"But I am not alone with you," she said, tripping along behind him, her hand in his firm grasp. "Lord Kenwood and Mrs. Ingram are down below. And your mama said it would be quite all right for me to stay and return with you.''
"Did she?" he said, fixing her with a gloomy eye before turning back to watch his footing on the top step of the stone staircase that spiraled downward through one of the circular bastions.
"Were they kissing?" she asked. "Oh, goodness me, it is very much darker going down than it was coming up, is it not? I am thankful after all for your hand, my lord. Were they kissing?"
"No, they certainly were not," Lord Crensford said severely. "Diana has a great deal more sense than to do that."
"But he is very handsome," she said.
"Wait there," his lordship commanded, releasing her hand and scrambling down the rubble that had replaced the bottom few steps. His feet safely on the grass, he reached up for her, set his hands at her waist, and swung her down to stand in front of him.
And received something of a shock.She had somewhat resembled a blade of grass in shape the first time he had met her. Jack had been quite right about that. However, she was not like a blade of grass any longer. He swallowed and removed his hands from her in some haste.
"And for as long as you are a guest at Rotherham Hall," he said, "that is the last time I want to see you.doing something you have been expressly forbidden to do. Is that clear?"
She sighed.' 'Inever could do anything right in your eyes, could I, my lord?" she said. "You always used to scold me. I thought perhaps now that I am eighteen you would treat me more like a lady."
"You have to act like a lady if you want to be treated like one," Lord Crensford said ungraciously, still flustered by his discovery of a tiny waist and a not so tiny bosom above it. "Now take my hand again and don't let go until we are safely across the causeway."
"Yes, my lord," she said with a sigh. "But cannot I take your arm instead? You are not my father, after all."
"You should be feeling thankful for that," Lord Crensford said, striding off to the arched gateway with her hand tucked in his arm. "You would probably have had something more painful than a scolding from me when we got to the bottom of those stairs."
She stared up at him and wrinkled her nose at his oblivious and indignant profile. "But you went up the stairs," she said.
* * *
The marquess was shaking with laughter, which he did nothing to silence once he was alone with Diana again.
"Why on earth would Ernest take the risk of climbing up there?" she was saying beside him. "Even in daylight those stairs and battlements can be very dangerous."
"I think it was to save you from a fate worse than death, Diana," he said. "He doubtless thought I had you in the bushes ravishing you."
"Well," she said, "you must admit that you had something not too far distant from that on your mind."
"A kiss?" he said."Similar to ravishment?You malign me. I was about to kiss you, Diana, in the tradition of true romance."
"Well," she said briskly, "if he did not save me, he saved you. You were about to have your face smacked, my lord."
"Was I?" he said. "I wondered at the time. I am not at all convinced by your saying so now, though, Diana.Not at all convinced.But we will never know, will we?"
"If you ever dare try it again, you will find out," she said.
"Will I?" He grinned and flicked her cheek with one finger. "And at the same time we will also find out if my kisses bear any resemblance to ravishment. An interestingencounterto look forward to, Diana. I shall anticipate it with some eagerness. Ernie will doubtless be gnawing his fingernails to the elbows while he awaits us at the causeway. He will not trust me not to try to slink away into the bushes with you even now. Will you take my arm and prepare yourself for a brisk march?"
"Ernest is not a figure of fun," she said crossly, taking his arm. "He is a kindhearted man."
"I'll not argue that point with you," he said. "And on second thought, perhaps we should proceed at a more leisurely pace after all and allow him longer to give Miss Wickenham the length of his tongue. His wrath almost had me shaking in my boots."
"He was concerned for her safety," she said.
"Perhaps."He grinned. "By the way, before we come around to the front and he receives you with open and relieved arms, I must ask you one thing. Who did you think I was that night?"
"Oh," she said, wrestling with his arm and giving up when she realized that he was not going to relinquish his hold on her. "I did not think you were anyone. I was drugged, sir— with a double dose of laudanum."
"In that case," he said, "I must say that for once in my life I am happy to have been no one.Very happy."
"You are no gentleman, sir," she said as they rounded the west corner of the castle and came in sight of the other two.
