“Because ...?”
“It’s difficult to explain.”
“Would it be helpful if you took some time to think about how to explain as we drive to ... where are we driving anyway?”
He smiled. “I really haven’t given that much thought, but I suppose if we return to the castle, we’ll have some privacy, as we left everyone else behind at the Palmer House.”
“The castle it is.”
A comfortable silence settled over them as Rhenick drove through the streets of Chicago, one that left Drusilla realizing that somewhere during the time she’d spent in Chicago, she’d become completely at ease in Rhenick’s company, something that was quite telling as she’d never been at ease during the two and a half years she’d been engaged to He Who Shall Not Be Named.
That man, in all honesty, had always made her nervous, what with how he consistently seemed to find fault with her. He also only listened to her with half an ear, if at all, preferring to settle his attention on any lady but her, which had left herwith the distinct feeling that she was always found lacking when compared to the more sparkling ladies of society.
Rhenick, on the other hand, listened to everything she said, and he seemed to enjoy her opinion on a variety of different subjects, whether it was on what style of water closet she thought young ladies would best enjoy at the academy, or what she wanted to do about the ravens that, no matter how much she hollered at them, wouldn’t abandon their preferred perch on the turrets.
He also, without a shadow of a doubt, respected women. But besides respecting them, he enjoyed women, and not simply because they were pretty or charming, but because he saw women as people—or better yet, not as inferior beings who needed to be spoken to as if they were lacking in intelligence.
“It’s a good thing you decided you were going to continue on with your plans to open the academy or this would be a rather awkward moment,” Rhenick said, drawing her from her thoughts as he pulled Sweet Pea to a stop a few feet from the castle gate. He set the brake, swung himself down from the buggy, and was holding his hand out to her a second later.
“What would have been awkward?” she asked as she put her hand in his and stepped from the buggy.
He nodded toward the gate. “Take a look for yourself.”
She leaned forward and squinted at the gate. “Is that new?”
“It is.”
“Was there something wrong with the old gate?”
“It was missing something” was all he said before he pulled her into motion, her pace slowing when she finally understood why he’d said the moment would have been awkward if she’d not decided to continue with opening the academy.
Her eyes immediately took to swimming with tears, an unusual circumstance to be sure, but tears were certainly justified because where the gate had merely been wrought-iron bars when she’d passed through them that morning, they nowsported an intricate bit of scrolling on top. More importantly, though, forged across both sections in a beautiful script was this—The Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies.
“Did you have this made for me?” she whispered.
He smiled. “I asked Chester to make it, and, clearly, he’s far more proficient with iron than he is with his butler duties.”
“Mr. Grimsby thinks Chester may have potential, but...” Drusilla allowed her gaze to linger on the gate. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s also a gift, which means you will not pester me to figure out how much it cost so that you can add it to the ledger of expenses you’ve been keeping.”
“I wasn’t planning on pestering you. I was simply planning on saying thank you for the sweetest, most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received.”
He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “It’s a gate, Drusilla, not exactly on the lines of jewelry, which I know full well, having all those sisters as well as an entire army of female cousins, ladies find the sweetest gift of all.”
“I was given the Herrington diamonds, and I didn’t find them sweet in the least.”
“That’s because the man who gave them to you was an idiot.”
She grinned. “He was, wasn’t he?”
“Indeed, but it is now duly noted that you’re not impressed with diamonds. Although, is there any specific gem you may be impressed with?”
She stilled. “Why do you want to know?”
He took to considering her for a long moment before he stepped closer. “I think I might as well take Eloise’s advice. But before I do that, there’s something I feel I need to say first.” He took hold of her hand. “I was wrong when I broached the topic of marriage with you the day we first met because you are a lady who deserves—before you’re extended a proper proposal, one that’s complete with a bended knee, moonlight, and perhaps a violin playing softly in the background—to be properly courted.”
The butterflies immediately returned.
