Page 14 of A Highly Unlikely Duchess
“How fortunate for me,” Theodore said. “How fortunate for you, too.” He tilted his head. “There is, however, one small problem.”
Emily looked back at him. “Which is?”
“I’m afraid I must decline the honor.”
Emily's expression did not change. Not immediately. There was a fraction of a second, barely anything at all, where her face froze.
“I beg your pardon?” she said.
“I reject your application,” he said. “Kindly, of course. You are a perfectly lovely woman, Lady Emily. But I am afraid I am going to have to say no.”
She stared at him. “You cannot reject me.”
“I just did.”
“I have not formally applied for anything.”
“You said you needed a powerful husband with a title and influence and a name that opens doors,” Theodore said. “That I happen to qualify. That is an application. I am rejecting it.”
Emily's chin lifted. Just barely. “That,” she said. “Is absurd.”
“Is it?”
“I would be the perfect wife,” she said. The composure was still there, but it had acquired an edge now. “You do understand that. Last season, I was the most sought-after bride in London. I had more offers than I could reasonably manage. Titled men, wealthy men —”
“I do not doubt it,” Theodore said.
“Then what exactly is your objection?”
“My objection,” he said pleasantly. “Is that you just told me, while we were dancing, that you feel nothing for me, have reconsidered nothing about me, and require me primarily as a door that opens.” He smiled. “Call me particular, but I find I would like slightly more than that from the woman I marry.”
“You do not even want to get married,” Emily said. “Everyone knows that.”
“Everyone is occasionally wrong.”
“You have not courted a single woman with serious intention in three Seasons.”
“I have been waiting for the right candidate,” he said serenely.
Emily looked at him. “You are being deliberately difficult.”
“I am being perfectly reasonable.”
“You are being —” She stopped. Collected herself. “One would say that I am accomplished, I have good manners, and I come from a good family. I am exactly what a man in society requires in a wife.”
“You are,” Theodore agreed.
“Then —”
“You would also,” he said. “Make me absolutely miserable within a fortnight.”
Emily opened her mouth. Closed it, then opened it again. “You are being absurd.”
“I am being honest,” he said. “You find me unserious. I find you exhausting. We would be at each other within the week.”
“I do not find you —” She stopped. “That is beside the point.”
“Is it?”
