“Only because I am determined not to faint.”
Theo laughed softly.Let me keep her untroubled.
She sipped her wine then tilted her head. “You mentioned children.”
“I did. Shall I rescind the comment?”
“Only if you rescind the notion that you would travel without me.”
“Never. You would be the only reason I would travel at all.”
“A charming lie.”
“A devout truth.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Perhaps I should be the one to teach you patience.”
“You may try,” he said, lifting his glass. “Though I must warn you, I am a very slow learner.”
“Then I shall take great delight in repeating my lessons.”
“You tempt me, wife.”
“That is, in fact, my intention.”
The next course came. The night was not merely beautiful, it was healing, and Theo, watching her cheeks flush and her smile bloom, knew he would remember this evening for the rest of his life.
After a dessert of syllabub and raspberries, April gazed out over the terrace, as if reluctant to leave the moment behind. He waited a breath longer then stood and extended his hand.
“Will you dance with me?”
She looked up at him, and the candlelight emphasized the glimmer of surprise in the deep blue pools, but she placed herhand in his without hesitation. Theo led her out beneath the trellis where the air was fragrant with jasmines. The strings below had softened to a languid rhythm, one suited not for spectacle but for something quieter. Closer.
Theo drew her into the curve of his arms, and she fit too well for him to ignore. Her gloved hand settled against his shoulder, her other folded into his palm, and when he drew her nearer, she came willingly.
They moved together slowly, and in a rhythm as old as breath. He held her with a tenderness he did not name, one he could not show her fully—not yet. But the truth clung to him all the same, pushing against the barriers of control.
“Was it too much?” he asked when he felt the silence between them too profound. Again, April was not one to remain quiet for this long, and he suspected the fear of what had occurred in Stone Hall still lingered in her bones.
She tilted her head up, and her brows furrowed. “Too much?”
“This evening.”
There was a moment’s pause then her mouth curved, and her eyes softened such that it made his pulse trip. “It was… unexpected. But no. Not too much. Should I expect this often?”
His answer came without thinking. “As often as you want, darling.”
The words sat between them with more intensity than he meant. April’s lips parted, but whatever rose to mind never found air. She only looked at him, her hand warm in his, her eyes unguarded.
He should have stopped there.
But the memory returned; the way she had shaken in his arms as though her soul were trying to escape her body.His jaw tensed. “When I watched you after pulling you out of the pond, terrified and soaked through, I knew I had failed you. I don’t ever want you to feel that way again, April.”
“You didn’t fail me, Theo,” she said at once.
He exhaled though his relief still warred with guilt. “I did, and I knew I couldn’t mend that. But I could give you tonight.”
Her expression softened, the teasing giving way to a gentler, deeper smile.“And tomorrow?”
