He turned it over in his mind for the rest of the evening. It followed him to bed and haunted his dreams. The next morning, the idea remained ridiculous. More than that, it seemed insane. He would have to tell her everything. It would cost him his pride and his secrets. She would probably reject it, anyway. Half of his mind, the rational half, rejected it too. But, blast it all, he would do it anyway.
CHAPTER 27 - The Proposal
THE NEXT MORNING, DALEsurprised Olivia by joining her for breakfast. Apparently, he had decided to stop avoiding her, and his appearance gave her more pleasure than she cared to contemplate. But he had offered no conversation so far, seeming preoccupied by his thoughts. She was trying to act cool because he had made it clear he didn’t want any entanglement with her. She wouldn’t go around making a fool of herself. After breakfast, she would busy herself, go practice her riding, and—
“I have thought of a solution to your situation.”
She blinked at him. "You have? What—"
“You could marry me.”
The sip of coffee Olivia was swallowing went down the wrong way, and she coughed. Dale got up from his chair as if to help her, but she stopped him with a raised hand.
She must have misheard him. He couldn’t mean what he said.
She finally stopped coughing and dabbed at her watery eyes with the napkin.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t quite catch what you said.”
He narrowed his eyes in annoyance, not fooled by her pretense at misunderstanding.
“I said.” He enunciated each word carefully. “That you and I should get married.”
So she had heard him correctly, but still. The idea was so preposterous she could hardly credit her ears. She stared at him.
“You mean to marry as in becoming husband and wife?” she further clarified.
“Yes, of course. That’s the only kind of marriage I know. Or does marriage mean something else in the future?” he replied testily.
She had better not get into that conversation. “No, it means just that. I was just wondering if it meant the same thing to you because the idea seemed kind of...” How could she put this in a diplomatic way? “Kind of unexpected.”
“I know how it sounds. When the idea first occurred to me, I didn’t even want to contemplate it because it sounded absurd. But the more I thought about it, the more advantages I could see.”
“Really? Please explain them to me, because just yesterday you were trying to keep your distance. I don’t understand how you went from that to marriage literally overnight. To me, they are opposite ideas.”
“Not necessarily. Many marriages among the aristocracy are merely business transactions. No affection or closeness is required.”
