She made her way along the upper corridor, and ducked behind the curtain that hid the balcony overlooking the great hall. He was there, sitting on the floor with his knees drawn up, head lowered.
“Edward?” She knelt beside him on the floor. “You have heard, then. Are you not pleased for me?”
He lifted his head a little to look at her, and she was shocked to see how grey his face was, how anguished his expression. “You will marry Ulric,” he said in flat tones.
“I have to. It is the only way to get my money… to be sure that I have full control of it.”
“You cannot be certain of that. Ulric is unpredictable.”
“His mother and I can manage him.”
“I pray you are right, Tess. I thought… I hoped… that you might actually marry me. If we eloped. I thought that would make me less stuffy.”
“Oh, Edward, that was only a game! I would never… although it would have been fun, if I hadwantedto marry you. It would have put my mother in such a pelter! Not that she ever truly gets in a pelter. I might get on with her better if she did. Does your mother get in a pelter?”
He gave a wry smile. “No. She harangues me.‘Edward, you must do this. Edward, you must do that. Edward, you must marry at once.’I go to a lot of trouble to arrangenotto do all those things she says I must do without fail.”
She smiled back at him. “You are a rebellious son.”
“And you are a rebellious daughter. Is there nothing I can say to dissuade you from marrying poor Ulric?”
Tess gently stroked his face. “I mean Ulric no harm, you know that. He will be perfectly happy living at Myercroft with his mother and his half-brothers and sisters, and all his horses conveniently to hand.”
“You intend to marry him, and then leave him there with his mother?”
“I do not think his life would be enhanced by having me underfoot, do you? Or mine in living with him. Nor is his mother sensible enough to leave in charge. I hope I can depend on you to look after Ulric, even when he is married.”
Edward looked at her, frowning. “And how am I supposed to do that?”
“By tying up his income so that his mother cannot get hold of it. You are his trustee until he marries, so you can surelydeal with the legal wrangling, and you seem to be rather good at keeping mothers in check. No, do not shake your head like that, for I know you can do it if you set your mind to it.”
“No, I cannot. My hands are tied. By the terms of his father’s will, the income goes directly to Ulric when he marries… but of course, if he were toaskme to manage it for him… yes, it could be done that way. And you will persuade him to put all your money into your hands. But this is still madness, Tess. You would do far better to marry me.”
“And join the peerage? Wear fancy robes for state occasions? Everywhere I go, it would be my lady this and my lady that, and I could never slink about in the shadows again. I could not!”
He gave a wry smile. “Too stuffy for words. I can see that.”
“Edward, can you not understand? I do not need a husband. I have never needed a husband, not even Tom. He was only ever a means to achieve a degree of freedom, and much as I regret him in many ways, I take your point that he would perhaps have become a domineering husband in time, and expected me to play the obedient wife. That would not have ended well! Perhaps you and I are better suited, but we are still at odds more often than not, and if I were your wife, sooner or later you would start throwing your weight around. But Ulric… he will never be a real husband. He is only necessary to allow me to gain control of my money… myownmoney, after all. I want nothing more from him than that.”
“But you cannot live independently, Tess. No woman can. She must live under the protection of a father or uncle or brother, or else she marries. That is how the world works. If we were married, then I would protect you.”
“I do not need to be protected. What you call protection is more like a cage.”
“No, no, no! I only want to be there to pick up the pieces when you get yourself into trouble.”
She laughed. “What an opinion you have of me! I doubt I shall ever be in such trouble as to need rescuing.”
His smile widened. “Tess, my darling, you will always be in trouble. That is one of the reasons I love you so much… why I want to be your husband so I have therightto protect you. Not to constrain you, any more than I would trap a butterfly in a bottle. I want to see you fly, my love, but someone needs to be there to watch out for danger and to take care of you when you singe your wings by flying too close to the flame.”
She gazed at him, chastened. He truly meant it, the foolish man! She leaned forward and kissed him gently. “How sweet you are, when you are not shouting at me. I wish you were not quite so respectable, so that I might consider marrying you. It is a pity.”
“A great pity, but I cannot escape the barony, unfortunately.”
“No, but if you were to kill a man in a duel, say, we could flee the country together and live as wandering outcasts on the continent. That would be amusing, would it not?”
“It would. Presumably we would be penniless, so we would have to live on our wits, by thievery or cheating at cards, and there would be the constant threat of discovery and being hauled back to England to be hanged. How charming a life we should lead. Short, no doubt, but exciting while it lasted. Sadly, I fear I am too stuffy to kill a man to bring this delightful situation into being.”
He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, as she snuggled against him with a sigh of contentment. Edward was so much fun in this mood!
