“Yes?”
“Yes.”
They smiled into each other’s eyes for a few moments before he tightened his arms about her once more, lifted her from her feet, and swung her twice around.
“Then it is settled,” he said, setting her down on her feet again. “Just as soon as ever the banns can be read. I wish it could be sooner. And third . . .”
She looked at him expectantly, and he drew the diamond pin from his neckcloth with its head of tiny diamonds arranged in the shape of a heart. He had bought it in London, intending to give it to Lady Eve if his plans to court her had brought them to a betrothal on this day. He took Barbara’s hand and set the pin in it.
“It will keep better than a sweetmeat,” he said. “Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.”
She raised her face to his, radiant with love and happiness, and kissed him.
“And now I can return to the ball,” he said.
“Yes.” Her smile faded a little. “Yes, you must. You will be missed.”
“With you,” he said.
She looked at him blankly.
“Will you want to change?” he asked. “To me you look lovely enough to eat, but I know that ladies are very particular about such matters. I can allow you half an hour to get ready if you really must.”
“To go to the ball?” she said. “I cannot do that. You know I cannot. But it does not matter.” She smiled more determinedly at him. “I shall go to bed and dream of you and hope that this part too is not a dream.”
“Twenty-nine minutes,” he said.
“Cal ..
“Your father is expecting you,” he said. “And probably your mother too.”
Her smile faded right away.
“I asked your father for you before I came here,” he said. “The settlements have all been agreed upon. All that was left to do was for you to accept me. Your father is to make the announcement before the end of the ball—if we get there in time. You have twenty-eight minutes.”
“He would not,” she said. “Papa hates me. He has had almost nothing to do with me in eight years, apart for paying all the bills here.”
“The dowry he offered with you was many times larger than I expected,” he said. “I do not need a dowry. I have a fortune of my own with which to care for you. But he insisted. No daughter of his would go to a husband without bringing a respectable dowry with her, he told me. And it was no more than was to be settled on you at his death.” Her eyes widened.
“And I have been told in no uncertain terms that the only thing I will be required to bestow on Zach is a father’s love,” he said. “A sum quite as large as your dowry has been established for his education and settlement in life, a sum that would have been his in trust on your father’s death, even if I had never shown my nose in this county.”
“William? “ she whispered.
“I believe fathers take their daughters’ troubles harder than anyone else,” he said. “Your brother, I believe, has been your father’s eyes and hands in the past eight years. Though I am sure he is fond of you and the boy in his own right.”
“Oh,” she said.
He set his head to one side and looked closely at her. “You are not about to cry again, are you?” he asked.
“Yes, I think so,” she said, dashing a hand across one cheek. “I am not usually such a watering pot, I do assure you, my lord.”
“Cal.”
“Cal.”
“I think you must be down to twenty-four minutes,” he said. “Go.” He bent his head and kissed her swift and hard on the mouth.
She went.
