Once Upon a Time in Bath (The Brides of Bath #7) - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,25

material wealth.”

Her gaze went to the flickering flames, and her voice lowered. “What I don’t approve of is that you don’t love her. She deserves to wed a man who will love her and cherish her. And that man is not you.” She turned back to him, her eyes as cold as her voice. “I don’t want to see her hurt.”

He swallowed. “Nor do I. I won’t lie to you and claim that I’m in love with Miss Pankhurst, but I do admire her, and I would never hurt her.”

Annie did not respond for a moment. “You and I have never spoken on such matters before, but I’ve long known about your Mrs. Pratt.”

His stomach plummeted. He hated like the devil that his sisters knew of his mistress. This was not a matter he wished to discuss with Annie. So he stayed silent.

“Having a mistress would hurt Dorothea Pankhurst. She’s the kind of young lady who, when she consents to marry, will love a man with all her heart and would never understand a husband who wanted to share his bed with another woman. It would destroy her.”

He swallowed again. “But a great many married men keep mistresses.”

“I’m well aware that our father did, but I would never wish to marry a man who behaved as did our father. It’s wrong.”

He bowed his head. “I know.”

“Miss Pankhurst, tender-hearted creature that she is, would never be able to tolerate an unfaithful husband. She’s never known anything but total love. You’ve seen how her father dotes on her. And look at her and those adorable cats! She only understands love. She would know it and be deeply hurt if she discovered you didn’t love her.”

Of course, his sister was right. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Miss Pankhurst. It would be crueler than kicking one of his trusting and loyal hounds. “What if I agreed to dismiss Mrs. Pratt? Then would you look more favorably upon my union with Miss Pankhurst?”

He hadn’t even seen his mistress since before that fateful night he lost his fortune at Mrs. Starr’s. He’d known he was going to have to dismiss her because he simply had no funds to keep her.

Strangely, the prospect of parting ways with her did not disturb him. He only hoped she would quickly find another generous protector to replace him.

“I would.” Annie turned once again to gaze into his eyes, so much like her own. “I don’t fully understand why you’re so compelled to offer for a woman with whom you are clearly not in love, but since you are, you must agree to make every effort to fall in love with the woman you want to make your wife.”

What a foolish thing his sister was trying to mandate! One simply couldn’t will oneself to fall in love. However, he did owe it to Miss Pankhurst, if she did him the goodness of consenting to become his wife, to try to be a loving, faithful husband.

Like Annie, he had not approved of his father’s infidelities. It wasn’t fair to the lovely woman who’d been their mother—and a devoted wife. He vowed to be a better husband.

If he had the opportunity.

His chest tightened. If only he loved Miss Pankhurst at the outset. How much simpler things would be. Simpler and more enjoyable. Far more enjoyable.

* * *

Between the dampness and the unrelenting rain over the next three days, Dot insisted that her father not leave the house. “I don’t need you to take lung fever and die on me,” she told him.

“And whilst you are housebound, my dear daughter, I shall insist that we take this opportunity to bring in a real dancing master. I’ll not have the daughter of Westmoreland Pankhurst being a wallflower at these Bath assemblies.”

She could not refuse. She shared her father’s wish that she be able to move with ease in the same society with Lord Appleton—not that she expected to win his lordship’s affections, of course. But a girl had her pride.

And, besides, she admired Miss Appleton very much and did not want to cause any embarrassment to that lady because of her own deficiencies.

So it was that over the next three days her father was able to obtain the services of one Mr. Gibby, who was said to be the most sought-after dance master in Bath. Owing to the man’s girth, it was difficult for Dot to imagine he could ever have cut a dashing figure on a dance floor, but she had