In Want of a Wife? by Cathy Williams Page B

rich son-in-law might bail them out of their financial difficulties.’
    Lizzy thought she could detect an edge of contempt in his voice and her hackles rose. He might very well sit there, watching her with those lazy, dark, fabulous eyes, sneering at the little Scottish upstart of a woman who fancied her chances with a guy whose family owned a
pile in the country
—but when had he ever had to worry about money? ‘They’re not imagining anything of the sort.’ She defended her family stoutly, and Louis raised his eyebrows in polite disbelief.
    Fetching though she might look, she wasn’t fetching enough to override the glaring evidence in front of him. Firstly, the coincidence of Nicholas falling for the beautiful damsel with the impoverished background, although it had only become clear
just
how impoverished the background was. Secondly, the fact that Rose, from everything he had witnessed, had hardly behaved like a woman in love until, mysteriously, she had decided to mount a more concentrated campaign—which naturally included engineering her way into Crossfeld and climbing into bed with Nicholas. Had her parents become a little more active in their encouragement of the relationship? Grace Sharp had certainly not been reticent in showing her delight at the match.
    Granted, Lizzy might have been out of the loop in terms of the nuts and bolts of what had been going on, but was that his problem?
    ‘You don’t believe in love, do you?’ she asked sourly, and Louis laughed and raked his fingers through his hair.
    ‘I believe in lust and I believe in the institution of marriage.’
    ‘You mean marriage based on … what? How can you base a marriage on lust? Lust doesn’t last.’
    Louis relaxed and ordered coffee. This, he discovered, was more like the conversation with her that he had had in mind. ‘But it’s an enjoyable starting point, don’t you agree? Not that I’ve given much thought to marriage one way or the other.’
    Lizzy shifted awkwardly. She realised that her legs were brushing against his and she primly angled her body away from his—except, when their eyes met, she could see at a glance that he had noted the shift and was amused by it. ‘And what happens when the lust fades away?’
    ‘Oh, that’s why it’s so important to be practical when it comes to getting married. A decent business arrangement doesn’t allow for any nasty surprises. There’s no such thing as the perfect marriage, but there
is
such a thing as the perfect criteria for a wife, and it involves lack of hassle and no ugly suspicions of an ulterior motive. And, do me a favour, don’t get onto your soap box and start preaching to me about class differences and how we rich people have the wrong priorities.’
    The perfect criteria.
A shard of pain stabbed her as she remembered Jessica’s warning about reading signs behind his bored, idle flirting, if that was what it had been. When it came to the
perfect criteria,
she was nowhere on the scale. Not that it even mattered! And yet …
    ‘I wasn’t about to say anything of the sort.
That
would just be stating the obvious. Actually, I was going to tell you that there’s a guy talking to the head waiter by the front door and I think he’s looking for you …’
    ‘Oh, good God,’ Louis muttered darkly under his breath and Lizzy looked at him incredulously.
    ‘You look a little uncomfortable, Louis. Are you trying to
hide?
It won’t wash. I think he’s spotted you.’
    ‘Of course I wasn’t trying to hide. Don’t be ridiculous.’ He glared at her and then stiffened as the young blond man approached their table and greeted him from behind.
    ‘Louis! Have you any idea how long it took me to find you?’ He sat down at the table and turned the full wattage of his smile on Lizzy. ‘Of course, if I’d known that you were on a hot date with a
very
sexy lady I might not have come down. I’m Freddy Dale, by the way.’
    He held out his hand and Lizzy was charmed by the smile