Laura almost shivered at his threat. It was vexing how unsophisticated he made her feel. She could throw caution to the wind here on this blanket in broad daylight, but he was quite controlled. She admitted to being hopelessly beguiled. It appeared that marriage would be her only choice if she wanted him in her life. And she did. “I’ll marry you, Nathaniel.”
His gray eyes sparkled, and he raised her hand to his lips. “Darling, I promise you will never come to regret it.”
She realized in that moment that he’d been confident of her answer. Was she so easy toread?
He sat back, and a corner of his mouth twitched. “I have to ask. You’re not marrying me just to escape your mother, are you?”
Laura gave a gurgle of laughter. “A little perhaps.” She studied his face, the strong chin, his sensual mouth and lustrous black hair. She wanted to ask him if he believed in love at first sight, but she feared he would accuse her of youthful romanticism. “I like the idea of standing by your side, aiding you in your endeavors.”
He raised his eyebrows, a grin tugging at his lips. “I like that too.”
“And should I wish to do more,” she continued, testing the waters. “You would permit it?”
He leaned forward and kissed her nose. “Providing you don’t go off on your own to study art in some foreign city, or take a lover.”
There was a steely note beneath his words. Laura felt confident she would never wish for another lover; the man before her would fulfil all her dreams of love. But she had inherited her determination from her father. And one day she would take up the suffrage cause again, when the time wasright.
Nathaniel jumped to his feet. He leaned down to take her hands and drew her to her feet. “Now I must do the proper thing and ask your father for your hand.”
His servants appeared and began to pack things away. There was so much food uneaten. “Could the food be given to the poor?” she asked. “Or a children’s orphanage?”
He smiled. “It will be done.”
They walked back to the carriage hand in hand. Her parents would be pleased. Her mother especially. While she could never take the place of Eliza, perhaps distance would improve their uneasy relationship. Her pulse thudded as life blossomed like a rose opening to the sun. Admittedly, Nathaniel had wooed and enticed her to accept him. But she no longer feared landing herself in a dreary marriage in a remote part of England. No place where Nathaniel was could ever be dreary. And she looked forward to a chance to become fully herself; to immerse herself in a new world where her energy and need to be useful could make a difference, and with a husband she was already half in lovewith.
***
After departing from his newly betrothed’s residence with Lord and Lady Parr’s best wishes for his marriage to their daughter, Nathaniel leaned against the leather squab and crossed his arms, his doubts reappearing to plague him. He had not been entirely honest with Laura. He had little faith in a happy marriage. Was it wrong to hope he could offer her a good life, while not giving too much of himself? His parent’s marriage ended in scandal and disaster. He could still taste the sour horror of betrayal and refused to be hurt deeply again. For all her bravado, spirit and intelligence, Laura was an innocent. She must be protected while Wolfram remained a cauldron ofunrest.
He placed his booted foot over his knee and sighed. It was done. There was no going back, and he didn’t wish to. Laura’s effect on him was like water to a man dying of thirst. She lifted his spirits and imbued him with an emotion that had been absent for a long time: hope. But try as he might, he still couldn’t shrug off the fear of what he might have unleashed into her life.
Chapter Four
Laura sat across the table from her aunt in her Camden townhouse. The room was a riot of flowers, birds and peacock feathers on curtains, sofa cushions, rugs and the wallpaper. The furniture, carved with flowers and feathers, was stained to a black ebony finish and gilded, and the blue and white porcelain stacked on the shelves displayed a similar theme. Vases of lilies perfumed the air, and pots of orchids lined thewindowsill.
In the midst of this exotic splendor, Laura’s sweet-faced Aunt Dora appeared like a plain brown bird in her shapeless linendress.
Laura swiveled the large solitaire diamond ring on her finger, causing a brilliant flash of color. “Mother doesn’t want me to contribute anything to this wedding. I had to fight her tooth and nail to wear a tailor-made suit to Cornwall. Perfectly suitable for train travel, but she is firmly of the belief that men hate to see women in suits. She finally agreed when I chose pink brocade from the House of Redfern.”
“Catherine is in her element. You can’t deny her this moment, Laura.” Although Aunt Dora refrained from mentioning that there would be no more weddings after Laura’s, it hovered in the air.
Laura took a bite of crumpet while her aunt poured her another cup of tea. She loved to come to this cluttered little house. Her visits to her aunt, a well-respected poet, often proved to be a delightful surprise, especially when her rooms were crammed with artists and writers. Oscar Wilde had once attended one of Aunt Dora’s soirées.
Her aunt’s sleek black cat leapt onto her lap and stared unblinking at Laura with marble-like green eyes. “Not now, Satan.” Dora lowered the cat to the floor. The animal stalked away with a malevolent glance in Laura’sdirection.
“He is a widower, you say. What was his wife like? Does he speak of her?”
“No, just that she died in a fall. I got the impression that he didn’t wish to talk about it, and so I didn’t pry.”
“Well, you have a right to know what you’re getting yourself into. It would be nice to learn if he had a happy marriage, don’t you think? I believe if a man is a good husband for one woman, he will be again for another.”
Laura bit her lip. “Yes, I suppose so.” She’d been uneasy about asking him. Did Dora sense something? “I have no doubt that Nathaniel will make an excellent husband,” she said in a firmtone.
Dora cleared a space on the table and tucked back the sleeves of her gown. She bowed her gray-streaked, brown head over the well-worn pack of Tarot cards and removed the significator, the Page of Wands. This card always represented Laura. Cutting the deck, Dora divided it into three, then into one again. She pushed the cards across to Laura. “Shuffle and cut three times.”
She loved her aunt especially for her strong, unshakeable convictions. Aunt Dora was her mother’s unmarried stepsister and considered the disreputable member of the family, although there were male ancestors who would surely be more worthy of the title. Adding to her sins, Dora dressed in a fashion Laura’s mother disparagingly called bohemian. Aunt Dora remained unruffled by criticism, saying merely that she would rather be known as bohemian than bourgeois. An arrow, which found its mark and enraged her mother, as Laura’s maternal grandfather had also made his money intrade.
Determined not to allow her mother’s influence to extend as far as Cornwall, Laura looked for a good outcome from the reading as she shuffled the cards and handed them back. Dora then laid out ten cards in their familiar, cross-like pattern.
