He could be happy with her.
A dangerous thought to be sure, for his happiness would mean her misery. Their nights would be unforgettable, but by day, she would despise him. How could she not when his past would be between them? No, he could not allow the wedding to take place.
The kitten stirred, climbing from Phoebe’s lap and arching its back in a lazy stretch.
Graham pushed up higher on his elbow as the kitten stalked toward their lunch. “How did you come by Lilli?”
“She is the offspring of one of Castle Almerry’s barn cats.”
The kitten swatted at a grape, knocking it from the plate.
“No, Lilli,” Phoebe scolded.
Graham wriggled his fingers, enticing the kitten near.
It raced toward him, then pounced on his hand and swatted at his wriggling fingers.
Phoebe laughed as the kitten rolled and played with Graham. She plucked another berry from the plate and smiled at him. “I daresay she likes you.”
Graham glanced between Phoebe and the cat. “I would wager she’d like to kill me.”
“Not my darling kitten. She is a lover.”
“If my hand were a mouse, she would be delivering it to her belly at this very moment. She is a savage.” He chuckled at the amusement that sparked in Phoebe’s gaze.
“I would say doing so makes her intelligent, for she will never go hungry.”
The kitten pounced again, pinning Graham’s hand to the blanket as she chewed on it and shook her head back and forth.
“Indeed, she will not. Your Lilli is a born mouser.” He stilled his hand, and the kitten sat up to stare at it. In another heartbeat, she grew bored and wandered off to play with something in the grass.
Graham pushed himself up to sit across from Phoebe. He sucked in a deep breath, then met her striking eyes. He’d meant to speak, to insist she break their engagement, but his words caught in his throat.
She looked at him, one brow arched in question. “What is it?”
He searched his mind for a more delicate way to approach the topic, then asked, “Do you wish to marry me?”
A hardness invaded her gaze as her back stiffened. She attempted to cover up her reaction with a smile, but it was tight and forced. Her discomfort was plain to see, and it pained Graham. “Very much so,” she said, but her voice lacked conviction.
Graham’s jaw tightened as he studied her. How could she speak with such ease while her body language and tone conveyed the opposite? He took a deep breath. “Why?”
Phoebe held his gaze. “Because I must.”
Determination and hope flared to life within Graham, and he slid closer. “What if there was a way out? If you did not have to marry me, would you still want to?”
“What are you getting at?” She narrowed her gaze at him.
So, she would not give him an answer. Very well, he would share his plan, then determine how to proceed from there.
He plucked a blade of grass and twirled it between his fingers. “You could beg off. Break the engagement and go back to the way things were before.”
Her eyes rounded, then filled with indignation and anger. “I cannot. I will not.”
“You can if you want to.”
“How dare you suggest such a thing?” She sprang to her feet. “After all you have done! My reputation, my family’s name, would be destroyed.” Phoebe marched over to Lilli and lifted the kitten into her arms, then pivoted back. “To answer your question, yes, I will marry you regardless of what I may or may not want.”
“Be reasonable.” Graham came to his feet and moved toward her. “Think about it. Ladies break engagements often enough, and they rarely suffer overmuch for doing so. You and your family would recover. You could blame the entire debacle on me. Claim that I am an unchangeable rogue.”
