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‘I have spoken to my daughter,’ Walter began without preamble, ‘and she tells me you have asked her to marry you.’
‘I have, sir,’ Alex confirmed in a low baritone that betrayed none of his feelings.
‘And why is that?’ Walter asked.
Alex’s dark eyes slid again to Elise, bathing her in a velvety intimacy before courteously returning to her father. ‘Your daughter has been compromised by me. I understand your sister has written to tell you about it now gossip has started spreading in town.’
‘That’s exactly it,’ Walter confirmed. ‘So...had you not been spotted together in awkward circumstances at Vauxhall there would have been no proposal?’
‘Papa...’ Elise whispered, wondering where this was leading and which of them was to be most embarrassed by her father’s line of questioning.
Walter raised a finger to his daughter, begging her silence and obedience.
Alex shifted, resisting the urge to plunge his hands in his pockets. He glanced down at his boots, concealing a reluctant smile and subduing an urge to polish the dusty toecaps on the backs of his breeched shins. He felt like an errant pupil summoned to an audience in a headmaster’s office; he also felt a surge of the utmost respect for Walter Dewey, despite realising the old fellow was not about to make anything easy for him.
He might have done the decent thing by proposing to Walter’s daughter, but Walter wanted more than his title, his estates, his millions of pounds for Elise. He wanted to know she’d be cherished. In the not-so-distant past he’d been approached by a marquess willing to sell a daughter to him for the price of a short lease on a Mayfair town house. Alex knew which of the two gentlemen he admired and which he’d like as his future father-in-law.
Alex had made a few enquiries and knew Walter Dewey was impoverished. He had nothing other than this rented house, a small private income and his two beloved children. Yet future scandals held no fear for Walter; he’d charged those demons years ago and lost, emerging battle scarred. Just hours ago Walter had proved his contempt for compensation by rejecting Thomas Venner’s conscience money. The purpose of this interrogation was to allow Elise to listen and learn from his answers and his conduct whether she could trust him as the father of her children, the keeper of her heart.
‘Are you to answer me, sir? Or might I draw the conclusion that you have nothing further to add.’
‘I have something to add,’ Alex said. ‘There would have been no proposal...just yet.’
‘Ah...I see...’ Walter nodded. ‘Expand on “just yet” if you please.’
Alex’s eyes moved and merged with a wondrous golden glance before she whipped her eyes away. He observed her frown, her uncertainty before she once more fixed her eyes on her father.
What had Elise needed from him? Alex brought to mind her three vital requirements for her marriage: love and respect and loyalty... He’d vow each one and more besides if she’d let him.
‘It would have been too soon to expect your daughter to believe me sincere when promising her my love and respect and loyalty.’
‘I see...’ Walter said, glancing at his daughter just as Elise averted her face to conceal a bright sheen in her eyes. ‘It seems your acquaintance was not so short that you deemed kissing her in the shrubbery might be inappropriate—’ He broke off as he heard his daughter’s muffled protestation. He squeezed her hand, patting it in apology and consolation at breaking that confidence.
‘Well...I believe you sincere,’ Walter said, cocking his head at Alex. ‘I can tell my daughter might need some persuading. So...I think it best I leave you alone so you might do what a fellow must in these circumstances.’
Walter gripped the upholstered arms and pushed. He grimaced, lowering himself back into his chair. ‘As it is easier for you young people to get about, perhaps you should remove yourselves.’ He squirmed again into a comfortable spot in his seat. ‘Why not go outside and enjoy the last of the sunshine while you talk?’ he suggested.
Elise darted glossy golden eyes at Alex, her heart thudding like a drum. He held out a hand and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to go to him, to feel the hard gentleness of his long fingers at the small of her back, guiding her to the door.
* * *
Walter watched from his vantage point as the couple emerged on to the terrace. Not arm in arm yet, but close enough to make him contentedly close his tired old eyes.
He wasn’t surprised his Elise had caught herself such a noble gentleman. He’d seen early her beauty that went beyond looks and eclipsed her older sister’s prettiness. But Arabella had been blind to it. When Elise was little more than a toddler his wife had been disappointed that her younger child’s hair wasn’t fairer, her eyes not china blue, but turning a hue that hinted at autumn leaves. She’d wanted a twin for Beatrice and another tribute to her own image rather than a daughter who resembled the man she’d agreed to marry when in his prime. A man she’d henceforth found it impossible to love.
