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“Daniel, how wonderful to see you.”
The appreciative way that he looked at her made her look quickly away.
“Verity, you are looking well. I’m glad to see that you are apparently eating regularly.”
She knew that Daniel was only half-joking, and she looked down at her body with a frown.
“Not that you are not the same slim beauty I met, but you looked for a while like a bit of a waif. Now you look healthy. Please don’t frown at me.”
Verity shook her head, uncertain how to respond – of a certainty, she was no longer a slim woman, although her increase in size was entirely a result of the child. A woman simply did not discuss details of childbearing with a man, not even her husband. Visions of being Daniel’s wife flashed unbidden into her head. A smile played on her lips, and she hoped that Daniel could not guess her thoughts.
“Please be seated. I shall ring for tea.”
Verity gave action to her words and pulled the bellpull. Daniel joined her on the couch, sitting at the other end of it – close, but not too close.
“Tea please, Annie, and any biscuits or small cakes you can call up. I’m feeling a bit peckish.”
With a smile for her mistress, the girl left as silently as she’d come.
“Peckish, Verity? Is it unladylike to be just plain hungry?”
Daniel was teasing her, and she blushed.
“Not at all Daniel, but how else would I supply food without implying you to be scrounging a meal?”
He threw back his head and laughed. Still smiling, he gazed at her affectionately, and her blush deepened. Surely, she was seeing affection where there was simply kindness – it was all wishful thinking on her part.
“Verity, I have laughed more since I met you, since you came to this cottage at any rate, than I have since I was a lad. For that you have my eternal gratitude. There is something healing in that.”
They had chatted amicably for several minutes before the tea and sandwiches and little cakes were brought in. Daniel’s eyes brightened at the sight, and he did not wait for the maid to leave before serving himself several of each.
Verity laughed at the precarious pile on his little plate.
He looked so delightfully relaxed, sitting there beside her, that a kind of rash madness seized her – she had to know more of him, more about who he truly was.
“Daniel… Might I ask you a question?”
He met her eyes, his full of curiosity.
“Of course – what is it that you wish to ask me?”
“Who are you, Daniel? Truly – all of it, not just the bare two names – for I am sure that there is far more to you than you’ve told me.”
Chapter Eight
Daniel swallowed, hard, at her words. He had known that this moment would come, soon, but he had not expected it today. Outside, the day was beautiful, and the fields filled with flowers as the warmth of early May brought growth to everything.
Suddenly, faced with her question, he felt rather too warm…
“Ah… Verity… I had planned to tell you all of it, soon. I am sorry for my subterfuge, but… in the past, my experience with women has not been encouraging. Most ladies of thetonhave been all too interested in my title, my wealth, my connections, and the like, but not really interested at all, in me, as a person. So when I met you, and you seemed so different, I wanted the chance to get to know you, without all of that formality and social status getting in the way. Nothing I have told you has been a lie – it is just that I have not told you all of the truth.”
He paused, watching her face, waiting to see how she would respond. His heart pounded, for if she chose to reject him for this, he would be devastated.
She frowned, but her words were mild.
“I see. So – what is the ‘rest of the truth’ that you have not told me?”
“There is not much to it. The truth is that I am the Duke of Summerfield – I inherited the title and all that goes with it when my father died last December.”
