A Deceptive Wager (Marriage by Design #3) - Ruth Ann Nordin Page 0,2

and turned to him. “To be honest, I’ll be glad to get rid of her. All she does is deplete me of my money. I can’t touch her dowry, but she has liberties to eat my food and spend my money on her clothes. Quite frankly, she’s not worth the trouble.” Then he strode down the hall.

“No lady is ever worth the trouble,” Aaron growled as he hurried after him. “What you’re doing is immoral.”

“I don’t know if it’s immoral, but it’s not illegal. You can always arrange for her to live in a cottage somewhere if the thought of marrying her repulses you.”

“The thought of marrying anyone repulses me.”

“Then find her a little cottage somewhere and give her an allowance to live on. Or, since she is pretty, just set her in your drawing room as you would an heirloom.” He stepped into the drawing room then finally turned to face Aaron, a move that caused Aaron to almost bump into him. “You can do whatever you want with her. You won’t hear a single complaint from me.”

Aaron couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He might not like being around ladies, but it seemed absurd that her brother would be so callous in his treatment of Kitty. “She’s your sister.”

“So?”

“So? You should want what’s good for her.”

“I’ve done that. I’ve provided for her ever since our father’s death, and now I have arranged for her to marry you. Since you’re to be her husband, the matter of doing what’s good for her falls to you.” His gaze went to someone else.

Aaron expected to see Kitty, but instead, he saw the footman.

“Escort Lord Northton out,” Lord Halloway said. Looking at Aaron, he continued, “Our conversation is over. The marriage will be tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“I already arranged for a special license, and the vicar will be at this townhouse tomorrow morning.”

Aaron felt the heat of his anger creep up his neck. “I can’t believe you. You had this planned the entire time. You knew Lady Richfield would never let you into her bed. You only pretended you didn’t know. This was all a ploy to pawn your sister off on me.”

Lord Halloway gestured for Aaron to leave and went over to the desk.

Aaron made a move to follow him, but the footman cleared his throat. Aaron’s head snapped in his direction.

“I’d rather keep things civil, my lord,” the footman said, his expression indicating that he didn’t want to be put in the middle of this but had been forced to because of his employer.

Aaron considered going over to Lord Halloway and punching him. God knew he wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk off of the gentleman’s face. But he caught sight of Kitty watching him and the footman. He didn’t know why she should stop him from doing what he ought to do to her brother.

It had to be his upbringing. Even with all the things his mother had done to make him and his father miserable, his father had always conducted himself with grace.

Clenching his teeth, Aaron stormed out of the townhouse. The only satisfaction he was able to get was slamming the front door as hard as he could.

Chapter Two

Miss Kitty Farrow’s hands shook as she picked up the teacup in Lilly’s drawing room. As soon as her brother let her leave, Kitty ran right over to her friend’s residence and asked if Lilly would invite Emilia over so she could talk to them both. Lilly had done as Kitty wished, and now Lilly and Emilia were waiting for Kitty to speak.

Unfortunately, now that they were all together, Kitty was afraid to say anything. Lord Northton obviously hadn’t been pleased to find out her brother was forcing him to marry her. She still recalled how red his face had gotten. It’d been so red that she thought it might burst.

Up to today, she hadn’t had anything to do with him. She recognized him only because Lilly had pointed him out at a ball, but she hadn’t ever spoken or danced with him. So, she didn’t think he was upset with her. At least, she hoped he wasn’t.

She’d known her brother had been planning something by the way he’d kept smirking at her for the past week, but she hadn’t dared to ask him what it was. He wouldn’t have told her anyway. He never told her anything. He thought she was too stupid to understand what was going on around her because she was a lady.

Lilly, who was due