Adam Warble, the Marquess of Richmond and future Duke of Hoyton did not want a wife. He most certainly did not want this wife.

Yet here he stood in his friend's library, the scent of her lingering on his skin like an accusation. Involuntarily, his gaze sought the woman who had just trapped him in a situation so compromising he could never talk his way out of it.

After finding them in Adam's room, Ravenscroft had hauled them both to the here, making sure no other house guests saw them. Wrapped in her cousin's black dinner jacket, Miss Burton looked small and innocent where she sat on a sofa, her hands resting demurely in her lap, and her chin lowered towards her chest. Only the heightened colour of her cheeks betrayed her true feelings.

She was everything he didn't want in a wife. Beautiful. Opinionated. A mere squire's daughter. Marriage wasn't something he had planned to enter yet, and when he did, he intended to take a bride from a good family that his parents, the duke and duchess, would both approve of. Someone quiet and unassuming. Someone who didn't tempt him.

As vexing as he often found Miss Alice Burton, she was astonishingly beautiful. Even now, dressed in nothing but a white nightgown and her cousin's oversized jacket, with her blonde hair in disarray, she was more beautiful than most. The memory of how she had melted against him only minutes ago stirred something deep inside him. Bloody hell. Why had she trapped him like this?

Many women pursued him in hopes of being the next Duchess of Hoyton, but he had never taken Alice for a title hunter. He was quite certain she didn't even like him. Though her responses to his kisses said otherwise. The way she had moaned when he groped her had been intoxicating. Dangerous.

"Anyone want to tell me what's going on?" Ravenscroft crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the desk standing in front of the tall windows.

Alice's head dipped even lower. If he wasn't so angry, Adam might have felt sorry for her, she was clearly mortified about the situation. Maybe her plan to trap a future duke wasn't as appealing once she had to actually face the disappointment and censure from her cousin.

With a frustrated sigh, Ravenscroft raked his hand through his dark hair. "Damn it all. This is quite the situation you've put me in."

Adam nearly scoffed. Put Ravenscroft in? What about the shit he was in?

"I don't believe there is much to say," he drawled. "You saw what you saw. I can hardly deny it."

"Damn it, Richmond!" Ravenscroft's brown eyes met his, desperation written across his face. "Out of all my friends, I never thought you were the one I had to worry about where Alice was concerned."

And he never would have had to, had she not stolen into Adam's room and practically thrown herself at him. He hadn't known who she was. The voice had been vaguely familiar, but with the affectation to sound seductive and the relative darkness, he had assumed she was a former lover come to see him. He didn't have a lot of them, but there had been a handful that he'd had agreements with in the past. It was something he had always been incredibly careful with, meticulously choosing women who agreed and appreciated his... particular preferences.

"I'm sorry." Alice's quiet words brought his attention back to her. She still stared at her hands in her lap, refusing to look up at them. Did she regret her actions? He doubted it. Once someone set their sights on a man with a title, they rarely gave up their pursuit, especially so close to the finish line. It was more likely she regretted the manner in which she was caught.

He shouldn't have kissed her like that. Like she was someone far more experienced than she was. He was only glad he had not gone further. God knows he would have liked to. She'd ignited a fire in him that still burned darkly in the far recesses of his soul where he hid it away. Maybe she truly did regret her choices. His passion might have overwhelmed someone innocent.

"It's a bit too late for that," Ravenscroft muttered. "You'll have to marry, of course. There is nothing to it."

Even though he'd expected it, the words sent an icy chill through Adam. "Marry?"

"Yes." There was a pointedness to his friend's voice that was impossible to ignore. "Surely you did not think you could compromise my cousin without consequence, Richmond?"

He held back the instant denial, because as far as society was concerned, she was as good as compromised after that kiss. Being alone in a room with him had been enough, and had he not kissed her, perhaps he could have argued his point. But he had most definitely kissed her, and as much as he loathed to admit it, he would have happily compromised her right then. Not that he'd known who he was kissing, but that was hardly a fact Ravenscroft would appreciate hearing.

"The moment you were found together in your bedchamber, your fate was sealed." Ravenscroft groaned. "Uncle Arthur is going to kill me. I cannot believe I allowed my cousin to be compromised on my watch."

"Your cousin is her own person and fully capable of making her own mistakes. You cannot possibly watch her every moment of the day if that makes you feel any better." He wasn't sure why he was trying to comfort the man who was about to force him to marry this vixen.

Ravenscroft glared at him. "It does not."

While angry and frustrated with the situation, Adam didn't believe in making a scene or raging against something he had no power over, so he remained quiet. Few things in life rattled him, and while the shackles slowly closing around him chafed, he gained nothing by not staying calm. Alice was surprisingly calm as well. Should she not be celebrating her victory? It wasn't every day you got engaged to a future duke. But instead, she remained in her seat, her gaze fastened on her hands in her lap. Her fingers gripped the fabric of her nightgown tightly enough that her knuckles were white.

"We should arrange for the wedding to be as soon as possible," Ravenscroft continued. "I don't want to risk any gossip."

"No!" Alice's sudden outburst stopped the other man's planning. Shooting up from the couch, she pointed at Adam. "I don't want to marry him. He's awful."

"Should have thought about that before entering his bedchamber." Ravenscroft wouldn't budge. Adam knew him well enough to know he believed in men taking their responsibility, and he would never accept anything less than marriage to ensure his cousin's reputation remained untarnished. Even if that meant forcing his friend to marry her.

"But... But..." She sputtered, her cheeks staining red. "I didn't. We didn't even..."

Ravenscroft's eyes narrowed. "I found you in his chamber. With little to no clothes on. Are you telling me you have not been compromised?"

The colour of her cheeks turned an even darker shade, if such a thing was possible, and her gaze flickered. Several puzzle pieces fell into place in Adam's mind. She was definitely compromised, but not by him. Whoever it was—and he suspected he knew who—must be refusing to do what was right. And then what? She decided to trade up and trap Adam in marriage instead?

Not a terrible plan, and unfortunately for him, one that was working out. Because as much as he had not fully compromised her, them being found alone was enough to damn him. And it wasn't as if he hadn't touched her.

Ravenscroft took one look at his cousin's guilty countenance and drew his own conclusions. "That's what I thought," he muttered. "You are to be married at the earliest possible opportunity."

"I will procure a special licence," Adam said with a sigh, resigned to his fate.

"Appreciate it." Ravenscroft met his gaze and shook his head. "I did not expect this of you, Richmond. I must admit I'm disappointed by your conduct. At least you are taking responsibility, but I wish you had courted her properly."

Adam was rather proud of his ability to stay quiet right then because he had definitely never had any thought of courting her. Or anything else. Their every interaction had been frayed with tension as they both seemed to find the other utterly vexing.

"I had better go tell Mother. She would hate to only find out tomorrow and she will want to send a message to Uncle Arthur." Ravenscroft sighed. "What a right mess."

Walking to the door to the library, he stopped and looked back at them. "I urge you not to linger too long. You're lucky only Miss Newton and I appear to have seen you earlier. Better not give our peers any reason to gossip."

A moment later Adam was left alone in the library with his future wife. The thought nearly made him groan. She stood by the sofa, still wearing Ravenscroft's black dinner jacket, her grey eyes watching him warily. What was she thinking? It unnerved him that he could not easily read her.

"I hope you're happy," he said, keeping his voice even, unaffected.

A line appeared between her brows. "Happy?"

"Your ruse procured you a husband. One with a title and fortune." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Not a bad trade for one kiss."

As intended, his words needled her, and he could almost see the anger gathering in her stormy eyes.

"You shouldn't have kissed me like that," she said accusingly.

"Excuse me?" Unfolding his arms, he stepped closer, and she had to crane her neck to meet his gaze. "I believe you kissed me first."

She blushed again. With her fair skin, it was impossible for her to hide. "Not like that," she snapped, and for a moment he actually felt guilty. He had not been holding back in that kiss, believing her to be someone experienced. But then he remembered her damning silence earlier.

"It was hardly your first kiss. You as much as admitted someone has compromised you, and it sure as hell wasn't me." He ignored the small, dangerous part of him that would love to compromise her right now. The part of him he always kept a tight rein on.

"I don't believe it concerns you," she said stiffly.

"It was Montgomery, wasn't it?"

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. It was all the confirmation he needed.

"He's been sniffing around you for months," he said, not a small amount of distaste in his voice. "I had hoped you'd be clever enough to steer clear of him, but apparently not."

"You are such an arse." She put her hands on his chest—thankfully now covered by a shirt quickly tucked into his trousers—and pushed him away. The warmth of her palms burned through the thin fabric, but he didn't budge. Her ineffective attempt to move him only served to remind him how small she was, how easily he could... He clenched his jaw as she glowered up at him fiercely.

"An arse you are about to marry," he reminded her.

She let out a frustrated sound somewhere in between a scoff and a groan. "Why didn't you tell Ravenscroft the truth? You're innocent."

Innocent? He nearly laughed. No one had ever called him innocent. And the way he had kissed her tonight, and the things he had imagined doing to her since, were definitely not innocent.

"Innocent is relative." He shrugged. "We were caught alone and at least partially disrobed. At this point, I hardly think we can argue semantics. Your cousin will settle for nothing less than a wedding."

"And you're going along with it?"

"Oh, trust me, darling." He leaned a little closer still, using his height to tower over her. The sweet fragrance of her perfume mixed with the lingering scent of desire made his head spin. This close, he could see the darker swirls in her grey eyes, the way her pulse fluttered rapidly at her throat. "You may have trapped me into marriage, but I am no meek lamb. I will accept this because I did kiss you, but it will be a marriage in name only. Once we're wed, you can go live on my estate in Sussex."

She gasped. "You will send me away?"

"You're lucky I'm agreeing to marry you at all. I could walk away and let you face the consequences of your actions alone."

It was his anger speaking. Maybe he wasn't as calm as he liked to think. If he was honest with himself, that was not something he would ever do. His honour forbade him. Nor did he want to lose his friend over this. So he would marry her. But he didn't have to be happy about it.

"You're a wretched wretched man!"

"And you're a conniving title hunter."

They stared at each other for a moment, their breaths laboured in the sudden silence of the library. The fire crackled in the grate, casting shifting shadows across her flushed face. He was shocked by the primitive urge to pull her close and kiss her again, to taste that defiance on her tongue. He didn't even like her! But the memories of her soft curves against his would not leave him, and apparently, his body didn't care much whether he liked her or not.

She was the first to break eye contact, letting out a loud huff and storming out of the room. He counted that as a small victory.

~~~~~~

Author's Note: I don't know, Happy Valentine's or something? lol