“Mr. Smith,” she pressed a hand to her heart. “You scared me?”
“I apologize,” he said gently. Then cocked his head at the pale redness in her eyes. “You were crying.”
She spun, “It is no concern of yours.”
“If I said or did something intolerable by you, then yes, it is my concern,” William replied kindly while daring to rest a hand on her shoulder and turn her back to him. “Please tell me if it is something I did. I will find a way to make it up to you.”
She turned to him with her lips trapped between her teeth. When she released it, his eyes followed it, sparking off a smoldering desire in his belly.
What would your lips taste like? Sweet honeysuckle or tart lemon zest like my favorite sweet?
Just as he had expected her to turn away, she notched her chin up a little.
“If I have seen your beauty, others will too, and I am assured that you will make a beautiful bride and good wife,” Rachel stiffly quoted his words back to him. “Seems to me that just like my parents, you are ready to see me sold off to some man that I do not know and who does not know me.”
Struck by her admission, William searched for words to tell her. Still, as he searched, his eyes landed on something more visceral. He plucked three sprigs of marigold from the bush in three long strides and went back to her.
Dropping to a knee, he offered them to her. “My deepest apologies, I was not aware, My Lady.”
Rachel’s lips parted, and her hand trembled by her side. Soon she reached out for the flowers. “You did not have to do that.”
“No,” William said as he slowly rose from the ground. “No, I had to do it. I never meant it that way. No one in their right mind would think of you as a bartering tool.”
She looked mollified. “I suppose my parents have lost theirs.”
Hoping that she was more open to speaking with him, William gestured to a wooden bench. “Will you sit with me a while?”
A tall flowering sapling partially covered the seat, and he took care to keep some space between them. Noting the many times her eyes dipped to the flowers in her hands, William asked, “Do you know the language of flowers?”
She twirled the stems in her fingers. “I was not aware there was.”
“Flowers mirror the soul,” William said. “And each one speaks loudly. A poet once spoke,For the flowers have their angels even the words of God's Creation.For the warp and woof of flowers are worked by perpetual moving spirits.For flowers are good both for the living and the dead.”
“That—” she paused, “—sounds beautiful.”
“It is,” William watched her face. “And there is more? Would you like to hear more of it?”
A warm pink colored her cheeks, “Yes, please, I would.”
“For there is a language of flowers, for there is a sound reasoning upon all flowers. For elegant phrases are nothing but flowers. For flowers are peculiarly the poetry of Christ.William quoted the poem he had read so long ago.“For flowers are medicinal. For flowers are musical in ocular harmony. For the right names of flowers are yet in heaven. God make gard'ners better nomenclators.”
Her eyelids were lowered, and for once, William saw how long and thick her lashes were. If she lowered her eyes just a little, they would be fanning out on her cheeks.
“That is beautiful,” she murmured. “It’s a poem, you say?”
“Yes,” William replied. “It is rather long, though.”
She peaked at him from under her lashes. “If it is so long, how did you remember all of that?”
William found a chance to repay her secret with one of his. “I have never told this to anyone, but I have the gift to recall all that I read. Anything that my eyes skim over is imprinted on the shelves of my mind.”
Again, her lips tipped open, and once more, William was tempted to lean in and kiss her. “That is…that explains why you see so many little details!”
“Yes,” William replied, “Is it the secret to my success.”
Now, she faced him directly. “Why do you not want anyone else to know?’
Gazing up over her shoulder, William admitted, “Because it haunts me at times. When I delve deeply into a study, my thoughts never quieten. Thankfully, it has not happened to me here, and I hope it never will.”
