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She shivered as the warmth of his hand encased hers, and she stared at him as she listened to his impassioned speech and felt her heart expand beneath her breast.
“I want someone who will walk with me, Beatrice. I don’t expect to drag you through life telling you want to do with your days. Walk with me,” he urged in a husky whisper.
She knew he was laying a golden carpet beneath her feet, and she would be a fool if she refused to walk with him along it. He was everything she had ever wanted, and more besides. In spite of their short acquaintance, she knew that this was right.
“Ben,” she whispered in a voice that was laden with tears. She didn’t move when his head dipped toward hers, and sighed when her lips were captured in a tender kiss that robbed her of all thought.
Her sigh of acceptance was all he needed to hear, and he slowly eased her backward until she lay on the blanket. He leaned over her without releasing her lips and tilted his head this way and that as he sipped from the honeyed nectar of her mouth. She didn’t protest; she couldn’t, and merely clung to his jacket to hold him in place while she accepted the prospect of their future together.
“A’ternoon.”
Neither of them had heard the rumble of farmer’s cart until it was directly beside them. Ben lifted his head and watched the carriage wheels roll past before he lifted his gaze to the farmer, who nodded at him and turned to face forward as though riding past a couple locked in a passionate embrace was something he encountered every day.
Ben looked down at Beatrice and grinned at the fiery blush that stained her cheeks. While he cursed his folly at having kissed her in such a public place, he was glad that he had taken the opportunity to at least get her to think about a future with him.
“Do you think that one day we may be able to do that without being interrupted?” Beatrice asked as she sat up and primly began to push her hair back into place.
Ben grinned at her and downed the rest of his wine. “We are going to have to start to lock ourselves into the house, I think.”
They quickly packed the rest of the picnic things and folded the blanket.
“Thank you for this, I really enjoyed it,” Beatrice said quietly as they walked hand in hand back to the carriage.
“I am glad, darling. It has been really rather wonderful, if I d
o say so myself.” He nodded to the sky overhead, which had started to darken ominously. “However, I think that the best of the day is over if that heavy raincloud follows through with its threat.”
Beatrice looked at the rain clouds and shivered as she climbed aboard the carriage. “Do you think we will get home before it starts to rain?”
Ben climbed aboard and guided the horse back onto the road. “We should do, but we have been in caught out in a storm before so at least know what to expect. At least we are not on horseback this time.”
Beatrice rolled her eyes. “You are not going to let me forget that are you?”
He grinned at her. “Well, it is a rather defining moment in our relationship, my darling. If I hadn’t happened along that particular stretch of road, at that particular moment, we may never have met.”
She had to agree with him, and settled back in the seat in contented silence.
Once the horse was on a straight part of the lane, he leaned into the back of the carriage and draped the picnic blanket across their legs. Now that the sun had disappeared, the temperature had started to drop rapidly and, although she wasn’t chilled, she was not as warm as she had been on the picnic blanket earlier.
Beatrice snuggled beneath its heavy warmth with a sigh, and leaned up to place a gentle kiss on his jaw, deeply touched at his consideration of her.
“What should we do now?” She sighed as she rested her head against his shoulder. Her smile grew dreamy when he kissed her forehead.
In spite of the pleasurable day, her mind refused to settle. “I have to say that I don’t think you will be contacted by Richard Browning.”
“I know, I completely agree,” Ben acknowledged with a sigh.
“I don’t ever want to go back to his house.”
“I think it is a waste of time to go back there. We have to go and see the last man on the list, Bernard Murray, and see what he has to say. He lives in Tipton Hollow. Why don’t we look at doing that tomorrow? We can call in at Harriett’s for tea while we are there?”
“If the weather is nice, we can walk into the village,” she suggested. “That would be nice.”
Ben kept quiet. The last thing he wanted was for Beatrice to walk anywhere. After all, the last time she had been on foot, she had nearly ended up beneath carriage wheels. However he kept his thoughts to himself, although hoped that it would rain tomorrow.
“How about if we walk, cut through the woods and call in at my house on the way? You can then see to the plant, and we can go on to the village from here.”
Beatrice smiled at him and nodded. She had never been to Ben’s house before, and had to confess that she was really rather intrigued to know what it was like.
