by Wendy Vella
“Stop!” she snapped. “I did not come here to discuss my beauty or lack thereof. Now please pay attention.”
“Speak then,” Alex snarled back. It was always like this between them; no matter how he tried to remain controlled, she pushed and pushed until he lost it. He was like that with no one else. He was one of society’s favorite bachelors, and could charm anyone at fifty paces, but not this woman. Hannah Wooller made him feel as if he had hair lining his undergarments.
“I confronted my father when we arrived home tonight, after Lord McDonald asked for my hand. I tried to reason with him in a calm voice, but unfortunately the exchange became heated.”
“McDonald asked for your hand after you danced? In the ballroom? How bloody dare he! Have you and he even shared a conversation?” Alex battled his anger at her words.
“He is Scottish, and had no time to court me or play the pretty, or so he told me. It seems he is more than happy to overlook my temperament, and according to my father, with whom I broached the subject when we returned home, Lord McDonald is a man of a practical nature and a great deal of sense, whom he would have no problem with me marrying.”
“He is happy for you to move to Scotland?” Alex would not see her if that happened, and that was an unsettling thought. “Your father needs a sound talking to,” Alex rasped. “Tell me you did not encourage the man?”
She wouldn’t meet his eye, instead looking over his left shoulder.
“Do you want this, Hannah?”
“I should want it.” She faced him, and the expression in her eyes was the saddest he’d ever seen. It pierced his heart.
“But you don’t?”
Her sigh was small and sad. “No. What I want is to set up my own house and continue with my life the way it is. The problem with that is my father. I confronted him this evening and asked him to reduce my dowry, but he refused. He said that I should have many suitors to choose from, not just one or two, and this was his way of ensuring that. He said he wants me settled soon, in case his heart stops.”
“He’s using his condition to coerce you, and while I question his methods,” Alex said, “I do not doubt his love for you.”
“Yes, I know he loves me, and that moving him once he has set a course is impossible, but I had to try, and we had a terrible row. I-I told him he was using his ill-health to pressure me.”
Alex wasn’t prepared for the tears that started to roll down Hannah’s cheeks. Fumbling into his pocket, he found a handkerchief and dropped to his knees before her and began to blot them.
“Hannah, don’t cry, sweetheart.”
“I’m sorry, Alex. I know he denies it but it feels as if my father is doing this to rid himself of me, even though I know he is doing it because he believes deep down I want to be married. H-he said every woman wants that.”
“He loves you,” Alex said again, feeling helpless.
“How can he love me and do this!” she shrieked, making him wince. “How can he sell me to a man so desperate for money he would overlook my flaws!”
“I’m deaf,” Alex muttered, sticking a finger in his ear and rolling it around.
“Is that all you can say?” she sobbed.
“No, of course not,” he soothed. “And you are not flawed.”
She sniffed. “I am, but thank you for saying otherwise.”
“So you had an argument with Woolly, and came here to see me?” Alex was trying to work out what was going on. “There must be more to this than you needing to speak with someone, Hannah, because it is my belief you would go to Phoebe before me, and if it were a simple matter of comfort or needing to vent your feelings, you would do so at a more respectable hour.”
“I may have said some things.” She was looking at his chin now. “Things I shouldn’t have in the heat of the moment.”
“What things?”
“I was provoked,” she said, her fingers going to his necktie and beginning to rearrange it. It was an unconscious gesture, and Alex doubted she even knew what she was doing, but it was the first time she had touched him so intimately. Her fingers made no contact with his skin but his body reacted to her touch anyway.
“What did you say to your father, Hannah?” He grabbed her hands and brought them back to her lap, trapping them there. He was fairly sure he needed to concentrate on what she would say next, and he couldn’t with her touching him.
“My father said he wanted me to accept one of the men who have proposed to me, and be done with it, and that he was partial to Lord McDonald, because he has a title.”
“Surely he would not let you marry a man he knows nothing of, just for a title?”
“He knows him in a business sense, and to his mind that is enough of a character recommendation.”
“What did you say to him, Hannah, and what help can I give you?”
“I said something I should not have, something that I fear implicates you, Alex.”
“Me? What could I possibly have to do with this?”
“I would ask you to hear me out first before you tell me how ridiculous my idea is.”
“What have you done, Hannah?” Alex kept his eyes steady on her face.
“I wasn’t thinking, and I said that my heart was already taken.”
“No.” Alex shook his head. “Tell me you didn’t—”
“My father didn’t believe me,” Hannah rushed to add, looking anxious. “He said that any man of worth would have called on him already to declare his intentions. He-he accused me of lying and pressed me for a name.”
“Just say the words,” Alex gritted out.
“I told him that we had found recently that we cared a great deal for each other.”
The silence in the room was deafening. Alex was sure he would remember this day for many years to come simply because Hannah had fallen silent, and that did not happen often. Or perhaps because he was numb.
“What?”
“I-I needed someone to act as if they were interested in me.” She said the words quickly. It was a tiny stutter but he heard it.
“And you decided that I would do, without consulting me?” He was squeezing her fingers so hard now that it must be hurting, but she didn’t make a sound. Releasing her, he got to his feet and moved away, prowling the room as he tried to make sense of what she had just said.
“It need only be for a few months, Alex, no longer. I will then tell my father we decided we would not suit. It is not as if we are engaged or anything.”
Alex couldn’t believe she had actually said the words out loud.
“This is quite possibly the most foolish thing you’ve ever done, and believe me when I say there have been plenty of them over the last few years,” Alex gritted.
“Don’t talk to me like that, when every word you utter at Madame Alexander’s is simply to provoke me!”
At least her tears had dried. She was glaring at him now.
“You dare to say those words after what you have just told me! This…I can’t even find the right words.” Alex ran a hand through his hair as he circled the room with her eyes on him.
“I’m sorry; the words just came out of my mouth before I could stop them.”
“Now that I can believe.” He heard her teeth snap together in an effort not to abuse him further.
“Are we to act as if we are madly in love, Hannah? Am I to play the besotted beau?”
Her eyes dropped and color flooded her cheeks. She was innocent when it came to men, he knew that much, and doubted her heart had ever been given to another. The talk of love had embarrassed her, and he cared not a jot. Bloody woman, how dare she put him in this position?
“Well… it does not need to go that far,” she said quickly. “Just admiration will do, surely? We are new to this, realizing we may care for each other.”
The woman was not serious? Did she honestly think he would play this part?
“Hannah, we are business partners, and your father could not honestly have believed your words.”
“
He did, and in fact was extremely pleased about it. He said you were a wonderful young man, and more than capable of managing me.” She frowned. “I’m not sure why he said that as I am not in the least unmanageable, and indeed, I do not want or need a man controlling me.”
“Mother of God.” Alex raised his eyes to the ceiling in the hopes he could find something to say that did not start with him cursing at her. “What of those associated with us, Hannah? They all know we argue every point and can agree on nothing; surely they will not believe I have an interest in you.” Which of course he did, but only he knew that, and it was more lust than anything else. He’d never contemplated her as a… what? Christ, just the thought of any relationship other than the one they had made him twitch. Finding this woman seated across from at the breakfast table each morning would see him in Bedlam in a matter of weeks. Not, of course, that she had mentioned marriage. But still, Alex knew how fickle society could be. They would see him with her and days later they’d have him courting her.
“We can act,” she said, her eyes now narrowed. “Just for my father.”
“I am not that good an actor.” Alex felt he needed to remove himself from this as quickly as he could, for Miss Wooller was not usually one to be denied and persuading her to change her mind was never an easy task.
“My father now believes this, Alex. Were I to tell him I made the entire thing up he would just push harder to see me wed. He would believe I need a strong hand to guide me—”
“I for one can’t argue with that.”
Alex heard Hannah’s teeth grinding together.
“I am asking only for a few weeks, nothing more. You need only smile in my direction a few times and take me to the theater; surely you can do that for a friend?”
“No, I can’t, and it will become complicated if I do. Your father is a friend, and I have no wish to deceive him, and if I did this, then I would need to lie to my family and other people I care for, and that does not sit well with me either, as it should not for you.”
“I was desperate, Alex, or I would never have implicated you,” she said.
“I understand that, but this is not a simple favor, Hannah; it will change both our lives for a while, and what happens after, when we decide we will not suit? Are we to keep our distance from each other?”
“We would be gossip fodder briefly and then be forgotten about.” She regained her feet quickly. “But I shall not push you to do this, because you are right, it will complicate our lives, and I should have realized that. I will seek out another to fulfill the position.”
“What!” Alex couldn’t seem to think in a rational sequence.
“Now I have decided on this course, I believe it the right one,” she said, reaching for her gloves. “I shall simply pay someone to act smitten with me; that cannot be too hard. There are plenty of men out there who need money it would seem, especially considering the sudden interest in me because of my increased dowry.”
“And what will your father say when you trot out yet another love of your life?” He stalked across the room to stop before her.
“I shall find a way to talk myself out of the situation. Perhaps I shall leave it a few weeks after telling him I had lied about you, and explain that I was scared as I feared he would not like the man I had fallen for. Yes,” she said, her mind moving at its usual ferocious speed. “I did not think things through. I need a man who is a stranger to my family and friends. I shall find someone.” She was pulling on her gloves, snapping the seams until he heard several stitches creak. “Or perhaps I could convince Ben; he is always up for a challenge.”
Alex’s anger rose as she mentioned his twin. “You will not speak to him of this.”
She patted his chest as if to placate him. “Yes, you are right; it would be an awful mess. I shall find some complete stranger to pay.” Stepping around him, she headed for the door. “Good evening, Alex, I have nothing further to discuss with you.”
Her dismissive attitude pushed his temper the final few inches needed for it to reach full-blown. Striding after her, he caught her at the door. Gripping her shoulders, he turned her to face him.
“You mentioned Ben to rile me, didn’t you?”
She didn’t answer.
“You will not be propositioning strange men with the lure of money, Hannah; I hope that is clear.” Just the thought made him cold.
He did not often raise his voice, and not to her. Yes, he got angry, but it was more irritation. This was different. Her eyes widened at his tone. Alex was good at hiding his temper, but he had one, and when it surfaced, it was ugly.
“Unhand me.”
He watched her eyes move over his face as if he were a stranger she was meeting for the first time.
“I want your word to forget this foolish scheme, Hannah.”
“I cannot forget it. My father is determined to see me wed, and I am equally determined not to marry a man who cares nothing for me, only my father’s wealth. Therefore, I need to find a beau with all haste.”
Alex stepped closer.
“I mean it, Hannah, this has to stop now.”
“I will not stop, and you have no right to ask me. In fact, you have no rights over me at all.” Her chin rose. “I won’t marry a man who wants only my father’s wealth; therefore I must take steps to dissuade my father from this ridiculous course he has taken.”
“You will not approach a complete stranger, Hannah, I want your word on that,” Alex growled.
“I will not give you my word!”
He exhaled heavily, realizing what must be done. “I will do it,” he said, before he could stop himself. “To save you from doing something foolish, I will be your beau.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want that now, and I should never have come here.”
“Too late, you have already told your father I am the one, so the one I will be.”
“Release me, Alex.” She looked nervous, and he knew he had never made her feel that way before, but didn’t care. For once the polished veneer had slipped and he was feeling exposed.
“But we will do this my way, Hannah. I will not be led around by the nose just because you decree it. I hope you understand that.”
She was looking at him as if she had never seen him before. And he… hell, he was looking at the soft skin of her cheeks, the sweep of those long lashes, and her full lips.
“If we are to act like we are in love, then perhaps we should start now.”
“Wh—”
He silenced her by placing his mouth over hers. He sank into her lips and lost himself to the sensation. Swallowing her shriek, he gripped her shoulders and kissed her. Shock stopped her from fighting, so Alex took advantage before she regained her wits and bit him. Lord, she was sweet. Her mouth felt good beneath his and his body responded as he pulled her closer, pressed her slender curves into his chest. Her hands gripped the front of his shirt, nails digging in as she held on to him.
When he felt himself losing the ability for rational thought, he eased away from her. Her eyes were closed, lips reddened, breathing rapid.
“Hannah,” he whispered.
She swallowed before opening her eyes. “Why did you do that?”
“Practice,” Alex said, unable to come up with anything else.
“I see,” she said, clearly seeing nothing. “I believe I do not wish to have you as my fake beau—”
“I have accepted, Hannah, and will act as your beloved for the required amount of time.”
“B-but I don’t think—”
“I shall call upon you tomorrow and take you driving in the park. That should dissuade a few of your suitors. Right now, I shall see you home.”
“Oh no, really, Alex—”
“My family will realize soon enough,” Alex said.
“Stop interrupting me,” Hannah snapped. “And I don’t want this.”
Alex moved closer still, so close his toes touched her shoes. He was deliberately intimidating her and she knew it because
her eyes widened.
“There is no mind changing, Hannah; you put me in this position and I have accepted the challenge.”
“I don’t like this side to you,” she said, placing a palm on his chest as she attempted to push him aside. Alex stayed still. She needed intimidating. The woman had been tormenting him for months; it was about time he paid her back.
He smiled in answer to her words.
“Th-there will be no more k-kissing, Alex, I hope you understand that point. We need do this for only a few weeks until the season finishes, then I shall plead disinterest, and your reputation will remain unsullied.”
“My mind is at peace,” Alex drawled.
“We… ah, we will need to be seen together, Alex.” She walked to the door and quickly wrenched it open. There was no way he was letting her leave without him or having the last word.
“We will need to kiss and touch, Hannah, or no one will believe us otherwise.”
“Of course they will, and I will not compromise you that way. If we are too familiar it will make it impossible to end our… arrangement.” Her eyes didn’t meet his, instead looking through the now open doorway. “I can see myself home.”
“No, you cannot, and authenticity,” Alex said, taking a step toward her, “is imperative.”
She didn’t look at him again, simply lifted her chin and sailed from the room, leaving Alex to hastily pull on his shoes and follow.
CHAPTER THREE
Hannah could still not believe Alex had said yes and then kissed her last night. How had that happened? Looking to the door of her room, she knew she probably had five, possibly ten minutes before her little sister Bridgette came through it. At twelve, the girl did not understand the word privacy and believed every room, even the ones with closed doors, were hers to enter at will.