She smiled. “In violation of the rules? They sound like girls after my own heart.”
He laughed again. “Some, yes.” He moved, so he could sit.
She rose up so she was sitting too, facing him.
“This isn’t my formal bedchamber. This is where I sleep when we have a new pet or when we’ve played late into the night. It’s near the playroom. I brought you up here because when you enter the house as my future wife, you won’t be nude and wrapped in a blanket after an exhausting and emotional journey.”
“We probably should be waiting to share a bed.”
He nodded.
“I’m glad we’re not,” she said.
He studied her face for several long moments, his brow slightly furrowed.
“What is it? Should I not have said that? Too brazen?”
“No, Brande, I assure you it’s not that.”
She put a hand on his arm. “Please say what’s on your mind. Talking with you has always been very important to me.”
He exhaled. “You’re such a beautiful girl.”
“I think if that was all that was on your mind, you might smile a bit more.”
He did smile then. “I’m going to see that you get an advanced education. Not away at school, but you’ll have it.”
“You should know that I really crave the independence as much the education. Probably more.”
He smirked. “I guessed as much.”
She reached up to touch his hair. He started to pull back, caught himself and became still.
“Habit,” he said. “Go ahead.”
She fingered the wild locks.
“It needs to be shorn,” he said. “Too long is hard to tame.”
“You’re holding so much in, keeping everything under control. Doesn’t it get tiring?”
“Not under normal circumstances. I have outlets.”
She glanced at the door. “Like a mysterious playroom?”
He nodded. “I’m not who I would’ve chosen for you, but I’ll do what I can to give you the best version of life with me.”
She tilted her head, a small throb of dread mixed with the tenderness pulsing in her chest. “Who would you have chosen for me?” she asked.
He tossed out some names. All of them completely unappealing.
“Anyone else?”
He shrugged and named a couple more even more boring choices.
“I’m glad the choice wasn’t yours. I prefer you by endless degrees.”
His silence spoke volumes. There were more things about himself that he knew she wouldn’t like. He wasn’t ready to tell her about them yet.
