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“You shall see soon enough,” he promised with a smile.

He stalked forward, his every step matched by a backward step from her. Once or twice, she went a little too close to the edge of the pond for his comfort, but that unease would soon be over.

“We shall be circling one another forever,” she teased, her fingertips brushing a reed.

“I am biding my time,” he replied, grateful to see her so full of vitality again.

It had been a long two weeks, fretting over her as she suffered through her illness. Nothing could have made him move from the chaise-longue where he had kept a nightly vigil, though Mrs. Havers and the butler had tried to convince him to retire to his own room.

He had thought that it was just a matter of responsibility, protecting and watching over the woman he had bound to him in marriage. But, in quieter moments, when she had been sleeping more soundly, and he had placed a fresh compress on her brow or pulled the coverlets over her, he had wondered if it was more than that.

Now, he found himself wondering it again.

Would it be so awful to be closer to her? Would it be such a catastrophe to be a truer husband to this beautiful woman?

Since her arrival at Knotgill, it was as if the entire manor had woken up from a cursed slumber. There was life and laughter in the hallways again, and a joy in his son that he had never seen before. Even the staff, who had taken a while to adjust to her, now spoke fondly of her. Indeed, they too had worried when she had taken ill, forever asking Anthony how she was faring.

Just then, Marina turned to see where she was going, and Anthony seized his moment.

He sprinted forward, leaping across one edge of the pond, and ran straight toward his startled wife. Her eyes widened and her mouth parted, expelling an amused, “No, you rogue! That is truly unfair!” as he captured her in his arms.

“I apologize,” he said, smiling down at her. “I had a duty to fulfill.”

She did not attempt to pull away, but peered up into his eyes, her hands resting on his chest. She was breathing quickly, as if she was the one who had sprinted, her face rosy, her smile unwavering.

“You cheated,” she protested, her hands curling a little, lightly grasping the lapels of his tailcoat. “I was just making sure I was not about to trip over.”

“You took your eyes off me,” he countered, his voice thick. “You should never do that.”

“No…” she murmured, as his arms instinctively tightened around her, holding her closer than he would have dared before. “No… I think you are right about that.”

They stood there in the warm sunshine as fish meandered lazily through the water and a mild breeze stirred the reeds and lilies. Neither made the first move to part, and the longer Anthony held her, the less inclined he was to let her go.

She felt like she belonged there in his embrace, a warmth spreading through his chest, encouraged by the way she slid her hands under his lapels. Not pushing him away, but keeping him there too, as if she did not want to let go either.

“How is your heart?” he asked softly, noting the pinkness in her cheeks.

“I am not unwell anymore,” she replied rather strangely, not quite answering his question.

“No fever?”

She shook her head.

“Arrhythmia?” he asked.

Her throat bobbed. “Hard to tell.”

“I am no doctor, but… let me check.”

Slowly, he brought one hand around, and pressed his palm carefully to her chest, where he knew he would feel the beat of her heart. It ticked rapidly against his hand, though the beat itself was steady. And, after not knowing its meaning before, he had taken it upon himself to learn the meaning while she had been in her bed, recuperating.

“It is not irregular,” he told her, his gaze locking with hers.

She was staring at him with such intensity, such openness that he did not know what to do. He knew what he wanted to do, his neck already tilting forward subconsciously, his eyes flitting to her full, slightly parted lips, but that would mean tearing up their arrangement.

One kiss would undo everything, would be the undoing of him.

His other hand came up to cradle the back of her neck, as he swallowed thickly, his entire being urging him to just throw away their agreement and kiss her.