His face brightened, however. “Have you considered me as a potential match for yourself before?”
Aurora’s face grew warm. “My cousins and I have discussed dozens of gentlemen and their potential to make a woman happy…or not.”
He advanced on her. “Why would you think I could not please you?”
Because Aurora was unlike other women. Not to mention Sullivan still loved a dead wife, and until he put that love firmly aside, no woman could ever live happily with him. Nothing in his demeanor today suggested anything had changed.
He was only speaking of marriage to her now because of how they’d acted together in the carriage last night. He’d kissed her because she’d been convenient, and that was the only real reason. “I won’t explain, and you shouldn’t ask. I will understand, however, if you would like to disengage my services as a matchmaker for you. If so, do please take your leave and go with my hope of hearing a wedding announcement in the near future.”
“Miss Hillcrest. Aurora—” he began.
She held up her hand to stop him talking. “I have not given you leave to address me informally. It is Miss Hillcrest and nothing else.”
He grasped her by the arms. “Stop pretending you felt nothing last night when we were together.”
“It was…pleasant,” she said in as offhand a manner as she could manage. She carefully extricated herself from his grip. “Obviously you are a man of great passion.”
She met his gaze to see how he’d taken her words. That was her second mistake when it came to Sullivan, because he was too close yet again.
“I am, and I want more,” he said slowly. She knew he meant it, too. However, when he lowered his head to try to kiss her again, she easily evaded him.
“Enough!” she cried, putting another piece of furniture between them. “Surely you can see that I cannot go around allowing a client to seduce me whenever he pleases? My only interest is to help you make a match.”
“You are,” he assured her, reaching for her hand again.
“If you cannot behave yourself, my lord, I urge you to leave before it is too late for us to remain on good terms,” she told him.
His jaw clenched, and then he dug into his coat pocket and produced a small pouch that he tossed onto a table nearby. The pouch struck with a heavy clink of coin within. “There. As promised. Half now, the rest on my wedding day, and with a letter of recommendation to show others delivered at the same time. Is that all you want?”
“Yes. Thank you for your prompt payment,” she murmured, watching as he started to stalk the room. Aurora tucked the money into her pocket, smoothed her skirts over the bulge and winced. Dealing with Sullivan now might be more fraught with tension than before they’d kissed, but she did still think she could help him find a suitable bride. He would simply have to forget their kiss and take the lover he clearly needed from somewhere else.
Aurora glanced about the room. While she had in the past conducted every meeting with a gentleman with a table between them, she urged Lord Sullivan toward a pair of chairs set close together, picking up her journal along the way.
Sullivan was her client. The first of many, she hoped. She must adopt a businesslike demeanor at all times and see this through. “Now, to the business that brings you to me. Tell me who you like best in society at the moment,” she asked firmly.
“You,” he said instantly, then shook his head when she scowled. He gave a shrug. “There was one woman recently who had caught my eye but before we could even be introduced, I discovered she’s newly engaged, so of course…”
“You were too late there, but many others are surely good enough for you,” she murmured.
He turned to her then. “It is not a matter of whether they are good enough, but of compatibility. I won’t marry someone I don’t desire, no matter how well connected their family might be.”
“Dowry?”
“Utterly unimportant,” he insisted. “I told you and your cousins that before, I’m sure.”
“You did, but it doesn’t hurt to enquire a second time. Was there anyone else? No? Now, this morning I have written down the names of three ladies with whom I would like you to consider again and pursue a meeting within the coming week.”
He scowled. “This morning?”
“Indeed. I rose early, invigorated by the challenge of helping my client make a match.” From her journal, she produced a small scrap of paper and handed it to him.
He took it and studied the names. “I am already acquainted with these women.”
“Yes, I know. You danced with Miss Firth last month. She sighed heavily as you walked away without looking back. Lady Sophia Peel, you also danced with once, and you seemed to be drawn to her, leaning down whenever she spoke. But you’ve not danced with her since.”
He looked at her sharply. “You must have been watching me very closely to have noticed all that.”
Aurora nodded. “Many women become friends of my cousins, and many are hoping to make a match this season, too.”