‘I wish I wasn’t going to Bath.’
‘We still have another whole day left.’ Only the one. Which was likely why they were both still out here procrastinating when it was long past their usual bedtime.
She huffed, sadness written all over her lovely face. ‘And I have to spend half of it with Mr Cooper.’ He was flattered that her dreams didn’t mean more than him.
‘That will only take a couple of hours and you’ll be mine from noon. How about I meet you then at Gunter’s and I’ll treat you to one of those dreadful purple ice creams you like?’ She nodded, still looking sad and he couldn’t bear it. ‘And in a few weeks, I will stop by Bath with my mother to see you and perhaps you and your sisters could accompany us to Tregally. I am sure you would appreciate a change of scenery then.’ He knew already that a contrived and brief visit to Bath wouldn’t be enough to stem his longing.
‘Even so... I shall miss you.’ She was leaning against the wall so she could look up at the stars. There was something different about her tonight. An easiness about their relationship and a new confidence in her body which suited her immensely.
‘Not as much as I shall miss you.’
Still staring out at nothing, Hope sighed. ‘If I ask you an intensely personal question, Luke, will you answer it honestly?’
‘I might.’
She slanted him a peeved glance. ‘Then I shan’t bother asking it.’
‘All right—I’ll answer honestly.’
‘Promise?’
He drew a cross over his heart with his index finger, feeling it quicken as it did so because something, he had no clue what, seemed to have shifted and even the air around them was filled with expectation.
‘Why have you ordered three dozen yellow rose bushes for Tregally?’
He was going to strangle his mother for her meddling, when Hope wasn’t one to be rushed into anything, especially if nudged. ‘Because they are your favourite.’
‘But why plant them in your house in Cornwall when I am here?’
She was staring at him now, part knowing, but with enough doubt he understood she needed to hear the truth to fully trust the enormity of it. ‘I suppose, because I was rather hoping it might beourhouse in Cornwall some day.’
She was quiet for a moment, her expression thoughtful. ‘When do you envisage some day to be?’
His stupid heart was now threatening to beat out of his chest. He hadn’t expected to be having this sort of conversation now. He had assumed, that like everything about their romance, it would edge forward incrementally. She had only just granted him his first dance and by default acknowledged publicly that there was a relationship between them. In his head, he had set a reasonable target for next spring to make things more official. When he had whittled away all her doubts and sorted out exactly what he was going to do here. ‘I suppose that depends upon you and how far away you need some day to be before you are prepared to take a chance on me.’ Which was clearly at a potentially much faster speed than he had anticipated.
Perhaps too fast?
His already racing pulse ratcheted up a bit more.
‘And if I didn’t need it to be that far?’
Where he expected panic came relief. It washed through him like the Writtles’ infamous champagne, leaving him dizzy and grinning. ‘Then I am game if you are and I’d happily march you up the aisle tomorrow.’
Still resolutely staring out into the night, she slowly smiled before she turned to him. ‘You’d have to ask first.’
‘I thought I just did.’
‘Not properly.’
‘When do we ever do things properly, Hope?’
‘Still...’ She folded her arms, which did wonderous things to her cleavage, and tapped her foot impatiently.
‘Oh, for goodness sake!’ He couldn’t help but laugh as he dropped to one knee. ‘Hope—will you do me the honour...’
‘Wait!’ She was giggling too, then she hoisted up her skirts and flung one shapely leg over the railing. ‘There absolutely cannot be a balcony between us. Not for something this momentous.’
Luke scrabbled to his feet to help her and she practically fell on him on the other side as she leapt across the three-foot gap more frantically than intrepidly, clinging to him in obvious relief as he caught her and assisted her over the second railings. Instantly his eyes dropped to her lips but as he dipped his head to taste them, she shoved him out of the way. ‘Back down on your knees if you please, Lord Trouble. If it is the last thing I ever manage to do, I shall make you do at least one thing properly in this courtship.’
