How to Wed an Earl by Ivory Lei Page B

claim her one day. You knew that when we married.”
    “Not like this … I didn’t know he would just walk in here and take my little girl — ”
    “Papa, Polly’s twenty-five,” a boy of about fifteen pointed out. “She’s hardly a little girl. She’s not even a
young
girl anymore.”
    “
Shut up
, Colin,” Penelope and a blonde young woman sitting beside Colin chorused.
    “And you,” Dr. Walker raked a hand through his graying light hair and rounded on the boy called Colin, “I don’t know if it was you or Sarah who drugged my tea this afternoon, but when I find out — ”
    “It was Sarah,” Colin readily answered, pointing an accusing finger at the young lady beside him.
    “It was
not
!” Sarah denied hotly.
    “My lord!” Lady Maitland cried, an uneasy smile fixed on her lips as she stood up, turning everyone’s attention. “It’s such a pleasure to see you again, after so many years. Please forgive our failure to welcome you formally to Highfield Manor. Gertie was supposed to announce your arrival.”
    “Lady Maitland,” he murmured, bowing in front of the older woman.
    “I am Mrs. Eleanor Walker now, my lord,” Penelope’s mother informed him with an affectionate smile. She proceeded to introduce the rest of the Walkers to him.
    Lucas felt oddly bereft when Penelope ignored him even as he sat next to her on the sofa.
    Dr. Walker broke the expectant silence that had begun to fill the room.
    “I suppose you heard our family meeting, my lord,” he grumbled. “I apologize. You weren’t supposed to witness it.”
    He noticed Dr. Walker neither apologized nor tried to deny what the family meeting implied, only that Lucas wasn’t supposed to have seen it.
    Now he knew where Penelope’s straightforward manner came from. “Please call me Lucas. Or Ravenstone, if you prefer. I don’t see any need to be so formal, now that we’re going to be family soon.”
    Very
soon, if Lucas had anything to say about it. He’d been guilt-stricken about his behavior that afternoon, but since then he’d gleaned some information about the Walkers, the most interesting of which was that they were in dire straits, indeed.
    Which meant they needed
him
.
    The knowledge went a long way in banishing his remorse. A man in Lucas’s position had to do what needed to be done, and he couldn’t afford weakening with feelings like guilt.
    He offered a tight-lipped smile to everyone as the uncomfortable silence stretched in the room. The ladies fidgeted with their skirts, Colin appeared impatient, and Dr. Walker was looking at him suspiciously. It seemed Lucas would have to work to get on the Walker family’s good side.
    Very well, if that’s what he needed to do, then by thunder, he would do it.
    He was convinced of the rightness of marrying Penelope. After all, he was only doing what was best for everyone. He’d overreacted to their shared moments of passion, failing to realize its advantages. For what was better than having a wife who also had the ability to make his blood run hot with lust by doing nothing more than sit silently beside him, making him itch to uncover every inch of the luscious female curves under that prim blue gown?
    Good God, even sitting here in front of her damned family, he already craved another taste of her sweet mouth. And another, and another …
    You just want to bed her
.
    Lucas stiffened at the insidious thought. He couldn’t deny it. It was how heirs were made, after all.
    He wondered how anyone could prefer an angelic blonde to the exotic nymph beside him. He’d certainly never experienced this burning hunger with a simple kiss. He’d merely had one little taste of her and already had the undeniable need to claim her as his. Her effect on him would have been troubling if he didn’t know she wanted him, too. He was certain of it. Penelope was too innocent to feign her eager responses to his touch.
    He stole a glance at his betrothed, and possessiveness surged through him. She