Chance didn’t remain after that. He’d accomplished more than he’d expected. Not only had she talked to him, but she was happy about the flowers.
His determination renewed, he took his exit and headed toward Hyde Park Place where he would spend the balance of the evening with his obnoxious friend.
He almost felt as though he had something to celebrate.
Chapter 19
Chance
“Haven’t seen your ugly mug lately,” Hollis tilted back on his chair, balancing it on the back two legs. “Has she forgiven you yet, or are you still acting as her unpaid gardener?”
Chance ignored the sarcasm and dropped onto the sofa near the hearth. “I’m making progress, Hol.” He then went on to explain the nights events as well as the plans he had for Aubrey’s garden. Before he could finish listing off all the supplies he planned to include in the hothouse, Hollis was shaking his head and laughing.
“Good God, man! Get on with it already. Either she’s going to forgive you are she isn’t.”
Chance frowned. “It’s not as though I kissed her one evening then disappeared.” He couldn’t say anything more. To reveal the full extent of what had transpired with Aubrey would be the height of dishonor. “My actions are quite unforgivable.”
“And yet you want forgiveness more than anything else. What makes you believe you’ll ever get it if you never ask for it?” And then… “Ah. That’s precisely what you’re afraid of. But if she’s happy, if she’s gone on with her life, don’t you think it’s best you get on with yours as well? There are hundreds of chits out there who are more than willing to allow the liberties that you crave. And a hundred others who would happily consent to replace your recently departed duchess.”
“I don’t crave hundreds of other chits.” But his friend had an annoying habit of exhibiting highly rational thinking. Was Chance simply prolonging the inevitable? Before he could rise and pour himself a drink, Hollis placed another glass in his hand.
“I’m not ready to give up yet.” Chance groused.
There were moments, days, when he doubted his own sanity… and others when he knew that if he didn’t give this his very best he would regret it forever.
He and Aubrey had shared something special, a once in a lifetime… connection. Even before he’d made love to her.
He was not ready to give up yet.
Two weeks later,his confidence began to flag once again. He’d completed the flower garden, fenced it in so that Lancelot wouldn’t tear it up, and built a small hot house where hisPrincessecould try her hand at propagation and what not.
Today, he’d decided to build a short bench—large enough for two people but not so large that they wouldn’t be touching while they sat and appreciated the blossoms in the years to come.
Chance pounded in the last nail and then dropped onto it in defeat.
Dandy Dick had taken her driving again and when they’d left, she’d looked inordinately happy on the blasted scribe’s arm. He knew she’d spent time in her new garden but never when Chance was around. She hadn’t waved at him or even smiled.
Chance had been back in London for nearly two months now. He hadn’t pressured her at all as he waited for her to trust him again. He stared at the house.
“Come on,Princesse.You’ve nothing to fear. I’m not going anywhere this time.” He whispered the words under his breath.
The curtain slid aside but just as quickly dropped back into place. A moment later, however, the servant’s door opened and Aubrey herself surprised him by making her way across the garden to where he sat.
She twisted her hands together, staring at the ground. Chance drank her in. Hair the color of sunshine at twilight was tied in a knot at the back of her head but the simple style only drew more attention to her eyes––eyes the color of the forest after a cool rain. And her lips…
Blast and damn, he was beginning to sound like some god-awful poet himself.
“This is lovely,” She sat down beside him, on the bench he’d just built. “All of it, really.”
Feeling her warmth along his side, he congratulated himself on making it smaller than he’d initially intended.
They hadn’t been this close to one another since he’d climbed out of that bed two years ago. And he’d known he still desired her but was still taken aback by the way his heart started racing. He wanted to reach for her hand but she kept both clenched together in her lap.
“Lady Zelda and Lady Longewood did not just happen to come along to welcome me to Mayfair, did they?” She turned to stare at him finally, her face so close that it would be the easiest thing in the world to lean forward and taste her lips. “They said something that day in the park, when I realized you were here in London. They did not offer introductions between us. They knew that we already had an acquaintance.”
Chance had lied to her about so much in the beginning. He’d be truthful with her from this point forward.
“I left the Wootens in the early hours of the morning. Walked to Joseph’s Well where I bought a horse that I’d noticed the night before.”
