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“You could say that.” Elliot thought back to being taught how to shoot. He’d been taught by the estate manager, not by his father. “Now, shall I show you what to do?” he offered, stepping toward Miss Townsend.
To his surprise, her eyes narrowed, then she lifted the bow and arrow with ease and fired at the same target. The arrow whipped out of the bow and landed straight in the middle of the bullseye.
“Oh.” Elliot’s eyes widened. “I see you have had instruction, too.”
“That I have.” She smiled and picked up a second arrow. “I am perhaps not as incapable as you thought.”
“Incapable? Pah, I knew you weren’t incapable after last night,” Elliot assured her, laughing at the idea. He stepped toward her, lowering his voice in case anyone else was close enough to listen in. “You swam into the middle of the Thames and pulled me out, no small feat for any swimmer, let alone one pulling out someone as tall as myself.”
“You did start swimming with me,” she said as she lifted the bow for another shot. “Had you not, I do not think I would have been able to get you out at all.” She fired a second time, and this arrow landed only a short distance away from the first.
Elliot couldn’t help smiling, feeling increasingly impressed by this woman.
“Aren’t you going to take another shot?” she asked.
“In a minute.”
“You are simply irked my shot was better than yours,” she teased him with a smile. He laughed a little, shaking his head at her.
“Are you always like this? Teasing?”
“Usually.” Miss Townsend nodded and selected a third arrow, but she offered it to him. “Though if you wish me to be completely serious to discuss the proposition I made to you last night, then I suppose I could begrudgingly promise to be so for the duration of the discussion.”
“Hmm. Why do I feel as if that would be a disappointment?” he whispered, aware he was flirting with her again. “Maybe I like the way you tease?” He fired the arrow, but it was worse than last time, ending up in the rim of the bullseye. “Well, it seems I’ve lost my skills entirely.”
“Not quite. You pull to the left as you release, see?” She stepped toward him and pulled on his left arm. That touch had him snatching his gaze toward her, wondering if she’d felt the same spark he had. She clearly did, for she blushed. “Pray, do not look at me like that, Your Grace.”
“Why? Is it reminding you of that kiss?”
“Shh,” she pleaded, releasing his arm and walking around the quiver of arrows that was pressed into a stand in the ground, taking up another. “I have barely stopped thinking of it since, anyway.”
Elliot stood taller at her words, rather glad he was not the only one who could not stop thinking of it.
“About last night, your proposition…” Elliot paused and leaned on his bow, needing to be clear on this point. “Did you mean it?”
“Did I mean that I am in need of a husband, and you are in need of a wealthy wife? Yes, I did.” She nodded, playing with the arrow in her hand. “Is a marriage of convenience so unsettling an idea?”
“When we do not know each other, yes,” Elliot pointed out.
“Many a marriage has taken place where the couple does not really know each other.”
“True, and I warrant not many of them had such a kiss as you and I did,” he said as she stepped forward, ready to take another shot.
“You are putting me off my shot, Your Grace,” she whispered accusingly, then turned to focus on the target.
“Am I?” Elliot couldn’t resist. He stood closer behind her, wanting to see what the proximity did to her. She flinched a little as she released the arrow. It landed in the ground rather than in the target and made a dog nearby bark and run away. “Well, at least I am not the only one getting worse.”
“Indeed.” She sighed and turned to face him. “You have questions for me, do you not?”
“Many.”
“Then feel free to ask them.” She gestured for him to go on.
“What is your dowry?” he asked, needing to know. If she was offering up a fortune to entice him, then he had to know it was real. What else could save Grace from destitution and himself from debtors’ prison?
“Fifty thousand pounds, plus two estates.”
“I beg your pardon?” The bow slipped from his grasp and Miss Townsend caught it as he went to take it, too. The result was their hands meeting on the wood. She released her grasp quickly, far too quickly for his liking.
