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“Don’t think I haven’t forgotten what you said the other night,” she told him. “That was very bad of you.”
“What, My Lady?” He knew exactly what she was speaking of.
“I need your full honesty, Your Grace,” she said. “I will do the same for you because we must be on friendly terms.”
“Full honesty, and nothing less, My Lady.”
She nodded, her eyes looking out over the horizon. “Please, do not think me too bold, but I must know, Your Grace—were you flirting with me? If you were, I cannot have it.” She looked at him.
“I wasn’t, My Lady,” he said. “I was simply trying to have a serious conversation with you. Believe me—I would never treat you so abominably.”
Her look softened. “Such an odd subject,” she commented. “I don’t think any gentleman has ever mentioned love and not been teasing me.”
“Do you want my full and honest confession, My Lady?” He was surprised at how frank he could be with her. He didn’t think that he’d been able to talk to anyone except for Stephen like this.
“Yes. Let’s have that, Your Grace.” Her brow was raised, and her lips were pursed. He was, as always, dying to know what she was thinking.
“I have never been in love,” he admitted, his eyes on her. They had both stopped walking. Pilot nuzzled him on the shoulder. “I would like to be. But I am not.”
“I see.”
When she didn’t go on, he realized that she was allowing him to go on. “I always thought that there would be that spark.”
“The one that you only read of?” Lady Selina had a small smile on her face, though her eyes had a sad, empathetic cast to them.
“Yes.”
“I have to agree with you, there,” she said. “But I have the luxury of time and independence should I not find it.”
“You do?” He was surprised. He had never heard of a young lady of aristocratic means declaring that she wouldn’t marry unless she wanted to. All the ladies of thetonwere obsessed with acquiring the best match and being happily wed before turning two-and-twenty.
“My parents are very much in love,” she said, walking on. “They’ve told my brother and me explicitly that we are to marry for nothing less, Your Grace.”
“What are they like, My Lady?”
“Whenever one enters a room, the other’s eyes light up,” she said, her eyes distant. “It’s as if they are looking at the answer to all their prayers. You can tell by the way that they speak to each other, the respect with which they treat the other, and the way that no one else exists when it’s just the two of them, off in the corner.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“It is the most beautiful thing,” she agreed. “I can marry for nothing less.” She looked at him, seriously. “You’ve already agreed to marry my cousin.”
“The Banns have been announced, just the day before you arrived.” He felt like there was a prison, wrapped around his heart. He would gladly unlock it for Lady Selina, but honor dictated otherwise.
“If you wanted to wait for love, then why did you agree, Your Grace?”
He sighed. “I didn’t realize just how important it was to me.”
“Why are you paying me so much attention? She notices, you know.”
“Because the first moment I laid eyes upon you, I felt as though I’d been struck by lightning.”
She was turned away from him, so that her bonnet covered her face. He wanted her to look at him. He waited, his heart pounding in his chest. He had just revealed all, as though he had laid out his heart like a hand of cards for her to see.
“That’s infatuation, Your Grace,” she said, firmly. “Nothing more. You know nothing about me.”
“I don’t have to, My Lady,” he said, causing her to finally look right at him. She blinked in surprise. “When did your parents know that they were in love?”
“The moment they met,” she whispered, those honey and spring-green eyes wide. Her lips had fallen open.
