Ophelia shook her head before she could stop herself. “Not at all,” she said. “You are… you are… acceptable.”
He snorted. “Acceptable, am I?” he said. “Well, mayhap someday you’ll feel comfortable enough to tell me that I am the most handsome man you’ve ever seen.”
“Would that please you?”
“Only if it were the truth.”
Ophelia wasn’t sure what to say to that. The man had completely disarmed her. Truthfully, this conversation had been most enlightening and nothing she had expected. In fact, Creston de Royans was nothing she had expected. He was indeed the most handsome man she’d ever seen, with wonderfully big muscles and blond hair that hung over those high cheekbones in a most glorious way. When she’d first seen him, she’d had to do a double take because she could hardly believe that he was the man meant to be her husband.Her!Somehow, it made the whole situation worse and worse still as she came to know him a little. He was humorous and honest, and she liked that. The man wasn’t afraid to talk. It would have been so much easier to go along with her grandfather’s scheme if her husband had been a nasty-looking troll who was easy to hate.
But Creston…
Already, she could see that he deserved better.
Greenie had been right.
“I would not say it if it were not the truth,” she said after a moment. “May I ask a question?”
“Of course,” he said before sipping at the wine in his cup. “You need not ask permission for a question. It does not annoy me if you are curious.”
She waggled her eyebrows. “It annoys my grandfather,” she said. “It is a habit to ask permission.”
“Not with me,” he said. “What is your question?”
“I was wondering when they expect this marriage to take place,” she said. “Do you know?”
He shook his head. “I do not,” he said. “But I suspect my brother and your grandfather are plotting that as we speak. Given the circumstances, I cannot imagine they would wait longer than necessary to see us married. Less chance of one of us running off to Araby and training horses for the rest of our life.”
He was smiling as he said it, like it was a joke, but she wasn’t so sure there was humor in this situation. Still, she didn’t want to appear contrary.
“Is that where you were planning to go to escape this marriage?” she asked, lifting her cup to her lips. “You should have left sooner.”
He laughed softly. “I considered it,” he said. “But I had a class to instruct.”
“Are men easier to train than horses, I wonder?”
“Probably not,” he said. “I’ve trained both, and men arenoteasier.”
“Have you been to Araby, then?”
He poured her more wine in her half-empty cup. “I’ve not had the pleasure,” he said. “Why? Do you want to go there?”
She took a sip. “I’ve never left England,” she said. “My grandfather’s home overlooks the sea and the sand of Sidmouth and I see the ships come in. They linger in the cove, bobbing gently upon the undulating waters, and I wonder where they have been. Sometimes I imagine they have come from faraway lands that have streets made of marble and buildings made of gold. I heard that about Rome, once. That the streets were made of marble. It almost sounds like heaven.”
He was watching her as she spoke, her eyes taking a far-off glow as she thought of golden buildings and stone streets. Most people he knew were older and had been to the places they wished to visit, with very little room left for dreaming. He admired someone who had that quality—
To dream.
He’d lost that ability long ago.
“I have been to Rome,” he said. “It is magnificent.”
Her features showed the first real excitement he’d seen from her. “Truly?” she said. “You have been so fortunate?”
He nodded. “I have,” he said. “It is a very ancient city, more ancient than London. There is a big, circular building in the middle of it that has no roof. They used to have ancient events there.”
She was quickly becoming entranced with his tale. “Was the floor of it marble?”
“Nay,” he said, smiling at her. “It was dirt. It is crumbling, too. A tribute to the ancient gods who used to watch their ancient games, I suppose.”
