Dahlia shrugged. “Danielle was always going to be Andrew’s wife, so I hardly think it matters,” she replied dismissively. “Now they’ll finally be wed. They’ll go on his Grand Tour together,” she added with a grin. “Why, I’m almost jealous.”
“You are?” Anthony asked, displaying his confusion.
Turning her body on the bench so she faced him, Dahlia was about to respond when the coach came to a halt. “Oh, dear,” she murmured.
“Allow me,” David said as he knocked on the trap door. When the driver’s face appeared, he said, “Norwick House.”
Stunned by the sight of the earl in the coach, the driver blinked several times before nodding. “Right away, guv’nor.”
“Thank you, Father,” Dahlia said as the coach merged into the late afternoon Park Lane traffic. She regarded Anthony a moment and sighed. “I admit I was hurt when you withdrew your proposal,” she stated. “I was angered by the thought that your proposal was made with terms and conditions to be attached at a later date—”
“You needn’t make them sound so odious,” Anthony interrupted. Before she could respond, he added, “We could be married in name only. Live at Aimsley House—we wouldn’t have to share a bed, at least for a few years—and then, when you allowed it, or when it was necessary, then we could live as husband and wife,” he reasoned.
Dahlia stared at him a moment before she dipped her head. “Oh,” she whispered. “Is that all?”
Anthony angled his head to one side in an attempt to see her eyes. “What did you think I meant?”
Straightening so she could look up at him, Dahlia said, “I thought you were going to inform me of your intentions to take a mistress, and tell me what nights you intended to be at your club, what nights you expected to join me in my bed, and what entertainments you required me to attend and...”
Her words were cut off when Anthony’s lips captured hers. He kissed her for several seconds, watching as her lashes lowered over her eyes and a tear spilled out of one corner. When he pulled away, he wiped the tear away with his thumb and kissed both her eye lids. “No mistress, mayhap Tuesdays and Fridays—although I could easily be talked out of it—whatever nights you’ll welcome me in your bed, and which ever ones you wish to attend,” he whispered.
Dahlia swallowed. “Oh.” She rolled her eyes at hearing her breathy response. “Then... will you marry me?”
He lowered his forehead to hers. “Oh, I suppose,” he replied on a huff before his face brightened with a huge grin. He kissed her forehead and turned to remind her father he already had the man’s permission, but the ghost of David Fitzwilliam had disappeared.
“Could you be just a little more enthusiastic about it?” Dahlia asked on a huff.
Pulling away, Anthony grinned at her. “I will when I get to do to you what my brother has no doubt been doing to your sister on this day,” he teased.
The oddest shiver had Dahlia’s eyes widening. A pleasant frisson that seemed to have her entire body awakening to possibilities. Perhaps sharing a bed with Anthony would not be so bad. “Mother warned me I might be expected to give up my virtue before the vows were spoken,” she murmured. Straightening on the bench, she glanced around. “Not here, though,” she said, as if she was already plotting where she might give him her virtue. “I don’t want us to be discovered half-naked in here,” she added, indicating the opposite bench.
Anthony chuckled. “Of course not. When I make love to you, it shall be in a comfortable bed. We shall have privacy. However...,” He glanced at the empty bench. “We probably wouldn’t be the first to make love in this coach, given what I’ve learned about your father,” he murmured, quite sure the Earl of Norwick and his countess had engaged in a tumble or two on the opposite bench.
“Have you?” she quickly countered. “Been caught in a coach tupping someone?” she clarified.
He gave a start. “No, I assure you, I have not,” he claimed, his manner suggesting he was offended she thought him capable of such a scandal. “I have thought about it, though,” he admitted. Before she could react, he added, “I imagined it would be with you. Whilst on a long trip. I cannot think of a better way to alleviate the boredom of travel than have you sitting atop me.” He felt her inhalation of breath as her chest pressed into his.
“Oh, Anthony,” she whispered. This time, she initiated the kiss, her lips opening to coax his to do the same. One of her hands reached up to grip his shoulder as she deepened the kiss, and she gave a start when his tongue touched hers. When she finally pulled away, she regarded him with a wistful expression. “Should I ask your father’s permission to marry you?” she queried.
“Yes. No. Maybe,” Anthony responded, finally chuckling. “Probably my mother,” he said gently. He pulled her into an embrace. “If it’s all right, I’ll go into Norwick House with you. Ask to speak with the earl.”
Dahlia nodded. “I don’t have a ring for you,” she murmured. Then her eyes rounded before she suddenly straightened and then pulled a glove from her right hand. “Oh, but I do.” She wrenched a gold band with a green gemstone from a forefinger and held it out to him.
Chuckling again, Anthony removed a glove and allowed her to slide it onto his pinky, the only finger upon which it would fit. “I have one for you,” he said as he reached into his waistcoat pocket.
“You do?”
“Well, of course. I did propose marriage yesterday and then again today,” he reminded her.
Dahlia inhaled softly as he opened a small ring box to display a sapphire gem mounted on a gold band. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered. She watched as he slid it onto her finger, grinning in delight when it fit. “Oh, it’s perfect.”
The coach stuttered to a halt and the familiar jerking motion of the driver stepping down from his bench had them straightening in their seat.
“Time to do battle with the earl,” Anthony murmured as the coach door opened.
“Hardly,” Dahlia countered with a watery grin. She allowed the driver to help her step down to the pavement. “Lord Breckinridge will require a ride home,” she said before turning her attention back to Anthony. “He’ll be so glad to hear of your intentions, he’ll probably double my dowry.”
“I’ll wait,” the driver acknowledged.
Thinking his future wife was merely teasing, Anthony joined her outside the coach and offered his arm.
