“I don’t know.Your father is arranging safe passage to the Elbe, and from there I’ll find a ship to Heligoland.Then home.”
Her deep blue eyes were so serious, staring up at him.“I don’t know what to say apart from I’ll miss you.”
“As I will you, Lise.A brave and selfless woman.”The likes of which he had never known.The thought of never seeing her again was unbearable.
“Come with me,” he whispered before he could think better of it.
He’d spoken so quietly he wondered if she’d heard him.But when she drew back, to better see his face, she asked, “What can you mean?”
“Escape with me,” Jonathan said, his voice stronger now, although he was uncertain why he’d chosen this inopportune moment to ask her.“Come to Britain.You would be safe there.Earlier, in the cellar, I was directly below the drawing room.I heard the captain threatening you and your family.If you come with me, you wouldn’t have to live in fear.There, I can safeguard you, protect you, ...marry you.”
She gasped, looking stricken.Not at all the expression he’d hoped for, even though it had been a monstrously poor proposal.Running a hand through his hair, he tried again.
“Lise, we would make a good match.Don’t you think?I have never yet asked a woman for her hand.”
But she was shaking her head.“I cannot go with you, so please don’t ask me.”
“You have no betrothed here now,” he pointed out.“No contract.”
“As it happens, there is still the matter of the contract, and just as we can assume the French will return, I believe Friedrich will come and try to push my parents into allowing the wedding.”
“That’s absurd,” Jonathan snapped, hating to think of being hundreds of miles away when Albrecht came sniffing around.
“That’s Friedrich.He is a bully who pushes and cajoles and whinges until he gets his way.He always has done.”
“I cannot allow —”
“You will not be here to allow or disallow.God willing, by the time Friedrich shows his sorry face, you will be far away and safe.That is my fervent wish.”She reached up and touched his cheek.“Don’t worry on my behalf.My parents will never agree to him becoming my husband.”
“Then come with me,” he said, not liking the desperate tone to his own voice.“I don’t want to leave you behind.”
She smiled at him, a watery one at best.“This is my home, and it would break my parents’ hearts if I were to go away.It would break mine, too.I’ve never wanted to live anywhere but our gorgeous part of Holstein, close to my family.”
His heart was a painful knot in his chest.He’d offered security and marriage.What else could he give her?
“I will be an earl someday.If you come, you shall be my countess.”Surely that was worth uprooting her life and accompanying him to a foreign country.
“As to that, I can make a good argument against considering me, my lord.Lady Ashworth, among others in her circle, told me how it works in Mayfair.You must marry well, a titled lady from your own class.I would be considered a liability to you, a raw country girl.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he retorted.“I offered once before to speak with your father for your hand, but you were betrothed.That is no longer the case.I know he won’t want you to slip away in the darkness with me right now, as it is too dangerous.But you could come later, in a few weeks perhaps when —”
“I can’t,” she said.
Her voice broke slightly on the words, and he knew he was making this harder on both of them.But he wasn’t sure she understood, so he must say it plainly.
“I will probably never be able to risk coming to the Continent again.Not for a very long while.”
She swallowed, bit her beautiful, lush lower lip, and then as tears filled her eyes, she made it crystal clear.“My place is here, Jonathan.With my family.They need me, especially now that Henrik is injured and we’ve made an enemy of Friedrich.And we don’t yet know what Captain Albrecht will say.I cannot abandon them.”
“Your family would understand,” he said, despite thinking her mother wasn’t particularly fond of him at the moment.
“Perhaps they would,” she agreed.“ButIwouldn’t.”Lise met his eyes.“Please understand.This is my home.These are my people.I can’t run away, no matter how much I might want to.”
Jonathan stared at her for a long moment.“You’re certain?”
“I’m certain.”
He nodded slowly, accepting her decision.“Then I suppose this is goodbye.”
