Marriage Deal with the Earl


 
 
 
 “Will you marry me?”
 Susanna still held Quinton’s hand. Perhaps she was holding it too closely, and it was large. Rougher than she’d expected, but somehow gentle.
 “Neither you nor I believe ourselves in that sad emotional state of love, and in fact, I don’t believe in that feeling itself. And you would be an excellent countess.”
 “Countess?” She gulped as if he’d proposed something entirely the opposite, and then collected her equilibrium. “But there’s that marriage situation involved. And that concerns me.”
 “I would think of it as a private partnership between two parties. A marriage deal, you could say.”
 “Between us?” She indicated him, and then touched her own chest. “You and I?” 
 “Yes. We’d appear in public together on a regular basis. Convince everyone we’re well and truly married. That it is a match of the heart.”
 “That could backfire.” Eyes tensed. “We may convince everyone we’re married and end up believing it ourselves.”
 
 
 LIZ TYNER
 Marriage Deal with the Earl
 
 
 
 Liz Tyner lives with her husband on an Oklahoma acreage she imagines is similar to the ones in the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. Her lifestyle is a blend of old and new, and is sometimes comparable to the way people lived long ago. Liz is a member of various writing groups and has been writing since childhood. For more about her, visit liztyner.com.
 Books by Liz Tyner
 Harlequin Historical
 The Wallflower Duchess
 Redeeming the Roguish Rake
 Saying I Do to the Scoundrel
 To Win a Wallflower
 It’s Marriage or Ruin
 Compromised into Marriage
 A Cinderella for the Viscount
 Tempting a Reformed Rake
 A Marquess Too Rakish to Wed
 English Rogues and Grecian Goddesses
 Safe in the Earl’s Arms
 A Captain and a Rogue
 Forbidden to the Duke
 Visit the Author Profile pageat Harlequin.com.
 
 
 Contents
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Epilogue
 Excerpt from The Making of His Marchioness by Lauri Robinson
 
 
 Chapter One
 ‘Lord Amesbury,’ the carriage driver called to him. ‘My apologies for getting misdirected. The instructions were confusing. I have the proper way to Mr Adair’s new location now.’
 Unfamiliar with the new title, Quinton caught himself just before he looked around for his uncle.
 Lord Amesbury. He wasn’t only Quinton Langford, the physician. He was now the Earl of Amesbury, a man he’d never truly expected to be.
 He waited while the driver walked to the front of the vehicle. Moments later, the carriage jolted forward, stirring the rain-scented air.
 Susanna. He wondered if widowhood had devastated her. When he’d been curious and asked about her, it was almost as if she’d disappeared.
 Odd how the memory of her kept resurfacing in his mind, but he’d always had a grand time when they’d seen each other—until the day he’d told her he was leaving for university.
 His carriage stopped again, and he saw the stone home, noting the sagging pediment surround in front. Little better than the decrepit home he’d been raised in—only bigger. Apparently, the tales were true.
 He wanted to help her.
 ‘This be it,’ the driver said, voice proud, opening the door. ‘Two top windows bricked over from the inside just like the man said.’
 Quinton stared up at the three-storey home and saw the windows, and that one of the lower panes also didn’t reflect as it should. A dark drapery concealed the interior.
 Moving forward, he rapped on the scarred wooden door, hoping the house didn’t fall down from the added stress of his knock.
 Finally, a butler answered, shoulders stooped and eyebrows thicker than the hair on his head. He remembered the man from the other home and saw recognition behind the unimpressed eyes.
 ‘Is Mr Adair in?’
 The butler took his card, held it a distance from his sight and, after a squint, he nodded, taking his time. ‘The master is out, but—’
 His demeanour changed, and he gave Quinton a decidedly not subservient glance. ‘Follow me,’ the servant instructed.
 Quinton stared at the butler, surprised at the command in the frail man’s voice.
 The older man didn’t stop on his journey up the stairway.
 They moved upstairs into the dim hall, shadows obscuring the pictures on the wall, and the butler showed Quinton to the sitting room, an area overstuffed with a sofa, several chairs and a table snug against them. A piano hardly had room for the bench.
 ‘I will send Miss Susanna your way.’ The man’s words were commanding, but Quinton didn’t mind. Truly, his memories of Susanna had brought him here.
 A short while later, light footsteps danced down the stairs. Then Quinton saw her in the doorway. He remembered her as if only yesterday he’d heard her laughter. He stilled, taking in the moment. Her dress had no lace or anything to make it stand out from a shopkeeper’s wife’s clothing, but still, she had a regal air and a genuine smile. She could have been the child of a royal.
 ‘The Earl of Amesbury.’ Susanna paused, studying him. She held what appeared to be a ragged ball in one hand and his card in the other. She walked closer and put the ball on a table, then propped the card against a vase and studied it a moment. ‘The title suits you.’ She nodded, her gaze still studious as she met his eyes. ‘It makes you look even taller.’
 ‘If I’d inherited a ducal title perhaps...’
 ‘Oh, no. I’m sure you’ve increased in height.’ She studied the top of his head. ‘Yes. You’re taller than when I saw you last, and you will just have to take my word on that.’
 ‘Then we must thank my boot maker.’
 ‘Amesbury. You have