Daffin nodded once. His chest felt tight.
Regina stepped toward him and put a mitten on his shoulder. “Oh, Daffin. I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head and forced joviality back into his voice. “Tell me, what doyouwant for Christmas this year, Regina?”
She cocked her head to the side. “What if I told you I wanted to learn more about you?”
He shook his head. “I suppose that’s an easy enough gift to give. What would you like to know?”
“Where did you grow up?” she asked.
“In London.”
She laughed and shook her head again. “Yes, I’d gathered that, but what part?”
He dug his boot into the packed snow and took a deep breath. “Belgravia.”
A slight flash of surprise flared in Regina’s eyes when she glanced at him. Belgravia was an affluent part of the city. Perhaps not as affluent as Mayfair, but a close second.
“Belgravia?” she echoed. “How did we not know each other?”
“I was only in Belgravia until my mother died. She wasn’t a part of Society.” Officially.
“Why not?”
No. There was no way he was going to explain his mother’s place on the fringes of Society, no matter how curious Regina was. “It’s a long story and I have a personal question foryounow.”
“Very well, I suppose it’s only fair. What’s your question?”
“Do you truly intend to marry Lord Dryden?”
Her smile faded. “What choice do I have? There is a considerable shortage of eligible bachelors in Surrey at Christmastide.” She was trying to be funny, but Daffin didn’t laugh.
He watched her closely. Her attention remained intent on the snowwoman. “So that’s it? You intend to give up? No more looking for love?”
She snatched a green velvet bonnet from her pile of supplies nearby, placed it on the snowwoman’s head, and tied the ribbons under its chin. “I don’t think of it as giving up. I think of it more as succumbing to my fate.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.” He couldn’t keep the hint of anger from his voice. To see this beautiful, special womangive herself away in marriage to a man who didn’t appreciate her… Daffin couldn’t stomach it.
She glanced at him, surprise in her eyes. “That’s what Nicole says.”
“Nicole’s right,” he clipped.
Regina plunked two pieces of coal into the snowwoman’s face to give her eyes and wiped her mittens together, apparently finished with her task. “Have you ever met the Earl of Dryden?”
“I don’t believe I have,” Daffin answered.
Regina tugged her red cap down over her ears. “Well, I have, on many occasions, and he’s perfectly…nice.”
“Sounds like a stunning recommendation.”
“Maybe nice is good enough. Maybe nice is all there is. Marrying the Earl of Dryden is what’s expected of me. I’ve put it off long enough. It’s been selfish of me to believe I’m special.”
He stepped forward and cupped his hands under both her elbows. He stared into her eyes. “Regina, you’ve no idea just how special you are.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Regina slowly climbed the stairs to her bedchamber. Daffin had called her special. He understood her reasons for not wanting to marry Dryden. He even understood what it was like to be fearful that your children would experience the same hurt you did. So fearful you didn’t even want to have children. She’d never realized anyone else felt that same way. What had happened to Daffin after his mother died? Had he stayed with his hideous father? How must that have been for a young boy? He was opening up to her, but slowly. She’d wanted to ask him why a paid murderer had been after his mother, but that was a question for another time. So was the question about where he’d ended up after his mother’s death.
