“Your Grace?”
“It’s all right, Putney,” Daniel said. “You can go.”
“Here I’ll take that.” Lily grabbed the razor out of Putney’s hand. “Shaving is a wifely duty, is it not?” Then, when Putney had left, “Although I doubt you want me anywhere near your neck with a sharp object, Your Grace.”
Daniel didn’t think Lily would actually hurt him, but he didn’t want her waving a razor around. She had worked up quite a head of steam and she might accidentally harm herself. He wiped the soap from his face with a towel and stood. “Give that to me, Lily.”
“No.”
“Come on.” He took her hand and pried her fingers from the handle of the razor. “Let’s talk about this like adults.”
“Why should I talk about anything like an adult? I’m not being treated like one. Others are making my decisions for me. Decisions that should be mine alone to make.”
“Lily—”
“Damn it, Daniel, we had an agreement.”
“An agreement?”
“You know how I feel about marriage.”
“I was hoping you might change your mind.”
“Change my mind? Are you insane? You thought you could change my mind by forcing me into marriage? You don’t know me at all.”
Daniel sighed. He did know her. He would have talked to her, asked her to stay with him, had he not been afraid she might decline. Arranging a betrothal agreement with her father was the only way he could be certain of keeping her. “Maybe I should have talked to you first.”
“Maybe? Maybe?” She raised her hands in the air. “I won’t do it, Daniel. I won’t be forced into some sham of a marriage for the sole purpose of carrying on your noble line!”
“Well, I do need an heir,” Daniel said. “And your bloodline is excellent.”
“Yes, I suppose I’m an acceptable purebred bitch, aren’t I?” She stood, indignant, her fists clenched, her face flushed.
God, she was the most beautiful woman on earth.
“You sound like you’re breeding horses or dogs. Why didn’t you set your sights on Rose, then? She could have given you a gaggle of blond-haired babes. With me, half of them are likely to be dark.”
Beautiful, yes. And headstrong. He had to have her. “I don’t care what color of hair my heir has. Good God.”
“Tell me, why are you so set on marrying me? Why would you want a wife like me? I’ll make your life hell, and you know it.”
Daniel reached for her hand.
She jerked away. “Don’t touch me.”
“All right.” He gave her a moment. He didn’t know how to tell her why he wanted to marry her. He wasn’t exactly sure himself. All he knew was that he could not, would not, let her go. He was afraid of what he might become without her. She had changed him. He no longer wanted the same things out of life. He wanted more. He wanted her.
“Well?”
“Lily, I’m the duke now. I have responsibilities.”
“And these responsibilities includ
e forcing an unwilling woman into marriage?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then you’ll let me go?”