Page 62 of A Portrait of Love

“He is a powerful man. That is what they are like, Miss Keyes. That is how they get and keep power.” Simon shrugged. “And you and I are just as vulnerable to his will and whim as your friend, Lady Sedgewick You can fight him, but you’ve already seen some of what he is willing to do.” He saw the frustrated fury in her taut face and felt a pang of sympathy. “I am sorry about that night and what it has led to. Truly.”

“I am an adult, not a child, my lord. I was there that night, half of what happened is my fault.”

Simon did not think it would be wise to argue the matter. He also didn’t see any point in telling her that her life would be a disaster when word of what they’d been doing in his brother’s study finally came out. Which it would—things like this always came out. The duke could only hold them in fear for so long. And when the truth came out? It would not be Simon who would suffer. I would be Honoria Keyes and anyone who associated with her. It was not right, or fair, but it was the way of things.

He realized she was still waiting for an answer from him. “I can tell you from personal experience that I have never won a battle of wills against my brother. Never. But his winning streak may be at an end.”

She frowned, rightly suspicious. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I know a way we can thwart him.”

Hope flared in her eyes. “You mean I won’t have to—”

“No, you will still have to marry me. But afterwards,” he felt a grin take control of his mouth and knew it was not a pretty sight. “Afterwards we can beat him.”

“How.”

“I know you do not wish to marry, but I am willing to make a bargain with you.”

“What kind of bargain?”

“My brother wants me to marry because he wants an heir.”

“But you are his heir.”

He didn’t want to tell her what Wyndham thought: that Simon would not live that long.

“The duke is worried I’ll never marry. His purpose in life since the moment he learned that his wife couldn’t have any more children has been to see me married.” He gave her a tight smile. “I will let him think he has achieved that purpose. For a time.”

She shook her head. “I don’t understand any of this. I know why I would marry you—your brother has made it patently obvious that I must do as he says. By why are you buckling to his will? Wouldn’t it make him equally angry if you continued to refuse to marry? Why become his pawn in this?”

Again, he knew she would not believe that any part of his decision sprang from gentlemanly or chivalric reasons. Hell, he wasn’t sure he believed it himself.

So, he decided to tell part of the truth. “I want my life back—I want to be at Everley, getting on with doing what I planned all those years ago. My brother holds my inheritance and has the power to continue to do so until I marry or turn thirty-five. Even then, he can make matters uncomfortable. Besides, if I’m married to you, he will stop throwing young girls like Lady Rosalind into my path. If I’m married to you, he’ll stop hounding me. As for us presenting him with an heir? Well, he can hardly do anything to either of us if one is not forthcoming, can he?”

Simon watched as understanding bloomed in her eyes.

A pink stain spread over her high cheekbones. “Please speak plainly, sir.”

“Very well. I mean that we shall marry, but we will have no children. Ever.”

She gasped softly. “You would deprive yourself of children to spite your brother? That is how far you will go to thwart him?”

Wyndham’s face rose up in Simon’s mind—how he’d looked upon learning that Cecily had lost their first child. And then the second, and the third. And then after his fourth child had died.

No. It would not be a deprivation to avoid such pain. Women and children were fragile and the childbirth process was a brutal one. He had seen enough death in the war to last him a thousand lifetimes. The very last thing Simon wanted in his life was to surround himself with more death. Women died in childbirth all the time, infants with them. He’d been too stupid to avoid the war, but he could avoid this.

He looked up at her. Honoria Keyes did not need to know all that—nobody did.

So, instead, he just nodded and said, “Yes, that is how far I am willing to go.”

***

Honey felt as if he had slapped her. Perhaps she had misheard him? She had to make certain.

“So, you mean—”

“I mean, no children. Ever. That is the only way to win against the duke. Deny him what he wants.”