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“Is this a menagerie or a wedding?” asked Banksford.
This was spiraling out of control. Raven had best put a stop to it.
“My own darling tropical fruit,” he said in a syrupy voice to match hers. “Are you quite certain that you want all of these details in the paper? I thought we were saving some as a surprise.”
She patted his arm. “Isn’t that just like a nervous groom, worrying about things being printed before they’re finalized—don’t worry, ducky, everything will come off beautifully. It will be the most talked about wedding of the century. You have my full permission to regale your readership with all of the scintillating details, Mr. Peabody.”
“Much obliged, my lady. I will, I most certainly will,” Peabody said, nodding until his chin disappeared into the folds of his collar.
“We’re off to Paris tomorrow to have our matrimonial costumes designed,” said Indy.
Oh here we go.She’d find a way to go to Paris come hell or high water. Now she’d go as his fiancée.
“Come along, my scheming pineapple,” Raven clamped an arm around her waist. “Peabody wants to view your brother’s steam-engine model.”
Banksford gave Raven a brief nod, his eyes telling Raven to take Indy away before they dug their hole any deeper.
Raven and Indy descended the stair in silence, received their outer garments from a footman, and exited the house.
“Have you gone mad?” Raven asked her when they were a safe distance away.
“No madder than you, grabbing me like that. What was that?”
“That was a kiss.”
“No, that wasn’t a kiss.” She spun toward him. “That was a declaration of war, and you know it. You were trying to shock me. Manipulate me. Don’t try to deny it.”
She walked faster, putting distance between them. Raven caught himself admiring both the lightning speed of her deductions and the way her bum bounced beneath her skirts as she marched along.
“Indy, slow down for a moment. Where are you going? Didn’t you arrive in your carriage?”
“I walked. I like a constitutional in the mornings, it clears my head.”
“My head certainly needs clearing. Or maybe I require an entirely new head because I think we just announced our intention to marry.”
“Oh don’t worry about a thing, my irredeemable rogue. After our trip to Paris you’ll do something unforgivable and I’ll call off the wedding again. Problem solved.”
Her words were light but he heard the underlying accusation. He’d done something unforgivable. She was still angry and hurt, as well she should be.
It had been wrong to kiss her today. This was her way of seeking revenge.
“So you don’t intend to go through with it?” he asked, just to be clear.
She stopped walking and gave him a horrified look. “You don’t think for one second that I’d marry you over a mere kiss? That’s patently ridiculous. I would never marry you. Not in a million years.”
“So you’ve told me.”
A mere kiss? That had been the best kiss of his life.
There’d been nothingmereabout it. And what’s more, seeing her so upset about the possibility of marrying him triggered all manner of emotions that he wasn’t equipped to identify at the moment.
The thought of marrying him wasn’t themostpainful thing in the world.
He’d like to think it ranked slightly higher than having one’s fingernails ripped off by pincers, a torture method favored by the inventive Monsieur Le Triton.
“I know why you did this, Indy.”
“Do please explain everything to me,” she said with a sarcastic smile.
