He was somber today, in a gray coat over a black waistcoat with gleaming silver buttons. He looked rather like one of the storm clouds still looming in the sky—a bit overwhelming, perhaps, but striking, too—all dark-edged, masculine beauty, and tightly-leashed power.
Mygoodness. So much starch and polish shouldn’t flatter him so outrageously, but a lady couldn’t help but wonder what he was hiding underneath those austere colors and severe tailoring.
Well, perhaps not alady, but it madeherwonder.
“Yes?” He leaned a little closer, his eyebrows arching over gleaming dark eyes. “Did you wish to say something, Miss Templeton?”
“Er… no.” Not aloud, that is.
“If you’d be so good as to listen, then.” He peered down his arrogant earl’s nose at her. “Your matchmaking schemes aren’t working, and I demand to know what you intend to do about it.”
Oh, so they wereherschemes now, were they?“I believe you meanourmatchmaking schemes, my lord, and it’s much too soon to judge whether they’re working or not. Anyone can tell you six days isn’t nearly enough time to see a proper scheme through to its conclusion.”
“Barnaby assures me a single glance is enough to inspire a lifelong passion. If that’s the case, then why hasn’t Lady Cora fallen in love with him yet? We only have a fortnight!”
For goodness’s sake. Who but an arrogant earl would expect a couple to fall in love to best suit him? “Itistedious of them not to accommodate your wishes, my lord, but while they may be a perfect match from a purely practical standpoint, that doesn’t mean they’re destined to fall in love.”
“Well, why not? I don’t see why it has to be such a dark mystery. Why can’t Lady Cora just get on with it? Stubborn chit.”
“Because love isn’tlogical, my lord. A lady doesn’t fall in love because you stomp your feet, and demand it.” And thank goodness forthat.
“I didnotstomp my feet, Miss Templeton.”
Not yet, at any rate. “While I do wish I could give you a date and time as to when Lady Cora might succumb to Cupid’s arrow, I’m afraid I can only guess at what might happen from here. I already told you, I don’t have any true insight into what makes people fall in love.”
He waved a hand at her. “Well, make a guess at it, then. We’re running out of time.”
“It did occur to me she may regard him as her friend only, not as a suitor, or as a gentleman she could ever fall in love with.”
“What’s to be done, then?”
“That’s what I came here to find out.” She took the book from him and held it up. “Who better than Shakespeare to elucidate the mysteries of love?”
“Good Lord.Romeo and Juliet, again?” He reached over her head, pulled another book from the shelf and thrust it into her hands. “Better consultA Midsummer Night’s Dream. It ends in marriage, rather than poisonings and death.”
“Have you forgotten your Shakespeare, Lord Cross? Romeo and Julietdoget married, in the fifth scene of Act Two.”
“They get married, yes, but then Juliet drinks poison, Romeo follows suit, and then they both die.”
“Juliet doesn’t die from the poisoning. She stabs herself with her dagger.”
“She stilldies, doesn’t she? It’s not a happy ending, Miss Templeton.”
Juliet caressed the gilt-edged pages of the beautiful book with her thumb. Perhaps he was right, and she was mad to considerRomeo and Julieta romance, rather than a tragedy. All that death was a bit problematic, romantically speaking.
But the lines that delineated romance from tragedy, and love from loathing were blurry, indeed, just as all such lines were. Life was an untidy affair, with the various parts forever bleeding into each other. One was just as likely to find a hint of tragedy in romance as they were to find a hint of romance in tragedy.
It was dreadfully messy, really, but there it was.
“You look grave, Miss Templeton, with that furrowed brow. Can it be thatRomeo and Julietis not as illuminating as you hoped?”
“Not at all. I’m merely refreshing my memory as to how they fall in love.” She flipped a few more pages, then paused to read. “Ah, yes. Romeo thinks himself in love with Rosalind, but then he sees Juliet at a masquerade ball, and falls in love with her, instead.”
“That’sit? Pardon my cynicism, but I thought we’d concluded love at first sight is utter nonsense.”
“No,yousaid it was nonsense. I never agreed with you, and I’ll thank you not to put words into my mouth.”
He raised an eyebrow at her waspish tone. “Very well. May I hope Shakespeare offers some other illumination into the quandary?”
