“And?” she prompted.
“Show you the house.”
“Which you’ve done,” she said.
“Well, notallof it,” he argued. “You haven’t seen the bedchambers. The mistress suite. The nursery.”
She bit into a biscuit as if she were biting her tongue. “And once you had shown me all of the house? What then?”
Andrew sighed in resignation. “I was planning to propose marriage again. Give you the ring. Kiss you.”
This last seemed to have her relaxing somewhat. “That’s hardly kidnapping,” she hedged. “I mean, what sort of ransom demand were you planning to make?”
“Your agreement to marry me,” he finally admitted. “I wasn’t to let you go until you had accepted my suit.”
Danielle gasped, her eyes narrowing as she glanced toward the parlor door. “And if I didn’t? Accept your suit?”
“Oh, Danny, please don’t—”
“What were you to do if I didn’t agree?” she pressed.
Andrew sighed. “You had to, Danny.”
“So, do you intend to keep me here until I do?”
“Your father told me to keep you overnight, if necessary.Thoroughly ruin you, I believe is how he put it.”
For a moment, Danielle looked as if she might be sick. “Oh,” she mumbled, her gaze darting about as if she expected to find her father watching them.
For a moment, she couldn’t decide if she should thank the ghost or hit him over the head with the fire poker.
