Roi could see how distressed she was by it, but even in her distress, he was so fascinated by her that he could hardly think straight. But he was coming to suspect that this marriage wasn’t something she wanted, either. He had to admit that he was disappointed. Now that she’d seen him, she didn’t want an old man for a husband.
He didn’t blame her.
“Of course you didn’t,” he said quietly. “You are a beautiful young woman and it is only right that you should like a strong, young husband. Truly, I did not mean to offend you by offering to marry you in my son’s stead. That was never my intent. But your father was quite insistent that he either be given a de Lohr husband for you or that your dowry be returned. I thought offering to marry you in place of my son was the more honorable thing to do, but now I see that it was wrong. You have my apologies.”
Diara, whose clasped hands had been fidgeting in her lap, suddenly stopped and looked at him curiously. “You…youoffered, my lord?”
Roi nodded. “I did,” he said. “But I can simply give him back your dowry and you can find a husband more to your liking.”
Diara blinked, puzzled by the conversation. “That is not what I meant, my lord,” she said, hastening to reassure him. “I am sorry if you thought I did not… that’snotwhat I meant at all. I was simply apologizing that you felt you had to placate my father by offering yourself. Surely you do not want to marry me.”
“Surely you do not want to marryme.”
“Not if you do not want to marry me.”
Roi’s eyebrows lifted. Then he started chuckling, rubbing a hand over his cheek and mouth. “I think we are going in circles,” he said. “Do you want to marry me, my lady?”
“If you want me to. But only if you truly want me to.”
More circles. Roi suspected she was going to defer to him in all things and leave the decision up to him, so he put up a hand to ease her. “Let us proceed in another way,” he said. “May I?”
She nodded eagerly. “I wish you would, my lord.”
“Then I suggest that we take this evening to get to know one another,” he said. “This is all very new and mayhap even shocking to the both of us, so I think we should take a little time before we make a life-changing decision. If, at the end of the evening, you decide that I would not make a good husband to you, you simply need say so and I shall return your dowry and your father can find you a husband more to your liking. Is that satisfactory?”
Diara seriously thought on that. It was a shockingly generous offer, considering what a marriage to her would bring to him. But he was giving her some choice in the matter, something she was quite touched by. No one, not even her father, had ever given her a choice at all when it came to her own life.
But Beckett’s father had.
She had to admit that, in her eyes, that was just the least bit endearing.
“It is,” she said. “But I must say the same thing to you. If, by the end of the evening, you decide you would not like to have me as your wife, you simply need tell me. I will not be offended. But I do ask that you be honest with me, my lord, as I will be honest with you.”
“I can ask for no better request.”
Diara smiled hesitantly. “Good,” she said. “When I came to visit Pembridge last year, I did not have the chance to speak to you, so I look forward to the opportunity.”
“As do I,” Roi said. “But the last time we met, you did what you were supposed to do, which was spend time with Beckett. He had good things to say about you.”
“That is kind,” Diara said. “I found him polite and full of dreams of adventure.”
“I think most young men his age have those dreams.”
“Did you?”
Roi was feeling a little more relaxed with her as he settled back in his chair. “Certainly,” he said. “Though I cannot tell you exactly what they were. I’m sure I had dreams of battling the French, of killing in the name of the king, of being much decorated, like the gladiators of Ancient Rome.”
Diara’s smile grew. “Did you wear a wreath of laurel leaves after your first battle?”
Roi laughed softly at the cute question. “I did not even think of it,” he said. “But if I had, I’m sure I would have. Now I feel as if I have missed something.”
Diara laughed because he was. It was a surprisingly pleasant moment in a conversation where neither one of them was sure there would be such a thing.
It was encouraging.
“Then mayhap after the next battle, I can make you a wreath of holly and plant it right atop your head,” she said with an accompanying gesture. “That would make a bright display.”
He winced. “And a painful one,” he said. “Can we not find a better leaf than holly?”
