Page 45 of In With a Chance

Well, he wanted Ernest to flirt with his sister to break her connection with Lord Ravenshurst, surely—Michael knew well enough that Baron Frasemere needed to marry a fortune. He could not have actually intended Ernest to marry his sister.

“Oh. You mean Lord Ravenshurst,” Gwen said with scarlet cheeks.

Ernest’s jaw dropped.

He had not meant Lord Ravenshurst. The man had not even crept into his mind until after he’d spoken.

Which was ridiculous; the very first reason why Miss Gwendoline Chance could not marry Ernest Quintrell, Baron Frasemere, was because she was in fact engaged to be married to another man. The Marquess of Ravenshurst.

What hurt so instantly was that she considered that man to be the only barrier.

What… So if Lord Ravenshurst had not proposed matrimony the very day that Ernest had been introduced to her, she would have considered him as an option?

“Lord Ravenshurst,” he whispered.

In that moment, all possibilities seemed open to him. Why couldn’t Gwen break off her engagement with the marquess? Why not set that man aside so that she could marry Ernest?

Why not cast away all hopes of riches and position and take the hand of a poor Yorkshire baron?

Ernest’s hopes rose, his spirits lifted, and his chest visibly swelled as his mind considered all the wonderful ways in which they could be happy together—

And then he deflated.

“You are engaged to Lord Ravenshurst,” he said quietly, meeting the woman’s sapphire-blue eyes and wishing he did not want to throw himself into them. “And you will marry him.”

“Of course I will.”

Was it his imagination, or did she look distressed as she said that?

Foolish. Foolish, Ernest chastised himself as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Why on earth would a woman be distressed about marrying a man as noble, as wealthy, as surely splendid as the Marquess of Ravenshurst?

Even if her entire family called him ‘dull.’

“I am not going to risk him,” came Gwen’s quiet voice, and Ernest’s heart twisted as he heard it. “I will not risk him.”

“I know,” he said quickly. He should never have said anything. This was what happened when one opened one’s mouth. “And you shouldn’t.”

Because he could offer her nothing.

The words had not been spoken, but he was certain she understood.

“I tell you that I like you to…to put you on your guard,” Ernest attempted to say, without revealing how he dreamed of her every night and longed for the weight of her in his arms.

Gwen looked monetarily startled. “‘Guard’?”

“Yes,” he ground out.

Damn it, man, stop noticing her perfect lips and her elegant mouth—

“You are going to do something drastic, are you?” Gwen asked, with perhaps more eagerness than Ernest would have liked.

He had to laugh at that, and their laughter filled the library with their mutual joy.

Joy in which, Ernest knew, he would have to be careful not to share too often.

“I am not going to do anything drastic,” he said, almost confident he wouldn’t. “But I thought you should know.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to add that she should know what her options were—but that was ridiculous. Ernest was in no position to offer matrimony to a woman who came with no dowry. What, they were supposed to live off air and sunshine and…and love?