They reached the rosebushes, and she leaned forward, closing her eyes as she inhaled. Strange to think how pleasing it was just watching her enjoy something as small as smelling roses.
“I was wondering”—she straightened—“if you met with Lady Livingston after the ball last evening, as you told her you’d do.” She turned and met his stare. “I’m curious what kind of offer she presented you.”
Surprise shook him. It wasn’t that Ellie had spoken something shocking as much as it was that he had actuallyforgottenabout Candace.
He snorted a laugh. “Lady Livingston? That is what you’re curious about?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, to be completely honest, I forgot to meet her after the ball. I haven’t talked to her since before we met in the grove of trees.”
She tilted her head. “Indeed?”
He nodded. “Yes. I have no clue what she would have offered me.”
Ellie’s smile stretched wider. “I’m sure you had a suspicion as to what it might be.”
He laughed out loud, not caring who heard him. It was quite refreshing being with a woman who spoke her mind, even as improper as the subject matter might be. “Yes, I suspected what she wanted from me.”
Ellie hooked her hand around his arm again and started them toward another rosebush instead of back to the path. He didn’t mind.
“I’ve heard gossip,” Ellie said, “about Lady Livingston over the years, and the stories I’ve heard are not good.” She peeked up at him as her thick eyelashes fluttered. “Can I ask if you were one of her lovers?”
Shock rooted his feet to the ground as he turned to face her. “Miss Middleton, I’m appalled.”
Her eyes widened. “You are? Why, exactly? Are you shocked because I know about you and Lady Livingston, or that I have the courage to ask?”
Sighing heavily, he shook his head. There was one thing for certain…when they married, she would definitely keep him on his toes.
“I’m shocked that you are asking about my relationship with another woman.”
Ellie gave him a teasing grin. “Try to compose yourself, Vincent. I’ve always been a most curious woman.”
“Indeed you are.” He chuckled.
“So? Are you going to tell me?”
He glanced around them, making sure that their conversation wouldn’t be overheard, before he rested his focus on her again. “There is really nothing to tell. We were intimate for a few months, but both of us agreed to move on. She wasn’t looking for a husband, and I for sure wasn’t looking for a wife.”
Slowly, Ellie’s grin drooped. “Yes, I suppose that would be a good enough reason to end the relationship.”
She stepped away from him toward the rosebush that held the loveliest yellow petals. Bending, she closed her eyes once more as she placed her nose above one of the flowers.
He moved closer to her. “And what about you?” Call him morbid, but he needed to know why she had loved a man who only wanted her for money.
“What about me?” She bent to sniff another flower.
“Will you tell me about your fiancé?”
Ellie snapped to an upright position, and her gaze landed on him. “Adam?”
He shrugged. “Unless you had more than one fiancé.”
The muscles in her face relaxed, and she didn’t appear to be as frigid. For some reason, the mention of Adam put her in an emotional dither. Perhaps she had truly given her heart to Adam and didn’t have anything left to offer another man.
“What do you want to know?” she asked in a tight voice.
“Oh, I don’t know.” He stepped slowly around the bush. “How did you meet? How long did you know him before he…um, went off to fight one of Napoleon’s battles?”
