Page 23 of The Right to Remain Single

The more he thought about it, the more he needed to protect her—from Tilson, from Samuel Furbelow, from her father…and from himself.

He wasn’t the same man as four years ago. He was ready for marriage, far more ready than he’d realized.

She wasn’t. She didn’t wish to marry, and he should respect and honor that.

But she was old enough to decide for herself whether to engage upon an affair of the heart.

A vision struck him of lying in bed with her, naked and satiated, laughing over erotic poetry and becoming aroused again…

He shook himself. “Will Max appear as soon as it gets dark?”

“Yes, most likely he will patrol the wall all night, unless he sees someone in the house as a threat—you or Sam or Brother Antoine. Let’s go outdoors and wait for him, so I can introduce you.”

They donned their outer garments once again and strolled in the garden, waiting for darkness to fall. They wandered between beds of herbs, past a well with a wooden cockerel on its roof, and a succession of cold frames. Strange how they had no need to speak, merely enjoying the wintry outdoors and one another’s company. The gathering clouds presaged another fall of snow.

The perfect weather for languishing in bed with a beautiful woman.

Damn it all, what was wrong with him? Even if he wanted to, it would be in the worst of bad taste to seduce Thomasina in her father’s house—unless he intended to marry her.

He pondered his own father’s response, if he announced that he wished to wed Thomasina. Not enough of an heiress, probably. Or, the daughter of that old fool! Not that his father’s opinion would make one iota of difference, once James had made up his mind.

She doesn’t wish to marry, he reminded himself. He was still engaged in an internal tussle when she said, “There’s Max!”

She clutched James’s arm and pulled him into the orchard, where they wouldn’t be in full view of the house. The ghost stormed down the wall, spear raised as before, and came to a halt above them. “Quo vadis?” he roared.

She pointed to James. “Amicus,” she said. “Or—or…amice!”

The ghost was an impressive figure in his armor, a warrior with a powerful, echoing voice. He lowered his spear, but assessed James with a fierce, relentless stare. In Latin, he said, “It’s you again.”

James raised an arm in salute. “Ave et salve, centurio.”

The ghost snarled in Latin, “Why do you call me that? Do not ever call me that. I am no centurion and never shall be.”

Hmm. Since Max was mostly likely a common solider, James had thought addressing him as centurion would be seen as a compliment. Evidently not…

“Amice!” cried Thomasina again.

“It’s all right,” James told her. “Just a…cultural misunderstanding, I think.” He tried again. “After patrolling the Wall for so very long, you deserve to be a centurion.” A clever recovery, if I may say so myself. What a pity Thomasina didn’t understand Latin.

Good Lord, he actually wanted to impress her. What a fool he was—and how astonishingly serious about this particular folly.

The ghost jeered. “I shall never be a centurion, but they cannot execute me again, for I am already dead. They cannot disgrace me. They cannot humiliate me and put me in chains. They cannot stop me from guarding the Wall forever.”

He had been executed? Maybe he really was a murderer, or had been at one time. But he sounded more like a man pleading his innocence.

James bowed. “I am honored to meet you, Decimus Maximus.”

“Why?” the ghost scoffed.

“Because I have never met a Roman soldier before, and because you are the friend of this lady, who speaks highly of you.”

The ghost softened visibly. Suddenly, he smiled. “You have come for this maiden.”

James cast a swift glance at Thomasina. What luck that she didn’t understand, for there was only one possible response, even if it was a lie.

Except that it wasn’t a lie at all—at least not from his point of view. In the course of a few hours he had fallen wholly in love with her. He set that delightful thought aside for the moment and returned the ghost’s smile. “That is correct.”

“You must win her.”