She had met him at one of her London soirées and he had mentioned that he was searching for a suitable wife. The Countess leapt at the opportunity and I was to have no say in the matter.”
“I have nearly fallen foul of such schemes myself,” murmured the Marquis, darkly.
He paused and looked into the distance.
“My father, on his very deathbed, expressed his concern at what he construed as my lack of willingness to wed. But I refused to be traded like a bullock in a market. He died reproaching me for it.”
Verena’s blood suddenly ran cold. As she searched the Marquis’s handsome face for some sign of warmth, she looked and found none. She was not sure that this conversation was proceeding in quite the way she would have liked.
“And do you still find it necessary to avoid such a union, Jame
