“If your aim was to woo me,” Ellie said acidly, “you are not succeeding.”

“Better than most,” he corrected. “Really, you're the first I've come across I think I could bear.” Not, Charles thought, that he had any plans to devote himself to a spouse. He didn't really need anything out of a wife save for her name on a marriage certificate. Still, one had to spend some time with one's wife, and she might as well be a decent sort. Miss Lyndon seemed to fit the bill nicely.

And, he added silently, he'd have to get himself an heir eventually. Might as well find someone with a bit of a brain in her head. Wouldn't do to have stupid progeny. He eyed her again. She was staring at him suspiciously. Yes, she was a smart one.

There was something damned appealing about her. He had a feeling that the process of getting that heir would be just as pleasant as the result. He gave her a jaunty bow, clutching onto her elbow for support. “What do you say, Miss Lyndon? Shall we have a go at it?”

“‘Shall we have a go at it?’” Ellie choked out. Really, this was not the proposal of her dreams.

“Hmmm, I'm a bit clumsy at this. The truth is, Miss Lyndon, that if one's go to get oneself a wife, she might as well be someone one likes. We'd have to spend a bit of time together, you know.”

She stared at him in disbelief. How drunk was he? She cleared her throat several times, trying to find words. Finally she just blurted out, “Are you trying to say you like me?”

He smiled seductively. “Very much.”

“I shall have to consider this.”

He inclined his head. “I wouldn't want to marry anyone who would make such a decision on the spur of the moment.”

“I shall probably need a few days.”

“Not too many, I hope. I have only fifteen before my odious cousin Phillip gets his paws on my money.”

“I must warn you, my answer will almost certainly be no.”

He didn't say anything. Ellie had the unpleasant sensation that he was already trying to decide who he would turn to if she refused him.

After a moment, he said, “Shall I see you home?”

“That won't be necessary. I am only a few minutes down the road. You will be able to manage on your own from here?”

He nodded. “Miss Lyndon.”

She bobbed the tiniest of curtsies. “Lord Billington.” Then she turned and walked away, waiting until she was out of his sight before falling back against the side of a building and mouthing, “Oh my God!”

The Reverend Mr. Lyndon did not tolerate his daughters taking the Lord's name in vain, but Ellie was sufficiently stunned by Billington's proposal that she was still muttering, “Oh my God,” when she walked through the front door of their cottage.

“Such language is entirely unbecoming in a young woman, even if she is not so young any longer,” a woman's voice said.