His father looked surprised, as if he really had expected capitulation. Kevin collected his mail, then strode from the morning room.
* * *
I will call at two o’clock to take you to the bank.
The note arrived early morning. At two o’clock, Rosamund waited for Kevin in her library.
She had not seen him since they returned. That was not such a long time, yet this outing made her nervous and excited. Paris had receded into the past already. She wondered if they would see each other differently here at home. As less interesting. Less desirable.
She distracted herself by staring at her empty bookshelves. She needed to do something about them. They shouted that she was new to this home, and this life.
Kevin entered the library right after the hour. She heard his boot step and turned around on the divan so she could see him. His warm smile made her core twinge, like an echo of stronger sensations she had experienced with him.
She hopped up. He strode over, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. “It seemed forever,” he said. “Only now it is like no time at all has passed.”
She couldn’t keep from smiling and laughing. He kissed her again, deeply, and she began to fly.
“We have to go.” He set her away from himself.
She went out with him and got into the carriage. She noticed it was a hired one.
“Have you found all well at your shop?” he asked.
She regaled him with the progress and the commissions coming in. “Matters seem well in hand in Richmond too. I think I may be able to keep both of them. And you? What has happened with you?”
“Nothing much, other than planning the next steps. I spent some time with Nicholas. I arranged the documents we need to send funds to France. Oh, and I told my father about us.”
He said it all casually, as if he barely paid attention to his own words. He might have been saying he ate his dinner, read a book, and by the bye, took a walk.
“What did he think of that news?”
He looked out the window, his lids lowered against the sunlight that sculpted his fine face into their aristocratic planes. “He did not like the idea, but we expected that.”
“Was there a row?”
“Not at all. Although he insisted Nicholas and the aunts come to weigh in. A minor irritation, that. And he told me this morning that he never wants to see me again. Hence the hired carriage you are in.” He smiled at her. “All of which I anticipated, and none of which signifies.”
“He closed his home to you? That’s terrible.”
“Had I been sure it would happen, I might have found an inappropriate match years ago.”
“Where will you go?”
“I’ll stay at Whiteford House for several days, then find chambers. Don’t look so distraught. I don’t mind, so you shouldn’t.”
He acted as if his family’s rejection of him would not bother him, but he wasn’t indifferent to all of them.
“Did the duke also—”
“The aunts wanted him to, but he refused. He was not happy to be dragged into the fray. I don’t think Chase cares either. The rest can go to hell.”
“I told Minerva, and she did not seem shocked.”
“She wasn’t disapproving at all?”
“Not about you having a liaison with me, or about your perhaps marrying me. She was very surprised, but not disapproving.”
“Was she shocked thatyouwould consider marryingme?”
