In truth, though he practiced with Emily this afternoon, he wasn’t sure how he’d feel when dancing. Of course, he’d expected this moment to be more fraught.
He expected to be doing soinsidethe ballroom.
He held her close—far closer than would have been proper if they’d been inside.
He rejoiced that they were not inside.
Slowly, they moved. He led her, tentatively at first, and then with more certainty.
“Are you—is everything…”
“I’m fine,” he said against her ear. “Better than fine.” The damp, musty scent of spring earth hung in the air. Each breath condensed into haze. He never wanted to be anywhere else, with anyone else. “But I won’t be fully at ease until you agree to be my wife.”
“I might be mad.”
“You might be mad. I might be mad—”
“But,” she added, “the whole world is suddenly sparkling, and I never want to be anywhere else than in your arms.”
“Is that a yes?”
She nodded. “I’m only sorry we’ve come together too late to save Cassie.”
“Save Cassie? Your sister is to be a duchess.”
“They don’t love one another.”
“No,” he agreed. “Not yet.”
“Could he love her someday?” she asked.
“Perhaps,” he replied. “But right now, I’m most concerned about the woman I love.”
He stopped moving and took her fully into an embrace. She rested her head against his shoulder.
“That’s better,” he said.
“Who am I to argue with a marquess?”
“I hope you do. And often.” He pressed his cheek against her hair. “I want to be challenged. I need to be challenged.”
“A marriage of true minds.”
“Pardon?”
“Lady Asquith warned us not to confuse marriage with a marriage of minds. But I believe the phase she meant to quote was marriage of true minds. She said it meant…” she frowned, trying to recall. “…something about always being willing to listen, to witness, and to support.”
“Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds.”
“That’s the poem,” Eliza confirmed. She lifted her face. “And you certainly found alteration in me.” She smiled ruefully. “I don’t see how you can trust me. I used you. I was angry with Harbury, and I took that anger out on you.”
“I was angry with the world, and I used you to distract me.”
“We are quite the pair.”
“Pair, I think, being the important word. If it weren’t for meeting the Blackbird, I would have gone on trying to solve all my dilemmas by restricting my world. I never would have realized that what I needed to do was expand it…”
“Ah, Adrian.”
