Heather wasn’t sure that was true. Maybe for Rose, who tended to cut right past social niceties to offer honest thoughts instead (which was fun to observe during a social call and must have been one of the things that enticed Adrian to her). Heather was different. Blunt to a fault, yes. But that wasn’t the same as sharing what was in her heart.
And she was stubborn. She hated to be wrong. Was that what was keeping her so miserable? The fact that she’d have to face Niall and admit that she was monumentally wrong? She once assumed that she wanted to be on her own, because she couldn’t picture being happy with anyone telling her what to do. But perhaps that idea had come from the years of Uncle Cyril lording it over her, and in particular the last horrible months when he all but reduced her to a product on a green-grocer’s shelf: Fresh Young Wife, Cheap!
But since she met Niall, her world had widened. He wasn’t like anyone she knew before, and she doubted she could find a better match if she traveled to each continent and searched for years. The truth was that she loved him and wanted to stay with him and be part of his life.
How could shesayall that in a way that he’d believe her?
* * * *
When she excused herself from the group, saying she wanted an early night, Heather was lying. She wasn’t sure she’d ever sleep again. Thoughts seethed in her mind with little rhyme or reason. All she knew was that until she told Niall what she really felt, she’d never have any peace.
She was just passing the door of his bedroom when she heard her name. She looked into the darkness. “Niall?”
Suddenly, he was right there in the doorway. Heather jumped. “What were you doing sitting in the dark?”
“There’s the fire.” He looked back into the room. “I guess it is dim in there. I was thinking. I’ve been thinking for a long time. Can I speak to you?”
“Certainly, for are you not my lawfully wedded husband?”
“That is endlessly up for debate, it seems. Come in for a moment, please.”
Heather followed him into the chamber, which was dim, but not actually as gloomy as she first feared. The fire was leaping with orange flames, casting gold light on Niall’s face.
He sat down in the chair by the fireplace. He looked tired. Heather saw lines on his face that hadn’t been there the day they met.
She moved toward him. “What’s the matter? I mean, besides the complete foundering of our marriage and apparently the very notion of marriage in the Isles?”
“Heather, I love you.”
She opened her mouth, but nothing emerged. He loved her? Heather inhaled, trying again. “You what?”
“I love you. I know I’m bloody terrible at showing it. But I do love you, and I….want to keep you. I mean, I want to keep this marriage. Make it real.”
“Niall,” she said.
“Wait, hear me out!” He rushed on, standing back up, towering over her. “I’m not done. I know that you’ve been betrayed. By me. I didn’t mean to, but I did it all the same. What I thought was a lark turned out to be an albatross.”
“Ooh, that’s a good metaphor.”
“Thank you, it just came to me.” He paused, then shook his head. “Don’t distract me. Heather, I think I’ve found a way out of this.”
Her stomach churned. “You have?”
“It’s about the money. Or not the money—the liberty it offers you. As a married woman you’re not your own person in the eyes of the law. But by God, you’re your own person in my eyes, and you deserve to have what was meant to be yours.”
“But…I can’t…”
“You can if I arrange it just so. I talked to Mr. Kemble. He thinks it’s doable, in a legal sense. He’s gone to Edinburgh to make sure it is, and I got a note from him that he believes it can be done.”
“That what can be done?”
“I’ll settle an annual income on you that is equivalent to all of your inheritance’s income. That is, it will all come back to your control—you can either spend it or let it stay with the bank, but it’s yours. And yes, as your husband, technically I could change it. But I won’t, and Kemble says he can add several provisions that will make it far more difficult for me—or anyone—to alter the terms.”
“Mr. Kemble does seem to know the law,” Heather allowed.
“Look, it’s not ideal. No one can be fully content with a freedom that’s granted by others. There’s always the risk that it can be revoked. I wish you could cast off all the laws and be the wildflower you are, unencumbered by the rules and the strictures of men. But this is the world we live in, and this is what’s in my power to do. Because I love you, and I want you to have what you want. I hope that what you want includes me, but if it’s not…I won’t be the man who keeps you down.”
“Is…is this a plea for female emancipation or a marriage proposal?”
