Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,2

what?”

“You are on your knees, I am here, and this is a church. You may ask me to marry you now.”

Chapter Two

“I beg your pardon?” He dropped her hand as though it burned him, his head jerked back and the astonished look on his face was laughable, but Marianne refused to laugh. Marriage was a serious matter.

“You shall ask for my hand.”

Gray attempted to rise to his feet, but Archer pushed him back to his knees, and this time Marianne could not help the small grin on her lips. It had been so long since she had reason to grin and now she could not stop herself.

Her blood hummed in her veins to the tune of her beating heart, proof that she was indeed alive.

Her father would certainly disown her, but she hardly cared. ‘Twas either this or he would force her to marry Sir Ferdinand, a man with one foot already in the grave. Three and sixty, ha! What her father had been thinking when he arranged that as a back up match when Gray, rather cruelly, refused her, she hadn’t known.

Sir Ferdinand had the face of a sagging dog with the manners to match, and an eager glint to his eyes she couldn’t quite place whenever she was in the same room as he.

Of course, Gray’s six and thirty was not so much younger. When she’d asked of him, her father merely said that Gray was a younger man. Perhaps he’d meant younger in comparison to himself or Sir Ferdinand—her next intended. In fact, Gray still looked relatively young with only a few grey hairs above his ears to give the sandy head some distinguished color. Tiny bird’s feet under pale blue, untrusting eyes hinted that he had not smiled in some time.

He was not unappealing, rather handsome actually. His shoulders were still broad, his chin strong, and she could see, even as he kneeled before her, that if he stood he would not be so tall that she would have to crane her neck to look up at him.

Perhaps she had judged him on his age too severely. Aye, he was not too old to marry, she decided.

She herself had not much room for complaint when it came to age. She was three and twenty. Well beyond her youth, and according to Gray’s letter, too old for marriage. The cocky swine.

She would prove him wrong now. She had to prove him wrong because if she did not marry him, she would be sent to that horrible old man as a wife. The thought of sharing a bed with him made her shiver.

“My lady,” Gray’s voice, like wonderfully warm silk sliding over naked flesh, gave her another shiver as she was brought back to the situation at hand. Yet his eyes were flashing. He bared his teeth to her like a wild animal, fists clenching at his sides. Marianne’s beating heart faltered. “Had it not occurred to you that should you become my wife I might seek compensation for such treatment?”

She raised her chin again, refusing to think of what the implication of his words meant. She was perfectly capable of dealing with his wrath when this was over with, and she could—would do so without complaint. She would make amends for his treatment here only after they were properly wed. “You will be rewarded with a suitable dowry, as well as a woman of age to bear you children and handle the affairs of your home. Something I should think would suit you well.”

Gray’s eyes turned away from her, his brows drawing together.

Marianne leaned in. “My lord—”

His voice was strong and commanding. “I am thinking.”

Marianne held her breath in disbelief with those words. He was considering it! Could she really be so fortunate as to walk out of this church a bride sooner than expected?

Even her men were looking at each other with large eyes before their faces melted into grins. No one expected him to consider their offer within the hour of Marianne’s proposal.

When he faced her again, Marianne was taken in by the shade of his blue eyes. Blue like the sky, and the darkness in the middle a flying bird that was not free to roam where it pleased, trapped in one confined space and miserable with captivity.

Unsure of what to make of it, Marianne put it out of her head. She was certain she could get used to him quite easily so long as he left her alone when not requiring his husbandly