twisted into a wry grin. "I wanted a wife, all right, or I would never have married you in the first place. You're the one who isn't ready for marriage."
"But you don't love me," she protested.
It was Daniel's turn to shrug. "Maybe not, but I sure like you a whole lot. That ought to count for something. And I really do want a wife. I like waking up in the morning with you in my bed."
Georgina blushed beneath Daniel's uncompromising gaze. She had dreamed of love and romance, but she had known she couldn't have it. She had been willing to settle for less with Peter. Why shouldn't she settle for less with this man who at least listened to her?
There wasn't any reply she could make. Before she could try, Daniel leaned over and grabbed the bottle of wine from the bucket. "We'll settle this in Western fashion." He picked up the glasses on the table and filled them, handing her one. "We'll play for it. I win, you agree to be my wife. You win, and you can choose what you want to do."
Georgina sipped the wine, then choked. She stared at it a little incredulously. "I think your genies mean to get us drunk."
Daniel tasted the wine and laughed. "I think you are quite probably right. Since we're stranded here with nothing better to do until tomorrow morning, it's probably a fine idea. We'll drink and gamble until dawn. How about it?"
Something wilder than the strong wine swirled inside her as Georgina looked up and met Daniel's gaze. She felt as if a trapped bird in her middle frantically flapped its wings to break free. The sensation made her giddy. Or perhaps it was the intensity of Daniel's stare and the wine. She took another sip and smiled determinedly.
"What kind of game did you have in mind?"
Daniel grinned. "Poker."
Georgina frowned. "I don't know how to play."
"I'll teach you. Wait right here. I'll ask our resident genies for some cards. That will set their smug expectations back a little."
Georgina laughed at the thought of Tyler's and Evie's faces as Daniel asked for cards to while away the hours. The laughter held her until he was gone, but then she had to face herself and what she was about to do. She was about to deliberately lose a game of cards and become a wife.
She didn't have any doubt that was what she meant to do. Winning might mean she could choose what she wanted to do, but what she wanted to do and what Daniel could offer her were two different things. He couldn't give her back her father's factory. He couldn't support her until she could support herself without calling her wife. He couldn't give her a man who would love her and want her for herself.
So she would give Daniel a wife. She was going to make a lousy wife, but surely he knew that. She couldn't cook. She would never be obedient or docile. She wasn't an intellectual. She wasn't as pretty as Evie. She really didn't have any idea how to go about being a wife, but she would learn. It had to be better than learning to work in a factory or to be a maid. Those were about the only other alternatives open to an unmarried woman, and they wouldn't be open to her, not in Cutlerville anyway. Too many people knew her. She really didn't have any choice, but she wouldn't tell Daniel that. If he wanted a wife, he had one. She just wouldn't let him know that quite yet.
He came back a few minutes later; whistling. He really was the nicest man Georgina had ever known, even if he was occasionally a little peculiar. Perhaps Daniel wasn't as handsome as Tyler, but he wasn't hard to look upon. The laugh lines around his mouth and eyes made her happy. The admiration beaming from his face when he looked on her as he was doing now made her feel strange inside. She wouldn't think about those times when his face got hard and his hands turned into fists. She knew he would never turn that side of him against her.
"All right, Miss Merry." Daniel pulled the table and chairs into order and threw the deck of cards on it, then refilled their wine glasses. He lifted one in salute. "To winning."
Georgina sipped hers, then searched his face anxiously. "You're insane, you know that, don't you?"
Daniel pulled out a chair and