“Robert,” she amended.
After he left the room, Kate glanced out the window. She would take a walk through the garden before she followed him to the library.
When she entered the room an hour later, Robert pulled out a chair for her. He placed the document before her. “I shall leave you to read it. Anything that concerns you, please ask me.” He left the room.
More than a little daunted by the legal jargon, Kate labored over it. Although difficult to decipher on first reading, it did appear to be as Robert had said. She was not surprised at the amount of money and estates involved, only that her godfather had cared so much about her to secure her future. She wished she’d had a chance to know him better.
Even so, couldn’t he have left her a small stipend? Why tie her and his nephew together? He had been a little odd. That much she recalled. She remembered the unusual snuff box he carried better than she did him. A large pig was engraved on the silver box with a ruby for an eye. He’d had it specially made. Why a pig? She’d asked him. Amusement lit his eyes, and he’d stated that pigs, unlike humans, were admirable beasts. She hadn’t been sure if he was joking.
Would Robert prove to be as unfathomable? Was it a family trait? She put the document down and left the library, accepting the inevitable. They would marry, and even though a woman didn’t have much sway, she was determined it wouldn’t all be on Robert’s terms.
Kate dressed in her olive-green riding habit. The cloth was faded and her hat outmoded, for it had belonged to her mother. Robert would disapprove, but she wouldn’t let it bother her, she was looking forward to riding over the estate.
At the stables, he greeted her with a smile and thankfully, made no comment about her habit. She smiled up at him, relieved to have escaped criticism.
Robert assisted her to mount a small roan mare. Kate would have preferred something more challenging but decided it was prudent not to mention it now. As they rode out into the sunny afternoon, she was soon smitten with the beautiful countryside around St. Malin where a strong sea breeze blew the branches of the trees about. It was very different to Oxfordshire, but she was fast coming to love the fresh, briny scent and the limitless view of the ocean right to the horizon.
She and Robert trotted their horses through the village. Slate-roofed, whitewashed cottages clustered around a small harbor where fishing boats bobbed on the water.
They turned their horses inland where the hills were ablaze with pink and purple heath. The last of the summer roses tumbled over dry stone walls in the country lanes. The fields crisscrossed with hedgerows.
Kate guided her horse after Robert’s through a gap in a hedge onto a meadow of golden gorse. Willows trailed their long graceful branches in the water and in the distance, the crenellated tower of the castle appeared through the trees. Thomas Gainsborough might have liked to paint it.
The breeze ruffled the leaves of a spreading oak where Robert dismounted. He tethered his horse to a branch and came to assist her down.
“You’ve said little since reading the will. What did you make of it?” he asked as he held up his arms.
She could feel herself wanting his touch and leaned toward him. “I managed to understand most of it. I was surprised that my godfather cared so much about me. I hardly knew him.”
“He was a difficult man to know. But he had a good heart.”
“Yes, I can see that,” she said breathlessly as his large hands bracketed her waist drawing her down to set her on her feet. She looked away, suddenly shy. It seemed intimate and a little scandalous to be alone with him. Rather thrilling, in fact. He towered over her, so powerfully masculine. His enticing sandalwood cologne had wafted around her as he’d lowered her to the ground.
He stepped away. “Will it be so difficult for you if we don’t marry?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Life would go on much as it has done, I expect.”
She could believe that. He was now a marquess, and a very wealthy one whatever she decided. And he had no desire to marry her. It was she who would suffer most. Her future would be unsure without an act of generosity on Robert’s part. Could she convince him to do something for her, without them marrying?
Her parents had been in love, and she’d wanted the same for herself. This arrangement offered none of the emotional depth she’d anticipated. What sort of existence awaited her, closeted in a mansion alone with servants, while her husband came rarely to see her?
She would be happier with a simpler life. Even a small farm like one of those they’d ridden past. A thatched-roofed cottage with a few cows, pigs, ducks, and chickens… And yet, she forced herself to look into his blue eyes, searching for just a sign of warm anticipation at the prospect of spending his life with her. He did not press for her answer, apparently already sure of what it would be. Why would he not be? A woman in her circumstances had little choice, but that didn’t stop her wayward thoughts or her last hope for a future of her choosing.
“And what of my life? What will happen to me if we fail to marry?”
“I can’t answer that with any certainty, but I assume…” He spread his hands as though his empty palms reflected the empty life she would surely have. “Would you prefer I secure you a position in a household nearby? Perhaps as a governess? I know that my neighbor—” Apparently, he would not offer her a stipend. And she suspected he was toying with her.
She swallowed hard. “You must ask me properly.”
His brows peaked. “So I should,” he said with a laugh.
Despite her misgivings, Kate smiled. He had a lovely laugh, full-bodied and joyful. She liked him better when he laughed, his reserve dropped away. She wished to hear more of it but was silenced when he solemnly knelt before her.
He gazed up at her, a smile on his lips and a twinkle lurking in his eyes. “Kate, will you give me the greatest pleasure of becoming my wife?”
She took a deep breath.Say no, she urged herself. They were very different people. It would not work. She would struggle to measure up to him and probably fail, no matter how hard she tried. There was no love in his smile, just a rather lazy and lustful glance. That smile might set her pulses racing, but she’d wanted much more from marriage, hadn’t she? She suspected he would agree to financial assistance, even a cottage, if she asked for it.Ask for it, her mind urged her. But he gazed at her in such a way that her body wasn’t listening. “I will, my lord.”
“My name is Robert, remember?” His voice carried a seductive tone as he rose and gazed at her mouth. A hot expression entered his eyes, and he took a step closer. She swallowed, and trembling, resisted the urge to step back. Did he mean to make love to her? Perhaps even before their marriage vows had been taken? She was vulnerable, with no one to chaperone her. He might do what he liked with her now. The thought was shocking, but not entirely unpleasant, especially when he stood so close and made her feel small and rather fragile.
