John tried to hide a surprised laugh as a cough, but I caught enough to give him a glare.
Papa heaved a sigh and walked over to Mama, holding out his hand. “I’m going to finish my breakfast. Will you join me? I could use a bit of calm after the events of this morning.”
Mama smiled up at him. “That sounds lovely.”
“Don’t we have more to discuss?” I asked. Nothing had been settled. Not exactly.
Papa shook his head. “You two will no doubt do whatever you like, but I think you should take a walk down to the waterfall. I’ll send Charlie down to retrieve you in fifteen minutes.”
Mama gave me a grin and then glanced up at Papa. “Twenty might be more reasonable.”
“Fifteen,” Papa said again. “If Captain Calder can’t say what he needs to in fifteen minutes or less, he needs to learn to be more succinct.”
John gave Papa a slow and purposeful salute. “Thank you, sir.”
“My daughter is forgiven,” Papa said with a longsuffering sigh. “You will still need to prove yourself. Based on your record, I trust you will.”
John straightened his shoulders and gave Papa a smile, and then we were left alone.
Presumably so we could go to the waterfall for a proposal.
It looked as though my meeting with John last night had been in vain. He wouldn’t actually be able to wait until the end of the house party to become engaged after all.
John and I took a moment to take each other in before he half-sat on Papa’s desk, his legs kicked out in front of him. He sighed heavily and crossed his arms over his chest. “I told you he would be upset.”
I tried to hold in a laugh but I couldn’t. A surprised chuckle escaped my throat and, with it, some of the tension of the morning. I’d been certain I could make Papa see reason but I wasn’t completely certain how long it would take. “I think my comment about your breeches was the one that truly won him over.”
John grinned at me, then pushed himself off of the desk. “Please never mention my breeches to your parents ever again.”
“Oh, John.” I scrunched my nose. “You should know better than to tell me something like that. Your breeches will now be a regular topic over dinner.”
He shook his head but he couldn’t even manage a frown. He was in front of me in a few swift strides. He’d tried to tame his hair and fix his cravat after the debacle in the breakfast room, but both were rumpled. That, combined with his broad shoulders and well-cut jacket, made me catch my breath. He was ridiculously handsome, in a rough and achingly familiar way. He was exactly what I described to Hattie when I told her what I was looking for in a man, probably because I was already thinking of him. How many times had I looked upon this man and feltentranced by him? Even when he was nigh unto death's door he had a presence I couldn’t ignore.
“Would you care to go for a walk?” he asked. “I’m fairly certain your father doesn’t want us doing anything more than talking in his study.”
I gripped the arms of my chair to keep myself from doing something foolish. “I suppose I can respect his wishes this one time.”
John held his hand out and when I took it he pulled me up forcefully enough I crashed into him and his hands wrapped around my waist.
“John, we are still in Papa’s study.”
His nose was in my hair. “I know, I know. Just give me one more minute.”
“If I give you another minute, we will only have fourteen before Charlie comes to find us.”
His chest rose against mine and then he pushed himself away. “Fair point.”
We walked carefully through the house, but the moment we reached the grass on the terrace, he grabbed my hand and we broke into a run.
We were both breathing heavily by the time we made it down the terrace and across the base of the cliff, into the copse of trees next to the waterfall.
I turned to John, assuming he would want to wrap his arms around me again, but he shook his head and walked me over to the bench and made me sit down. The sounds of the waterfall crashed around us, the spray of thousands of droplets of water creating a light mist in the air.
“Might I ask you a question?” he asked in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the tumbling water behind me.
I took a deep breath and released it with a smile. “I was hoping you would.”
He dropped to his knees before the bench. Any frustrations I felt about my parents and Hattie playing a role in throwing us together melted away. Ours was a story too unpredictable to have been arranged. And even if they had arranged every unlikely turn in the path that led me to John, it didn’t matter. I loved him.
