His Independent Bride: Wife Against Her Will / The Wedlocked Wife / Bertoluzzi's Heiress Bride

Mutely, she shook her head.

He studied her with faint amusement. ‘Cheer up,’ he said. ‘You’re not going to be made to starve in the gutter. When we’re married, your upkeep will become my responsibility.’ He paused. ‘I think you’ll find me reasonably generous,’ he added lightly.

She put down the spoon. She said thickly, ‘You talk as if this—thing was a done deal.’

‘Oh, we’re a fair way from that,’ he said. ‘But I live in hope.’

The waiters returned to clear away their plates, and bring the next course. Darcy sat with a forced smile as her fish was removed from the bone, wine was poured and vegetables handed.

When they were left to themselves again, she said, ‘Disregarding personalities, why on earth should you wish to get married at all? You seem to me to be a perennial bachelor.’

‘Based, naturally, on your vast experience of men.’ His tone was cutting. ‘But all husbands were single once. That’s how it works.’

He paused. ‘I’ve spent a lot of my time travelling—working in the field. Now that I’m putting down roots, maybe I’ve begun to realise the value of a well-run home.’

‘But you’ll have that,’ she said swiftly. ‘I presume Mrs Inman is also a Werner Langton employee, who goes with the house, and, as you’ve already discovered, she’s a treasure. You’ll hardly let her go.’

‘Certainly not. But I think she prefers receiving orders to acting on her own initiative. And I have little time for domestic minutiae. I need someone who knows how the household works, and what instructions to give. Who can deal with sometimes difficult and demanding people.’

Darcy lifted her eyebrows. ‘Do you include yourself in that category, Mr Castille?’ she asked caustically.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘If I don’t get my own way. But I’m sure you’re already accustomed to that in your family circle,’ he added silkily.

‘And there is another consideration,’ he went on, ignoring her mutinous glare. ‘Mrs Inman is a worthy soul, but I wouldn’t want to look at her on the other side of my table every night.’

‘And that’s important,’ she said, ‘is it?’

‘Naturally.’ His voice slowed to a drawl. ‘A man likes his wife to be beautiful, and you, Miss Langton, are an exceptionally lovely girl.’ His gaze rested briefly on the creamy skin exposed by the neck of her sweater. ‘As I’m sure you’re aware.’

To her annoyance, she felt her face warm slightly. ‘Flattery from you, Mr Castille, is almost an insult.’

He had the gall to grin. ‘And insults from you, Miss Langton, sound exactly what they are.’ He paused. ‘You don’t think we might find it easier to negotiate with each other if we were on first-name terms?’

‘No,’ she said baldly. ‘There can be no negotiation. I don’t want to be married. Not to you, or anyone else.’

‘You prefer other women’s husbands?’ There was a sudden note of steel in his voice.

She lifted her chin scornfully. ‘I suppose you’re thinking of Harry Metcalfe again.’

‘Drew Maidstone,’ he said, ‘also seems to be in the frame, according to your father.’

‘Then he’s mistaken.’ As badly wrong as you are about Harry. ‘Besides, I don’t think Drew stays married long enough to count as anyone’s husband.’

‘He has a bad reputation, and so does that yacht of his. I don’t blame your father for being concerned.’

‘Heavens,’ she said. ‘How censorious. You, of course, have always been Sir Galahad.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Not even remotely.’ He paused. ‘So, again disregarding personalities, what are your objections to marriage?’

She drank some wine. ‘You made it sound very cosy and domestic,’ she said. ‘But it involves other obligations, which I, frankly, have no wish to fulfil. With anyone.’ And with you least of all, ran frantically through her head.

He gave her a measuring look. ‘Isn’t it a little late for you to be playing the frightened virgin?’

‘It has nothing to do with being scared,’ she said, examining the colour of the wine with minute attention. ‘My experience of sex showed me that it was undignified, painful and messy, but mercifully over very quickly. And certainly nothing since has caused me to change my mind.’

She looked at him, defying him to laugh. But there wasn’t the faintest trace of amusement in the blue eyes.

There was a silence, then he said quietly, ‘I’m sorry you felt like that about it.’ He paused carefully. ‘However, I think you may have been unfortunate in your choice of partner.’

‘A common male viewpoint, I’m sure,’ Darcy said with cold derision.

‘And what’s the next line, I wonder? “It will be different with me, darling”?’

The firm mouth hardened. ‘While you maintain that attitude, sweetheart, I doubt it would be different with anyone. But that’s your choice.’ He refilled her glass. ‘However, there’s more than one kind of marriage. If you want our arrangement to remain strictly business, that’s fine with me.’

She stared at him. ‘You’re saying that?’ Suddenly she felt bewildered. ‘Yet, only a moment ago, you were telling me I was—beautiful.’

‘And so you are,’ he returned promptly. ‘What do you want me to say? That I don’t find you desirable?’ He shook his head. ‘That would be a lie, and we both know it. I wanted you from the first moment I saw you.’

As she gasped, he shrugged. ‘But what the hell? There are plenty of desirable girls in the world, and most of them, thank God, don’t seem to share your hang-ups. I won’t be lonely, and you most certainly won’t be jealous. It sounds like a perfect deal.’

He leaned forward. ‘And there’s something else. Our marriage wouldn’t have to last forever. Once I’m firmly established as chairman of Werner Langton, we can think again. Even your father can’t force us to find each other compatible,’ he added drily.

‘You want a life and an independent career,’ he went on. ‘Well, I can fix that for you. Go to university if your grades are good enough. Study to be an engineer, if that’s your dream, and I’ll support you. You won’t even need a student loan.’

She stared at him. ‘My father would never agree.’

‘Once you were my wife,’ he said, ‘it would no longer be his decision.’

‘First blackmail. Now bribery.’ There was scorn in her voice. ‘You really have no scruples, do you, Mr Castille?’

‘Something Werner Langton may be glad of, if they’re going to survive through the twenty-first century,’ he came back at her sharply. ‘It’s a hard bloody world out there, and some of the board need to wake up to that.

‘And so do you. I’m offering you a working partnership, Miss Langton. Length—indefinite. Terms—to be established. Take it or leave it. You won’t get a second chance.’

‘You have to give me time to think…’

‘You’ve been thinking ever since you saw me walking towards you,’ he said. ‘You knew exactly what I was coming for. Or did you imagine I simply wanted your delectable body?’ He shook his head. ‘That would have been a bonus, but even without it you’re still a valuable commodity, Miss Langton.

‘And I can also be of service to you. If you let me. You can forget about being a table decoration, and have a career, a life of your own. But it’s marriage first. That’s not a variable.’

He paused. ‘Unless, of course, you’ve had a better offer.’

‘No,’ she said wearily. Her voice rang hollow in her ears. ‘I haven’t.’

In fact, there’d been no offers at all, but that was her own doing. No one had been allowed to get near her. And this man across the table would be no exception.

‘Well?’ His incisive tone cut through her reverie. ‘You’ve worked as an au pair in the past. This time, you’ll be an au pair with a wedding ring. And with a dream you can make come true at the end of it.’