Indeed she had planned this from the beginning, and it had gone positively perfectly. In her mind, it was a genius plan. And now he was stuck, as a proper gentleman, for how could society believe an innocent debutante, a Pendergast Rose, had done something so positively devious? She was now stuck as well, anyway. If he denied her at any point now, she would be ruined, and his chances with other debutantes would be slim.

“Look. You need a wife. I need a life. Your son needs a mother. You need more children. Think of it as business — nothing more. We can deal with the particulars later. For now, keep dancing.”

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