The Marriage Mart Read Online Free Page B

that I am thoroughly unrepentant of my evil inclinations. Though I would never touch one finger to one hair upon your head without your approval, I will always do my best to persuade you to join me willingly in my debaucheries. My life is dedicated to self-satisfaction, and I am very much afraid I must have the freedom to at least attempt my goals via my persuasive and provocative comments.”
    “But were not those persuasive and provocative comments the reason you left England for awhile?” she dared to ask openly. If he could be blunt, then she must be accorded the same privilege.
    “Exactly so. It seems Prinny did not care overmuch for my observation that his father ought to have had a mistress or two, to spare the Queen all his affection, you see.” Mary raised a hand to her mouth, covering a startled sound that was half a laugh. It may very well be joked about that the mad king’s poor queen ought to be the mad one, having had the exclusive attentions of her husband--fifteen children’s worth in fact--but it was not the sort of thing one wanted one’s Regent to know you had said.
    “And now you are pardoned, I hear tell.”
    He shrugged. “Or perhaps agreed with, do you think?”
    She shook her head, amazed at the forthrightly shocking things he said, but she refused to be nonplussed. “So, in the matter of our ‘relationship’, you are saying you must be allowed a free tongue, and that I am to be allowed the right to forevermore laugh and say ‘no’.”
    “Quite.”
    “But why?” she cried, half-laughing, spreading hers hands as though asking an impossibly obscure question.
    “Because I like you.”
    She blushed at the ring of simple truth.
    “You are the only adult female I know who has not run from me screaming, rapped upon my person with an assortment of fans or lorgnettes, nor scolded me overmuch for my wicked tongue. I have been completely free with you, and you laugh and let me please myself. It is an extraordinary pleasure, one I cannot, no, will not foreswear, because I know you will not disappoint me by suddenly turning missish.”
    For the first time in her life, Mary was glad she was plain to look upon. Here was the most handsome man in the world, telling her he liked her. She knew with certainty that such frankness would not have been possible if she had been in any way the sort of beauty with which one flirted. Such was his reputation, he could only befriend and speak so boldly to an unpretty girl. And she had no doubt it was mere friendship he sought. The Blade was not the marrying type, everyone said. And perhaps it was something in the way he held himself, but the promise of friendship only was communicated silently to her as clearly as though he had spoken of it, whether he had consciously recognized it or no.
    Instead of being cast down by the sudden insight, she felt the exhilaration of being truly seen as a person worthy of liking.
    She felt quite overwhelmed for a moment, but she dare not disappoint him by doing exactly as he had forbid her to do: turning missish. Instead she clasped her hands together as though in prayer and, giving a stage sigh, replied with a smile, “Very well then, my lord. I grant you leave to be as naughty as you care to be, though my stipulation is that it must be for my ears alone. I have a reputation to maintain, you must know. However, the burning of my own ears is a small enough price to pay to claim such a wild creature as my friend.”
    He moved toward her, his hands clasped behind his back, his blue eyes as clear and sparkling as ice. He towered over her, very deliberately intimidating in his presence. “Yes, my dear lady,I am a wild creature. Let us never forget that.”
    “And s-so, our friendship begins again,” she said, stumbling over the words just a little as she moved away from him, half-turning, and only daring a quick glance over her shoulder to indicate he was to follow her.
    She brought him to his party of hunters, and then excused