Just Wicked Enough Read Free Page A

Falconridge.”
    Easy enough for a man to claim when he had an abundance at his disposal.
    “My family means everything,” Rose continued. “I promised my wife our daughters would marry nobility.” He shook his head like one of the bison Michael had seen at the zoological gardens. “Don’t know why she got the bee in her bonnet that that’s what she wanted, but there you are. It’s the reason I paid an unreasonable amount to secure you as a husband for my Kate. Nothing is more important to me than seeing to my wife’s happiness.”
    Michael’s stomach, if at all possible, tightened more than it had before the auction began. He was surprised he didn’t double over.
    “If I may be so bold, sir, I believe Jenny and I would be better suited.” Passion he could deliver; love he could not.
    Rose seemed to consider that possibility, then shook his head again in a sorrowful gesture. “My wife has her heart set on Jenny, as the older, marrying a duke. There’s one who’s shown some interest. It’s Kate for you or nothing.”
    Michael bowed his head in acquiescence. “Kate will do very nicely.”
    “Don’t be too quick there, young fellow. This arrangement comes with the stipulation that my Kate is happy. If she’s not, then I don’t make payment.”
    “You are the highest bidder, sir. Dictate the terms and I shall abide by them.” Michael had given too much already to stand firm now. He was willing to do anything necessary to bring this situation to as quick a resolution as possible.
    Rose slid off the edge of the desk and stood, a man confident in his position and his place in the world and among other men. “I’ll be over with my lawyer in the morning to work out the finer details.”
    “Mr. Farnsworth and I shall make ourselves available.”
    He watched Rose stride from the room. Then he turned back to the garden, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and fought the need to call Rose back, to cancel the bargain struck.
    But instead he stayed as he was, his hands balled into fists, his chest tightening with the acceptance of what all of this was going to cost him .
    He’d not auctioned away his title. He’d auctioned away his pride…
    For a woman who had never loved him…and another woman who never would.

Chapter 2
     
    S tanding in front of the mirror while her maid fluttered around her like a nervous butterfly, Kate Rose had little doubt that her mother, if she set her mind to it, could convince the Queen of England that the devil himself would make a suitable addition to the royal family. After all, her mother had succeeded in convincing all of London that the Marquess of Falconridge was so besotted with her younger daughter that nothing would do except for their marriage to take place as hastily as possible.
    And her mother, who had never doubted both her daughters would marry an aristocrat in very short order after arriving on English shores, was fully prepared to arrange a most spectacular wedding in less than two weeks.
    No reading of banns, but with the securing of a special license. Expense was no object, and as Kate was well aware, a bottomless well of gold can ensure the acquisition of anything .
    Kate’s wedding gown, a Worth masterpiece, had been designed by the master himself in the spring when he’d worked so diligently to complete Kate’s twenty-thousand-dollar yearly wardrobe. Lavish invitations for the fashionable afternoon wedding, with a dinner to immediately follow at the home of the bride’s parents, had been sent. A church and archbishop had been secured. American Beauty roses filled the sanctuary. Small white baskets of dark red petals awaited the guests, so they could shower the bride and groom when they took their final leave.
    The entire affair had come together so quickly and so smoothly, because Kate’s mother had known, just known, that her daughter would catch some lord’s fancy, and here, the Marquess had been appropriately swept off his feet.
    All so romantic and