“I am.”
He sneered at her, though it was lightly done. “If you do not apologize, I will not give you what I have brought,” he said. “I’ll give it to someone else and then you’ll be sorry that you were so cruel to me.”
She shook her head at him. “Poor lad,” she said. “Hurt and insulted by a cruel woman.”
“It is true. I’m going to tell everyone it is true.”
“They’ll think you a weak man, indeed, if you let me get the better of you.”
His grin was back. “And I gladly submit to your whims, wishes, and words,” he said. “Anything you want to say is fine by me. Even nice things.”
He was flirting with her, and Mira could feel the flush in her cheeks because he was quite adorable when he did that. “Then Iwill have to think of some nice things to say,” she said. “I could possibly tell you that you are quite handsome.”
“Do you think so?”
“Conceivably.”
“Tell me that you think so and I’ll give you something for it.”
She leaned the broom against the stone of the hearth and held out her hand. “Let me see what you’ve brought and I will determine what nice words it warrants.”
She was clever. With a smirk tugging on the corners of his mouth, Douglas dug into the purse at his side and pulled forth the necklace. Carefully, he laid it in her open palm so that the cross was on the top, staring at her.
The smile immediately vanished from her face.
“Oh… Douglas,” she gasped, picking up the cross to get a good look at it. “This is magnificent. Wherever did you find it?”
“A merchant in Axminster,” he said. “There is a story behind the cross.”
“What is it?”
He watched her as she inspected it. “Evidently, it belonged to a young woman who had decided to take the veil,” he said. “Her father gave the cross to her as a token of her decision, but when she went to the cloister, she could not take it with her.”
Mira turned the cross over to see the inscription on the back. She held it up in the light to get a better look.
“Meum arbitrium,” she murmured. “My choice? That’s a curious inscription.”
“Not really,” Douglas said. “Her choice was the cloister. The merchant said that the father gave it to her to celebrate her choice, but the more I think on it, I would wager he gave it to her to remind her what her choice was going to cost her—fine things, jewelry, her family, and possibly even a husband. I think he was reminding her of what she was going to leave behind.”
Mira nodded as she turned the cross over again to admire the jewels on the front. “So it is a token with several meanings,” she said. “What does it mean to you?”
He lifted his eyebrows. “That should be obvious,” he said. “You are my choice.”
She fought off a grin. “Did you give me this to brand me, then?”
“Of course I did,” he said with muted sarcasm. “You will wear it every day and show everyone that you aremychoice. Wear it like a flag, Mira, and wave it for all to see. You belong to me and I want everyone to know it.”
She glanced up at him. “But I’ve not yet agreed.”
That was true. She hadn’t technically agreed to anything. Therefore, he sighed heavily, hands on hips in an unhappy gesture. “If you have not yet agreed, then give it back to me,” he said. “I’ll find someone else to give it to.”
She was fighting off laughter now because he was close to pitching a fit. He was easy to taunt and they had a good rapport between them. In fact, she knew he wasn’t serious, and he knew she wasn’t serious. It was simply a formality for her to consent.
And they both knew it.
“You willnotgive it to anyone else,” she said, putting it over her head and letting the necklace settle around her neck and chest. “I’ll wave it like a flag, I promise. Why wouldn’t I? You are my choice, too.”
He cast her a sidelong glance, unable to keep the smile from his lips. “It is about time.”
