“No, sir! You must hear me on this. You misunderstand my intentions.”
“I do not. I merely said you are asking the wrong person.” Mr. Grant’s face lit up with a broad smile.
But the smile was not for Tobias. It was focused on something behind him.
Tobias whipped round.
Sophia sat, beaming, in a chair against the back wall.
“Well?” said Mr. Grant. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
Tobias was absolutely speechless.
“It seems, my dear,” Sophia’s father said, with what could only be described as mischief in his eyes, “your beau is quite mute on the subject. Perhaps we misunderstood his keenness to ask for your hand.”
“You are a terrible tease, Papa,” Sophia scolded. “Take pity on him.”
“Do you see how she chastises me for your sake, Mr. Mannerly? I would say you are a very lucky man, indeed.”
Tobias managed to summon a stunned, “Yes, sir” before staring in tongue-tied fascination at them both.
“Papa and I have spoken at great length, Tobias, but he would not allow me to forewarn you. He wanted to see what you were made of. I could not deny him that. We have kept so many secrets from him. He was entitled to one of his own.”
Relief poured off Tobias in waves. Sophia and her father had spoken about his marriage proposal, and they were both smiling. How grateful he was to her father! And how proud he was of Sophia!
The next moment, he was across the room and kneeling before her. “You brilliant, beautiful creature!” he cried. “You have mended three hearts at once!”
Sophia cupped his face in her hands. “No, Tobias. It was you who made this possible. You, with your irrepressible spirit and constant devotion.”
“Are the two of you going to argue about this all day?” Mr. Grant called across to them. “We’ve got a wedding to plan, you know. And I’m not getting any younger.”
Sophia giggled, then cast her dark, sensuous eyes upon Tobias. “I’m ready,” she breathed. “Ask me.”
His heartbeat began to pound in his ears. He could scarcely hear himself when he uttered the words he had waited months to say.
“Sophia, may I have your hand in marriage?”
Sophia opened her mouth to answer, but Tobias was in a delirium of ecstasy. His feelings poured forth like a tide. “I want not only your hand, my love. Also your wit and beauty. Yourbody that struggles and your mind that does not. Your heart that is warm and kind and…”
“Good grief,” muttered Mr. Grant under his breath.
“Yes,” said Sophia before Tobias could list her qualities further. “I am all yours. For better or worse. Yes, Tobias.” She flung her arms around his shoulders.
“Well, that’s settled, then,” declared Mr. Grant. But he was roundly ignored. Tobias stood, drawing Sophia up with him. He swung her in his arms, dancing in a circle, until she laughed and told him to put her down.
Mr. Grant cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I think I shall fetch your siblings to hear the news from your own lips. I shan’t be long.”
The moment Mr. Conrad had stepped outside his study, Tobias reached his hand beneath his beloved’s shapely chin and lifted it gently. “Oh, how I love you…” he murmured.
“How do you love me?” Sophia whispered back.
“Shall I count the ways?” he teased.
“Just show me.”
His warm breath met hers. Their lips parted and received the yearning of the other. Pleasure washed over them.
A soft giggle jerked them apart.
