such a way—as though she found me amusing. She has eyes that can look right into you. And she’s utterly maddening. I am sure we would fight constantly. We have fought every time I’ve been around her. She turned me down, you know. I proposed to her, and she just looked at me and said in that flat way, ‘No.’ Then the next time she told me that she saw the advantages of marrying someone with my name—there was Darkwater to restore and the title, though she doesn’t care that much about it, and then, of course, the most important thing, she could bring out her sister into London society. Of course, she also told me, I couldn’t hope for anything better than a nameless American, being such a profligate and drunkard and womanizer.”

Richard choked on his drink and began to cough. “Did she actually say that?”