bow. “I am here to speak with you, just as I promised. However, I was repeatedly informed you were not at home.”
“That is true,” the earl snapped. “I am not at home to you. Now kindly crawl back to whatever rock you emerged from beneath.”
“I will not be going anywhere until I have said my piece,” he insisted firmly.
“Julian, please listen to what Mr. Decker has to say,” Jo pleaded softly. “You promised Clara earlier that you would see reason.”
Ravenscroft’s glare did not abate at all. “Leave us now, Josephine.”
Instead of leaving the chamber and obeying her brother, however, Jo sidled nearer to Decker. That pleased him. A surge of protectiveness blossomed in his chest. Along with that same, troubling feeling that had been haunting him ever since… Well, ever since he had first thought about her conducting any of the items on her list with other men.
Possession.
He felt as if she were already his.
“Perhaps Lady Jo ought to stay as her future is being discussed,” he suggested to the earl.
“Mayhap the things I want to say to you should not be spoken before a lady,” countered the earl, but there was a grim note of acceptance in his voice.
“I do wish to remain,” Jo offered. “Think of Clara, Julian. If we are to settle this matter swiftly, it will ease her stress. She does not need to concern herself with me when she will so soon face her lying in.”
“Do not use my beloved wife as a pawn against me,” her brother snapped at her. “You owe her a debt of gratitude, you know. If it were not for her, you would be on your way to a convent as we speak.”
Decker’s lips twitched in wry humor at the notion. Ravenscroft was blustering, of course. Although he was still clearly irate with both Decker and Jo, he did not seem as inclined to begin throwing punches today.
Yet.
The afternoon was young.
“Shall we sit?” he suggested to Ravenscroft, gesturing to the divan and chairs artfully placed at one end of the long, bookshelf-lined chamber.
Such an arrangement certainly seemed less conducive to the earl planting him a facer, or vice versa.
“By all means, play the host,” the earl said cuttingly.
But he led the way to the seating area. They settled themselves in an awkward horseshoe, Jo and Decker on chairs at one end and Ravenscroft on a divan opposite them. Decker eyed the distance between himself and the earl, judging how much reaction time he would have lest the bloodthirsty bastard decide to pounce once more.
Enough.
“May I begin?” he asked, for he did not have all day to squander upon stroking the Earl of Ravenscroft’s abused ego.
This was not his sole call of the day. He also needed to oversee the funds being invested in Mr. Levi Storm’s new electricity company. He had a shipment of erotic marbles being delivered. To say nothing of the printing of the latest installment of the erotic serial he was publishing privately for members of the Black Souls club…truly, it was endless. But before him was the most important task of all. He needed to secure Jo’s hand, and then he needed to begin making plans.
“By all means, Mr. Decker, carry on with whatever it is you have to say.” The earl raised a chastising brow, his voice dripping in icy hauteur as only a nobleman born and bred could truly perfect.
Decker inclined his head. “I will marry Lady Josephine, provided she accepts marriage to me, of course. I have spent the morning having a betrothal contract drawn up, which should be arriving directly from my solicitor’s office here within the hour. Within it, you will find ample provisions for your sister’s welfare. I do not require her dowry, and all her funds will be entirely within her control to do with as she chooses for the duration of the marriage.”
“How magnanimous of you, Mr. Decker,” the earl said acidly. “Will that be all?”
“Further,” Decker continued pointedly, ignoring Ravenscroft’s jibe, “I will settle upon her a stipend of twenty thousand pounds per annum, to disperse as it pleases her. She will, in return, run my household and act as my hostess. I have no objection to her pursuits with the Lady’s Suffrage Society—indeed, I deem it a worthy cause. I will require her discretion in the marriage, and I will provide her mine as well. The marriage will occur within one month’s time. I propose to bear all expenses for the nuptials. Lady Josephine shall have