“Trying to spoil everything for me,” she said. “He isquite detestable, Freddie, and I hate him. He has alwaysbeen unbearably stuffy for as long as I have known him.”
“You had better not marry him, then,” he said. “Youwould worry each other into an early grave, Jule. If I remember correctly, Dan’s objection to you always used tobe that you were not nearly stuffy enough—though he didnot put it in quite those words. Do you remember the timeyou fell into the lake out of a tree branch?”
“Ijumpedin,” she said, “because you dared me to, Freddie.”
“Did I?” he said. “It sounds altogether likely. I do remember Dan standing on the bank looking like a Bond Street beau as you fished yourself out looking for all theworld like a drowned rat. He told you that it might havetaught you a lesson if your head had collided with a largestone at the bottom of the lake.”
“That was the time Gussie called him a pompous ass,” Julia said. “After he was safely out of earshot, of course.You boys were always a little afraid of Daniel’s fists. Ithought it a fitting description anyway and have only beensorry that it is not good manners for a lady to use such language in public.”
He laughed. “I didn’t bring you out here and dodge chaperons and trees only to reminisce about our growing years,” he said.
Julia frowned. “Why did you bring me out here, Freddie?” she asked. “We might as well have it out in the open. You are not going to tell me that you have conceived a violent and undying passion for me, are you?”
“Since you put it that way, no,” he said. “Decidedly not. I can see it would not work. You are too perceptive by half,Jule. I should be able to look at you like this”—his eyesgazed meltingly into hers from beneath drooped eyelids andthen slowly roamed upward to her hairline and downwardto her mouth—“and touch you like this”—one handreached out so that his fingertips feathered along one sideof her jaw and cupped her chin lightly while his thumbtouched her lips—“and murmur that you have grown upunder my very nose and become an enticing and a beautifulwoman without warning. And then your knees shouldbuckle and you should be my slave for life.” He droppedhis hand.
“How foolish,” she said. “Do other women fall for it, Freddie?”
He chuckled. He was almost glad she had not. He did not like a game with high stakes to be too, too easy. “By thedozen,” he said. “But you would be onto my game in aflash, wouldn’t you?”
“You have no fondness for me, then?” She sighed. “What a shame.”
“Oh, I did not say that,” he said. “I am very fond of you, Jule. I always have been. And you really have grown up inthe last few years. You are enticing enough to make anyred-blooded male’s pulse quicken.”
“Am I?” She smiled at him. “And do you want to marry me, Freddie?”
He smiled at her lazily. “The thought has its appeal,” he said.
“Because I am beautiful and pulse-quickening and you are fond of me?” she asked.
“But of course,” he said softly.
“Not because of Primrose Park?” she asked. “And not because of the state of your pockets?”
He reached out one hand and cupped her chin again. “Who told you my pockets were to let?” he asked. “Anyone? Or has my reputation preceded me here and you havedrawn your own conclusions? It is not true, you know. Ilike to gamble now and then but never more than I can afford to lose. Are you afraid I would gamble Primrose Parkaway?”
She looked steadily back into his eyes. “Yes,” she said. “You would marry me for Primrose Park, wouldn't you,Freddie? Don't say no. I know you would be lying.”
He removed his hand and touched one finger lightly to her nose. Julia was no one's fool. “I really am fond of you,Jule,” he said. “You should know the truth of that. Wewould deal well together.”
“I would deal well with Gussie too,” she said. “Or even with Les. And perhaps with Malcolm too. Not with Daniel,I must admit. But with any of the others. What could youoffer me more than that, Freddie? I am curious to know.”
“A title one day,” he said. “You would be a baroness, Jule. Not that I wish any ill health on my father, of course.”
“I could be a countess with Daniel or a future baronesswith Malcolm,” she said. “What else, Freddie?”
He grinned suddenly. “I have been trying to avoid the obvious answer, Jule,” he said, “because I am a gentleman.But if you insist, I will oblige. A damned good time in bed,that’s what I can offer you. It’s a promise. And don’t pretend that the idea does not appeal to you at all. You aretwenty-one years old, aren't you? You must have dreamedof being treated to a good time between the sheets.”
“Oh, for shame,” she said. “You never were a gentleman, Freddie. You never were. But you have never so blatantlytried to put me to the blush.”
“I’ll wager I have succeeded too,” he said. “It’s a pity it is too dark to see your complexion, Jule.” He reached outsuddenly and captured one of her wrists. He slid his footdown the tree trunk and set it on the ground. “Come hereand let me show you something.”
“What?” she asked warily.
“Let me show you how pleasant a kiss can be,” he said.
“I know how pleasant a kiss can be,” she said. “I am no green girl. Do you think I have never been kissed, Freddie?”
“Probably not as I am going to do it,” he said. “If you want a preview of what I can offer you, Jule, come here.”
