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But Ramsdale just dropped down behind his desk and scrubbed his face with his hands. “What is it with you Trimbles? I just got my daughters back, and now you w
ant to take them from me.”
“I want to marry her,” Finn blurted out.
“Of course, you do,” Lord Ramsdale affirmed with a nod. “But you know that she won’t do it.” He heaved a sigh. “So, now I have a deflowered daughter in the eyes of the ton.”
She’d been deflowered all right, but it was months ago.
“Truly, I was just getting the bug.”
“Do you want the readings of the banns or a special license?” Ramsdale asked with a heavy sigh. The man looked defeated.
“Do you think she’ll marry me?”
Ramsdale snorted. “I don’t think she’ll have a choice. Banns or special license?”
“Banns,” Finn said quickly. His heart was beating so quickly in his chest that he feared it might jump from between his ribs and land in the middle of the rug.
“Banns, it is.” Ramsdale pointed a finger at Finn. “You’ll stay away from my daughter for the three weeks prior to the wedding.”
“But—” Finn started.
But Ramsdale talked over him. “Three weeks. That’s all I ask. Let me have her for three weeks and then you can have her for a lifetime.” The man’s voice was guttural with emotion, and Finn’s heart hurt for him.
“Yes, Lord Ramsdale,” he said. “Three weeks.”
“You already love her, don’t you?” Ramsdale asked.
Finn tripped over his own tongue. His answer came out more as a croak. So, he cleared his throat. “With all my heart,” he finally admitted.
“Good. They can be stubborn, the fae. Stick with it. It’ll be worth it in the end.”
Stick with it. Finn would stick with it. He would stick with her. But would she hate him for putting her in this mess? It was too late to worry about that now, wasn’t it?
Twenty-One
Claire ambled through the garden at Ramsdale House, where she’d been sent following the ball debacle, and picked a flower from the side of the path. She tucked it behind her ear and kept walking.
“Your mother used to do the same thing, you know?” a voice called. Claire looked up to find her father strolling toward her. “You look a lot like her, but I think you got more of the blond from me, rather than the strawberry from her.”
Claire looked up at him. He’d been trying for days to talk to her. He’d tried in the land of the fae, but she’d sent him packing. She’d even run away to escape talking to him. But she couldn’t run away now. She would have to face the challenge. She’d never backed down from a challenge before. Why was this one so difficult? Maybe because it was the first time her heart had ever been involved.
“How are you?” he asked.
She shrugged and ambled farther down the walk. He fell into step beside her. “You can run, but you can’t hide.” She glared at him and he continued. “Well, yes, you could. But it won’t do you any good. You have to marry him.”
“It was just a bug,” Claire complained.
“I know. But it didn’t look like just a bug.”
And it hadn’t been just a bug several months ago. But it was just a bug that night. It didn’t matter.
“Claire,” he said gently, before he tipped her chin up gently. “If you tell me you’ll be miserable with him, I’ll cancel the banns and we’ll deal with society.”
“You’d give me a choice?” she asked. She twirled the stem of a flower in her fingers, trying to fight the feeling of falling. Like a bird in flight that had suddenly lost its wings.
“I’ll give you a choice.” He pointed a finger at her. “But give it careful thought. Something tells me the man is deeply in love with you. You could do much worse than a love match.”
