Once they’d gotten all their gear together, including two boxes of worms, they wandered over to the area where fishing was allowed.
“Have you ever done this before?” Matthew asked, scanning the water.
“A few times. My parents have a lovely house in the Lake District. My siblings and I spent our summers there as children.” Her gaze grew distant. Sentimental. “It was the ideal place for us to explore nature to our hearts’ content. We’d ride, fish, climb trees,and build forts. It is, in fact, where I first discovered my fondness for walking.”
“I see.”
She grinned. “How about you? Have you done much fishing before?”
“Honestly?” When she gave a small nod, he shook his head. “Not really. I don’t visit the countryside much, so I’ve not really had a chance until now. Didn’t even realize fishing was something one could do in London.”
She stared at him. “What do you mean, you don’t visit the countryside?”
Realizing he’d given away more about himself than he’d intended, he shrugged one shoulder to pretend indifference and focused on tossing the weighted hook at the end of his line into the water. “I’m not very partial to it.”
“Why not?”
“Does it matter?”
She frowned at that and eventually turned away, giving her attention to her own fishing line. “Not really.” He sighed in response until she followed the comment with, “Unless you’re still trying to get me to marry you, in which case your oddities do become more important.”
“Choosing to stay in London in a house I feel comfortable in is not an oddity. It’s a personal choice.”
“Hmm...” She looked at him with discriminating suspicion. “You bought that house yourself. Did you not?”
“Yes,” he said without even bothering to hide his increased agitation. This was why he hadn’t wanted to take a walk or go fishing. Because it invariably led to probing conversations from which there could be no escape.
“Why not live at Brunswick Manor instead?”
His grip on the fishing rod tightened.Easy does it. With long deep breaths he fought to keep the encroaching darkness at bay.
“Perhaps I don’t care for it any more than you care for being treated like a soon-to-be spinster who can’t get a man’s attention without her mother’s help.”
Miss Townsbridge tightened her jaw and averted her gaze while Matthew cursed himself for his despicable rudeness. “I’m sorry,” he said, wishing he could retract the words. “That was unkind.”
“The truth isn’t always pleasant, Lord Brunswick.” A wistful smile pulled at the edge of Miss Townsbridge’s mouth, and although he watched her in profile, there was no mistaking the clarity of her gaze as she looked out across the water. “I’ve always admired those who have the courage to speak it without any fear of repercussion.”
Matthew could not take his eyes off her. He’d thought her only mildly pleasing to the eye until now, but in this moment of reflective pensiveness, with golden sunlight spilling across her cheek, she looked divine.
“Nevertheless. I shouldn’t have said it.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t incorrect.”
“I disagree.” He waited for her to turn her gaze toward him before admitting, “I noticed you completely on my own. No one pointed you out and yet here I am, desperately trying to win your hand.”
Her smile broadened, transforming into a wide and beautiful grin. “Desperately?”
“You’ll see. Once I set my mind on something there’s really no swaying me.”
“I can be stubborn too, you know.”
“As proven by your reluctance to consider my offer.”
She let out a small sigh. “You’re not inviting me for a night out at the theatre, Your Grace. What you’re asking is for me to spend the rest of my life with you. Surely you can appreciate how impossible it is for me to even consider doing so without having some sense ofwhat to expect.”
“You won’t want for anything.”
“I’m not convinced of that.” When he frowned she said, “Material things can’t feed the heart or the soul. I won’t accept a marriage devoid of friendship.”
