Olivia Parker

See. I told you I would get that boy to the alter eventually. All I had to do was pretend I was a loon.

It took nearly a year to finish the ever-changing [marriage candidates] list, with the assistance of his sister and his aging spinster aunt, who lorded over their affairs as the self-appointed voice of cultivated reason. During this time, Gabriel struggled to convince straight-from-Oxford Tristan that he must marry, produce heirs, and maintain the family dukedom for Gabriel himself wouldn't marry. He knew he simply did not have the compulsion to inflict that sort of aggravation on a woman.

Before Charlotte could utter a syllable, Tristan picked up her gloved hand and kissed her lightly on theknuckles.__ood day, Charlotte,_ he said.__ood day,_ she answered. She turned to bid farewell to Lady Rosalind, but she seemed to havedisappeared.Numbly, she descended the front steps toward a waiting Rothbury, who only had eyes for the Devines__ront door, looking quite like he wanted to murder someone.__erfection, dear brother,_ Rosalind proclaimed, while peeking out the little window next to the door.__tter perfection.__lipping a finger inside his cravat to loosen it a bit, Tristan craned his neck from side to side, easing thebuilding tension. __f he kills me, I__l see to it that you get hanged for murder as well.

What have I done to her?" Gabriel muttered to himself as he crossed the room to crank open a window. Cool air washed over his skin. "What the devil did she do to me?

He did not blame them. Because in truth, that's what he did, what he was. Seduce and dominate. Charm and manipulate. A user of women. How they would scoff, Rothbury mused bitterly, if they knew that he was secretly in love with the silly little chit, spectacles and all.