“I appreciate the gesture, Mr. Cade, but I can take it from here.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “How embarrassing to admit I can’t even cook.”
Her lips twitched as she fought a laugh. “Most men don’t. My father never stepped foot in the kitchen, even to boil water and my mother was thankful for it. His services were best performedoutdoors.” She scrunched up her nose. “Rather like you, Mr. Cade.”
He offered a smirk in return. “I suppose sewing is mysolitaryfeminine pursuit.”
“And that is perfectly fine with me,” she returned. “Now, if you don’t mind taking this pan outside and scraping the worst of it out, I will take care of the rest.”
She heard him grumble under his breath,but as he took his leave, Elise just laughed.
***
That night, after supper was over, Elise cut them each a piece of the chocolate cake that she’d prepared, complete with a rich, creamy icing to match. Chauncey groaned as he slid the first bite off his fork. “How did I ever think I could duplicate your culinary skills?” he remarked.
Elise shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with havingdreams,” she retorted.
He laughed, that rich baritone she adored so much and finished off the rest of his cake, scraping the plate with his fork until not a single crumb remained. Once he was done, he leaned back in his chair with a satisfied curve to his lips. “Shall we have another round of cards this evening?”
“Of course, Mr. Cade.” Elise stood and gathered the plates and took them to the kitchen. Once she’d washed them and put them away in the cupboard, she gathered her mother’s love tokens and returned to the table where she stopped.
Her hand started to shake, so she quickly set the box of tokens down, her attention diverted by the peonies in the middle of the wood in her mother’s crystal glass vase.
Chauncey was standing in front of the fire, anxiety writ in every line of his face. “I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed a vase to put the flowers in.”
“No, I—” she broke off, as her gaze returned to the blooms, but this time she noticed that there was something rather different about them. She bent down to inhale their fragrant scent, but there was something markedly different about themwhen she found that their delicate perfume was missing. She touched one of the petals and frowned slightly. “Is this…wax?”
“They’re known as artificial flowers. Back in Canada I hearda few European trappers talkabout a Swedish artist by the name of Emilia Furstenhoff who was known for her faux floral arrangements. I decided that it couldn’t be that hard towhittlesome out of dried wax.” He winked. “I amrather handy with a knife, you know.”
For the second time that day, tears stung her eyes with sentiment, even though she’d cried over the injustice ofChauncey’s current predicament earlier, but that was entirely different.One made her heart weep with sadness, and the other with joy.
“I honestly don’t know what to say, except this has been the best birthday I’ve had since I was a child.” She reached across the expanse and took Chauncey’s hand in her own and gave it a light squeeze. “Thank you. For everything.”
His mouth curved upward on one side as hesaid evenly, “I feel as though I made you angry earlier. I hope you weren’t upset about the music box. I know it may seem rather awkwardto have something that my wife—”
Elise shook her head. “It is absolutelyperfect. And I’m honored to have something that belonged toyourMartha.I will cherish it always, as I have your friendship these last couple of weeks.”
He didn’t say anything, and combined with that dark, unnerving stare, it made Elise uncomfortable, so she grabbed the cards. “Shall you deal this evening or should I try my hand at the gambler’s shuffle?”
“If things were different, I would marry you.”
Elise froze, his husky voice flowing over her like a fresh, spring rain. But since she wanted to try and keep things light, she kept her gaze on the cards and teased, “And what makes you think I would say yes?”
“I wouldn’t give you a choice.”
She snorted. “That seems rather arrogant of you, Mr. Cade. A lady should always have a choice in her future husband.”
Silence, then, “What if I told you I—”
Elise tensed, fearing what he was about to say, but he never got the chance to finish his sentence, for there was a sudden, urgent knock at the door. She jumped in alarm, but then forced herself to calm. She finally looked up at Chauncey and noticed that he didn’t seem concerned over the interruption. His focus was completely riveted on her.
“It’s probably Mr. Miraclecalling again,” Elise murmured. “Grannie is likely urging him to check in on me.” When he said nothing, shegot toher feet. “You should probably go to my bedroom and wait until he’s gone.”
Instead of leaving, he sat back in the chair. “I think I’d like to meet him.”
***
Chauncey could tell that he’d shocked Elise, for her mouth fell open and she stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What are youdoing? You know that’s not a good idea, especially if those men are still in Charming—”
