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you might be if the village thinks the worst of our night together.”
    She must have paled, because he stared at her with a concerned expression.
    They had spent the whole night together, then? Oh, God help her. Yes, the village would be not just whispering; the gossips would be shouting it from the rooftops. Her reputation would be savaged, and no one would ever believe her blameless.
    She swallowed hard. “I—I did not plan to marry, regardless,” she said, her voice sounding hollow. “So really, it’s—it’s of no matter.”
    â€œAnd your sisters?”
    â€œThey are all married, some just recently,” she told him. “Although my middle sister has been widowed at a young age, also lately. But surely it will not affect her.”
    He looked skeptical. “It could. And are you prepared to not be received by your own neighbors?”
    She felt an emptiness in the pit of her stomach. Would their old friends turn their backs on her? She ran through a mental list. Some would likely stand by her, but yes, some would no doubt enjoy a chance to show their moral superiority, real or imaged. She would have to endure it, but—but her father would be so grieved.
    Madeline felt her eyes fill with tears, and she blinked hard to hold them back.
    â€œIf you are imagining the worst, you are forgetting my offer,” he broke into this abysmal daydream suddenly. “We can have the banns read. I am ready to do it.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œMy name, which I don’t believe you have heard, is Adrian Carter, Viscount Weller, Adrian to my closest friends and family.” He flashed her that sudden smile, which changed his face from handsome but somewhat forbidding, with its strong nose and chin and dark brown eyes, to purely irresistible. “I have a respectable name and fortune, and my character is also that of a decent man. I do have one main blot on my past, which I will explain in more detail later, but it will also offer you the solution to any disadvantage to our engagement, and I hope, marriage.”
    â€œMarriage?” Madeline, who was still breathless from the word betrothal , now felt downright giddy. She felt as she had as a small child when she’d slipped on the top of an ice-covered hill and every attempt to save herself had only added to the speed of her descent. The whole world seemed to be flashing past. “Marriage? No, no, I just tried to explain. I have to stay with my father, take care of my father. My sisters have all gone. Did you not see that he is an invalid—he must have someone here to take care of him—I promised my mother on her deathbed. I cannot leave him!”
    â€œI will not expect you to leave him,” the stranger said, his tone soothing.
    She stared at him in bewilderment. What kind of man was he, and what kind of ruse was this, then? What kind of bogus marriage did he offer?
    â€œIt would be to both our advantages, Miss Applegate—may I call you Madeline?”
    He had already seen her naked—he could call her anything he wished! Maddie drew a deep breath. She felt the heat rise inside her as that dark-eyed gaze raked her body, and she could not keep her thoughts in order.
    â€œLet me tell you why we must marry.”

Four
    â€œH ave you lost your wits?” Maddie blurted. “Why would you do such a thing for a stranger?”
    It was his turn to raise his brows. “Do you think a gentleman would allow a lady to be compromised by his rash actions and not do the honorable thing? Or, even worse, do you doubt that I am a gentleman?” The hint of reproach in his voice made her blush even harder.
    Dropping her gaze to the counterpane, she couldn’t quite bring herself to add what was so obvious. But I am only a poor man’s daughter, and you are a viscount! You could have your pick of so many more well-connected, wealthier, more pleasing ladies.
    â€œI always thought that was