She stilled. Her expression became unfathomable. “Albany Lodge?”
“I suppose I never told you. That is the name I gave it.”
“Your brothers do not mind?”
“It is not for them to mind or not. However, neither seemed shocked or unhappy about it.”
Her proud expression trembled. Her eyes filmed. He went over and sat beside her and took her hands in his.
She sniffed, and dabbed her eyes with her delicate handkerchief. “Thank you. I am honored, Gareth.” Shecomposed herself, and gripped his hands. “That young woman. If you get her with child, you must do the right thing.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“You will have no excuse, and it will not do to have a whole line of bastards in the family.”
He laughed. “Yes, Mother.”
She smacked his shoulder. “Oh, stop that. I am glad you care about her. You would have never brought her here otherwise. Go to her now, and be on your way.”
He stood, then bent and kissed her head. “I will see you again soon.”
He was almost at the door when she spoke again. “Gareth, do you think there is any chance that you may in fact someday get her with child? That I may someday have a grandchild?”
He smiled, and went out to the garden.
***
“Ithink we should get married, Eva.”
Eva blinked, and looked down her body to where Gareth’s dark head nestled between her thighs. He did something that made her groan fill her garden.
“I— This is most—” She tried to speak through her astonishment and madness.
He did it again. She almost fainted. When her head cleared, she was clutching at grass, gasping for breath. “Stop that! We need to talk.”
“One moment. It would be rude to leave you like this.”
He didn’t, of course. He never did. With alarming efficiency he sent her crashing into a climax, then moved up to lie with her.
She took several minutes to collect herself, then held his head and looked in his eyes. “That may be the most unusual proposal a woman has ever received.”
“Thank you. I thought it inventive.”
“It will be hard to describe when friends ask for the particulars, however. Did he kneel, Eva? Did he wait for a glorious sunset? Actually, no, Sarah. He proposed while his tongue was making shocking explorations of my private parts.”
He pecked a kiss on her cheek. “At least you will never forget it.”
No. Never.
“I thought you did not believe in marriage except in the most practical ways. There is nothing about marrying me that will enhance your fortune, so this makes no sense.”
He ran the side of his finger along her jaw. “I have discovered that my views on the matter were ill considered. About marriage, and about love.”
“They were? About love too?”
“Definitely about love. As you might imagine, I am astonished to learn how wrong I was.”
“Just how wrong were you?”
