And it struck her that he must have looked quite irresistibly gorgeous clad in his officer’s uniform with his scarlet coat and white pantaloons and red sash and cavalry sword swinging at his side.
“You do not f-fancy being a damsel in distress?” He raised one mocking eyebrow. “What a p-poor sport you are, Mrs. Keeping.”
“A man does not have to slay dragons to be a hero,” she told him.
“Or wolves? Or boars? What must he do, then?”
She had no answer to that. Whatdidmake a man a hero?
“Go away?” he offered softly as an answer to his own question. “Is that what he must do?”
She frowned briefly but said nothing.
Silence hung between them for a few moments until he took her upper arm in a firm grip and moved her off the driveway and into the trees for a few paces, before turning her back against a broad tree trunk and setting his hands flat against the bark on either side of her head. His face was a mere few inches from her own.
“I saw something enchanting,” he said. “In a ballroom and in a daffodil meadow. And I became obsessed—with b-bedding you, I assumed. It is what onedoesassume when one finds a woman enchanting. But I have not bedded you, though the desire is there on both our parts and the opportunity has presented itself on m-more than one occasion. I am on unfamiliar territory, Agnes Keeping, and you must help me. Or not. I cannot command your help. I want you in my life, and there is only one way I c-can have you there since you are not the sort of woman to whom one offers c-carte blanche, and I would not offer that to you even if you w-were. I offer m-marriage instead with a title, a large ancestral home and estate p-plus a house in London, wealth, p-position in society, security for a lifetime. But these m-material things mean n-nothing to you, I know. I do not know what else to offer except passion. I can give you that. I can bring you alive as you have never been alive before. I can g-give you children, or I suppose I can. And yet... and yet you would be well-advised to r-refuse me. I am d-dangerously unstable. I must be. I told you just recently that I would never offer m-marriage to anyone, yet now I offer it to you, and I do not even know how I could have m-meant what I said then, yet mean what I say n-now. You would not have an easy life with me, Agnes.”
“Or you with me,” she said through lips that felt too tight to obey her will. “I cannot give you what you want, my lord. And you cannot give me whatIwant. You want someone you can sweep away on a grand tide of passion so that you can forget, so that you can ignore all that still needs to be settled in your life, whatever that might be. I need someone quiet and steady and dependable.”
“So thatyoucan ignore all that needs to be s-settled inyourlife?” he asked her. “Whatever that might be?”
She licked lips turned suddenly dry.
He gazed at her, his eyes very green in the double shade of the tree and the brim of his hat.
“You are wrong about me,” he said, “and you are wrong about yourself. Don’t say n-no. If you cannot say yes, at least do not say no. It is such a final word. Once it is said, it cannot be argued against without the appearance of harassment. After I have left here, I will not come b-back. You will be free of me f-forever. But I have not left yet. Say no when I am leaving if you must, but not before then. P-Promise me?”
She did not want to say no. She desperately did not want to. But she could not say yes either. How could the answer to a simple question be neither yes nor no?
After I have left here, I will not come back. You will be free of me forever.
Forever suddenly seemed like an awfully long time. Panic coiled inside her.
“I promise,” she whispered.
He lowered his hands to his sides, turned away from her for a moment, and then turned back to offer her his arm. He led her onto the driveway again, and they walked in silence to the cottage.
Dora was pulling weeds from one of the flower beds.
Viscount Ponsonby was immediately at his most charming. He complimented her on the garden, and he thanked her profusely for making Lord Darleigh tolerable to listen to on the violin and harp.
“I am a lover of animals, Miss Debbins,” he explained. “It would break my h-heart to hear Tab and all the neighborhood cats howl in pain.”
He had Dora laughing in no time at all. And when he took his leave, he bowed elegantly to them both and sauntered away as if he had never in his life entertained a serious thought.
Dora was looking at Agnes with raised eyebrows.
“He let everyone else go off with Viscount Darleigh to look at the farms this morning,” she explained, “while he wrote some letters. But then he got bored and came down here to persuade me to go walking with him.”
“And?” Dora said.
“He rowed me over to the island,” Agnes told her. “The temple is beautiful inside, Dora. I had no idea. There is a stained glass window facing south, and it catches all the light and disperses it in a kaleidoscope of colors. And then, when we were coming back across the lake, Sophia was walking down from the house with Lady Trentham and invited me for coffee. She said you would not stay.”
“The weeds awaited,” Dora said. “Did he ask again, Agnes?”
“They will be here for less than a week longer,” Agnes said. “He says that once he has gone, he will not return. Ever. But forever is a long time, and Viscount Darleighishis friend.”
“He asked again,” Dora said quietly, answering her own question. She turned to gather up her gardening tools. “Why do you hesitate, Agnes? You are in love with him, and it would be a hugely advantageous match for you. And for him.”
