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I stared at her, trying to make sense of her words. Was she actually offering what I thought she was offering?

"What?" I asked blankly.

"Oh, for Heaven’s sake!" She rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying I'm going to do it! I'm just saying that if I decided I wanted to, you wouldn't be forcing me into anything."

"That's hardly the point!" I protested. "You barely know me, woman! We've only been acquainted for a day!"

"Yes, and I’ve already been through quite a lot in that day," she remarked. "Including being sucked through a magical doorway, dealing with a handsome but grumpy ghost, being chased by a troll, and making out with your unconscious body. I think we're past the point of worrying about proper introductions, don't you?"

I opened my mouth to answer her and then closed it again. Confounded woman—she had a way of making perfectly outrageous things sound almost reasonable!

Bartleby, who had been watching the entire exchange with considerable interest, gave a delighted little purr.

"Oh, this is marvelous!" he exclaimed. "I haven't been so entertained in years!"

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" I demanded, glaring down at him.

"As a matter of fact, I believe I do," he replied, stretching his front paws out in front of him. "I think I'll go back inside and see if Celeste has bought anything interesting for my supper. You two clearly have some things to discuss that don't require an audience."

"Thank you, Bartleby," Celeste said dryly.

"You're most welcome," he purred. Then he looked up at me. "And Garrik, try not to make a complete ass of yourself. The lady is trying to help you, after all."

"Get out of my sight, you infernal beast!" I growled.

Bartleby gave a cheerful little flick of his tail and trotted away towards the house, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

I watched him go, wishing I could find some way to make the damned cat keep his mouth shut. He'd been an irritating creature during the years Cordelia used to visit and attempt to undo my curse, but since he'd taken up with Celeste, he'd become absolutely insufferable!

Still, I had to admit that I was rather relieved to see him leave. There were certain things a gentleman simply didn't care to discuss in front of an audience, especially an audience that seemed determined to make a joke out of everything.

For a moment, neither Celeste nor I said anything. The moonlight was shining down on the garden, making her long brown hair gleam, and casting soft shadows over her lovely face. She was looking down at her hands, which were folded in her lap, and I wondered what she was thinking.

Probably that she wanted to get as far away from me and my ridiculous curse as possible. I couldn't have blamed her if she did.

"Celeste," I said at last, trying to make my voice as gentle as possible. "I want you to understand that I am deeply grateful for everything you've done for me. You've given me more hope in a single day than I've experienced in the past hundred years. And I shall always be thankful for that, regardless of whether we're able to break the curse."

She looked up at me.

"But…?"

"But I will not have you doing something you find distasteful merely because you think you owe it to me," I told her firmly. "I am well aware that your intention is to return to your own life in the Human Realm. And I will not ask you to compromise yourself simply to give me back mine."

Her expression softened.

"Oh, Garrik," she said quietly. "That's really sweet of you."

I felt oddly embarrassed by her words.

"There's nothing sweet about it," I grumbled. "It's simply the behavior one ought to expect from a gentleman."

"Well, believe me, not every man behaves like a gentleman," she said, giving me a small, rather sad smile. "My ex-husband certainly didn't."

“What happened with him?” I asked.

She sighed.

“Oh, not much. He just ran off with a younger woman after we’d been married for twenty-three years.”