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She snorted. “Not by half.”
“Good, because I am mightily confused,” he admitted.
“I don’t know what happens next,” she said, and he wanted to draw her to him and protect her with a sword and shield from all the things that were coming at her. But he didn’t have either. Nor would she welcome his interference.
The glitter began to dissipate from the air, shooting like stars flying across the sky and then dissolving like the morning dew on his garden.
He thought about it a moment. “Come back to the Hall with me. Take some time to absorb it all. To come to terms with it.”
“I’m not certain that’s a good idea,” she said, and he could tell she wasn’t sold on the idea.
His heart sank. “Marry me and then come home with me.”
She shook her head and the corners of her mouth turned down. “I cannot.” That was all she said. Just that she could not. She could if she wanted to. Perhaps she just didn’t want to. Didn’t want to enough. He tried to come up with a reason for her to leave the family she’d never known. It was selfish of him, he knew, but he wanted her. He needed her. If only for a few days.
“I have something that will make you change your mind.” He adjusted the fit of his rumpled coat and steeled himself. “I have someone who belongs to you within my walls
.”
She startled. “Claire?” she asked. “Claire can take care of herself.”
Who the devil was Claire? “No. Who is Claire?”
Her brows knit together. “Then who?”
“You will have to visit me to find out. But I will tell you that this person will be incredibly happy when you come to stake your claim.”
“Stake my claim?” She looked confused. And a little vexed.
“You will want what I have.”
“Did I forget my dust?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “With all the dust at my estate, I doubt I would notice any you left behind.” He paused and took a deep breath. “But no, it’s living and breathing. A little fellow about two feet tall.”
“You caught Ronald!” she cried. She put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. “How the devil did you do that?”
“Finn did it, actually. Then I freed him. And he bit me. And then I caught him again. I’d like to untie him, but he has really sharp teeth.”
Sophia laughed and leaned forward, pressing her cheek over his heart for a moment, as though he alone could bolster her. He took a deep breath at the same time she did. “Set him free, Ashley. I cannot come to you.”
“Why not?” He began to feel like a lost child at a carnival, desperate to find his way to the person to whom he belonged.
She turned to face the window. “It will only prolong the hurt.” She spun back to face him. “Set him free.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed. She was quite adorable when she was vexed. “You’ll only do us both harm by keeping him.”
“You can put a stop to it. Simply come and retrieve him.” He bent and kissed her forehead, despite the fact that it was wrinkled with what he supposed was worry. Or anger. He wasn’t certain which. But he forced himself to turn and leave the room.
***
Sophia plucked a flower from a plant in Lord Ramsdale’s lovely garden and brought it to her nose, deeply inhaling its lavender scent. She let it envelop her as she tilted her head up toward the sun and let its warmth shine upon her skin.
“You look just like your mother when you do that,” a voice said from a few feet away from her.
Sophia startled and dropped the flower, which fell to the cobbled walk beneath her feet. “Allow me,” Lord Ramsdale said as he bent to retrieve it. He held it out to her, allowing it to twist and twirl between his fingers.
