Emma was so surprised by the question that she was still trying to come up with something cutting to say as Nathaniel pushed off from against the wall and looked at her father. On the whole, it was a fairly respectful look, which was probably more than her father deserved.
“I’ve commissioned several paintings from her for the castle I’m restoring,” Nathaniel said. “After that? I thought Iwould date your daughter for a bit and see if she is open to the idea of anything more permanent.”
Her father’s mouth fell open. “You want to marry her?”
“I believe that’s our private business.”
“But I’m her father!”
“And you pushed my Jag into the lake,” Emma put in. “I’ll let Mom know what I’m doing and you can try to get it out of her.”
Nathaniel took her hand. “Apparently she’ll let her mother know what she’s doing. Cheers.”
Emma walked with him out of the building, ignoring the squawking going on behind her until it faded into the blissful sounds of normal city life. She didn’t dare look at him until they were several blocks away.
“Are you restoring a castle?” she asked seriously.
“It’s on my list, right after taking care of my most pressing problem.”
“Hmmm,” she said, studying him. “Did you just ask me out on a date back there?”
“I believe I asked you out on a date earlier in the day. I asked you to marry me back there.”
“That was a proposal?” she asked faintly.
“A poor one,” he said. “I’ll try a better one in a more romantic spot.”
She stopped and looked at him. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”
He pulled her out of the press of people and under the shelter of an awning. “Is it the fact that I tried to get you to move that leaves me looking less than appealing,” he asked slowly, “or is it my second job?”
She would have smiled if her heart hadn’t hurt so much. “Neither,” she said. “I just don’t think you know me very well. I might snore.”
“Well, I wasn’t suggesting we pop into the jeweler’s right off,” he said carefully. “A few dates, perhaps. I’ll let you drive the Lamborghini and see what I think about that.” He flashed her a brief smile. “I’ll trot out whatever accent you like best whenever you like.”
“That is tempting,” she agreed.
His smile faded. “I’ll solve the other, Emma. I’ll make it soyou can stay in Scotland as long as you like. You can see if you can bear the sight of me for more than a few days at a time, then we can discuss other things.”
She looked at his hand holding hers, then met his gaze. “I’m assuming that deal includes a little test spin in your Vanquish.”
He smiled, a more genuine smile that time, then leaned over and softly kissed her cheek. “We’ll see.”
“Deal’s off, then.”
He laughed, then took her hand in both his own. “Well, if you’re going to play hardball, then I’ll reconsider. Let’s go back to the hotel and look for a show. Would you mind if my brother came to dinner? He’ll make a list of all my failings for you, I’m sure. Important to know those before you get too much further into this, I imagine.”
“We could invite Sheldon as well,” she offered. “He can make a list of mine for you.”
Nathaniel snorted. “The only list I want from him is all the ways he can sayI’m boring the hell out of you, aren’t I?”
“That could take a while.”
“We’ll leave him making it whilst we’re off for a lovely evening.”
She couldn’t imagine anything more useful for him to do than that.
•••
