She glanced mischievously at him. “It’s really quite good. I think I have it all by heart. Would you care to hear it?”
“Alix,” he growled warningly.
She laughed again. “Just enjoying my last days of freedom. For all I know, after we’re officially married, you’ll drag me off and bury me in the countryside never to be seen in polite society again.”
“Dragging you off does have a certain appeal. But I’d never bury you Alix, if that’s what concerns you.”
She felt his heated gaze like fingers caressing her skin and struggled to keep her tone light. “That and a pastel wedding dress with too much lace and too many rosebuds,” she managed. “Rafe, I know I’m not the bride you might have chosen, but you can’t remake me into a copy of Anne Dinsmore?—“
“That’s not what I intended,” he began, but she waved a hand to stop him.
“Leaving France, leaving my father’s house, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I felt so alone and I wasn’t sure I could make it. With everything I’d known falling down around me, there were times I wasn’t even sure I wanted to survive. But I did and I’ve discovered qualities within myself I never knew I had.”
She could see he was listening. “My father was always going on about the warrior blood of the de La Brous. It seemed like old-fashioned fairy tales. But now I think differently. It may sound silly to you, but for the first time in my life I feel strong, even a bit courageous. I know as your wife my body and my goods will belong to you. I’m asking you to leave me some space to grow.”
She reached her hand out and covered his. “I knowyou’re accustomed to ordering things about you, but if you’ll allow me my freedom, I can be a good wife to you.”
Rafe felt as if a hand were squeezing his heart. Was this how she saw him, as a dark cloud seeking to smother her light? How could she read so much into his offer to provide her with a wedding dress? His only wish was to make this second wedding day perfect, to wash away the memories of the previous ceremony, and to make a fresh start with her. He frowned, inwardly cursing the proprieties that kept them so far apart. Always a chaperone with them whenever they were together, watchful eyes making sure they did not stand too close or touch for too long.He needed to touch Alix,to feel her close.Somehow when they were skin-to-skin everything seemed so much clearer, so much simpler. He wondered if he dared risk another late night foray into her bedchamber.
“Well?” Alix asked softly, and Rafe realized she was still waiting for an answer to her question.
He looked up and smiled at her, “I shall await your selection with great anticipation.”
Alix studied Rafe. He was frowning and his eyes were dark and unreadable. Had what she said offended him? Had she made a mistake in reminding him that he’d had little choice in this marriage? She reflected on how desperately she had wanted to escape his company in France, and now, how she would give anything to spend more time alone with him, to somehow see into the depths of his heart. There was a rustle of satin next to the table and Alix looked up to see Elizabeth regarding them thoughtfully.
Rafe glanced at his sister, trying to control the annoyance he felt, and inquired lightly, “Shouldn’t you be mingling with the young people?”
“The young people are dull, the lemonadeis tepid, and the cakes are stale. I thought I might find more interesting entertainment here among the older crowd. Though I don’t see that Alix is all that elderly.” She took a sip of Rafe’s champagne. “Besides, I saw that she was in danger of violating your sacred rule of two’s, so I hurried over to save her reputation.”
Rafe took his glass back from his sister as Alix raised a questioning brow. “The rule of two’s?”
“Oh, yes,” said Elizabeth slyly. “There should always be two women to every single man, and since Louisa’s talking fertilizers with some dowager or other, I thought I might do the service.”
‘It’s amazing,” Rafe said, “how you can remember your lessons when it suits you, and other times they seem to bolt straight from your head.”
“What can I say? Careless youth.... “ Elizabeth shrugged. Taking a seat at the table she began reshuffling the cards. “So what were you two discussing before I arrived?”
“Marriage,” Rafe replied as Elizabeth dealt him a hand. “And no slipping aces into your sleeve.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said, spreading her cards in a fan and widening her eyes in mock innocence. “Dreadful institution, marriage. Man owns the woman, lock, stock, and barrel. I think I’d rather have a bit of freedom to explore the world. What do you say, Alix?”
“About marriage? Or about exploration?” Alix asked, studying her hand.
“Both.”
“I think that undertaken with the right person, for the right reasons, both can be quite exciting and productive.”
Elizabeth discarded a card. “But how do you know you’ve found the right person, and you’re marrying for the right reasons?”
Rafe, feeling distinctly uncomfortable with the coursethe conversation was taking, attempted to change the subject. “You were up early this morning. Louisa said you’d gone riding. Did you meet up with anyone interesting?”
Elizabeth cast him an amused glance. “For example, behold my brother. I’m told the ladies find him quite attractive. And I’ve heard he’s quite the...”
“Elizabeth,” Rafe said in a warning tone.
She left the sentence unfinished, shaking her head. “But you see how he always has to have his way, to control everything. I can just imagine the lectures his wife would have to put up with, why she’d have to have the patience of a saint.”
“One might say the same for the man who chose you for his bride.”
