“Yes,” she responded, nearly breathless from struggling to keep up.
“Charlie has the mercantile now?”
“Yes, and he has married a woman from Buxton. She didn’t want me living with them, so I had to leave.” She watched as his expression softened, as if he had been annoyed with her but was no longer.
“So you movedhereof all places?”
“I did. I wished to live in a city where I knew someone?—”
“Me?” he interrupted, his gaze on her one of surprise.
“And Callum. I’ve an ancient great aunt near here, too, but I’m not sure exactly where she lives.” She paused before adding, “This is a city where I can make my living as a seamstress and...” She let the sentence trail off.
“And?” he prompted.
“In Scotland, I don’t require a man to see to my money.”
Daniel suddenly slowed his steps even more. “Your marriage portion?” he guessed.
She nodded, her eyes widening when she noted how his expression had changed again. His entire manner had, in fact, changed. “What is it?”
He didn’t answer immediately, instead leading her across the street and into a park. Crushed limestone crunched beneath their feet as they followed the path between leafy sycamores and cherry trees that had shed their spring blooms. The late afternoon sun had already painted the western sky in shades of peach and apricot, and a slight breeze rustled the leaves. “I have a proposition for you,” he said suddenly.
“A proposition?” she repeated, thinking the term rather odd.
“Indeed. Hear me out, and afterwards I’d like to learn what you think of it,” he said, his brows furrowing so he appeared far older than his seven-and-twenty years.
Isabella nodded. “All right.”
He took a deep breath and let it out. “I had a plan,” he stated. “If you had asked me last week what it was, I would have told you I needed to secure more clients so I could afford to build a house. I already have the land, you see,—”
“Oh, where?” she asked with excitement.
“Uh, over there,” he said, pointing to an area on the northern edge of New Town. “You can’t see the exact lot from here, but it’s in that general direction.”
“You have it all designed, I suppose?” she asked, her gaze entirely on him. She trusted him enough to know he wouldn’t have them walking into a tree or a lamp post.
“I do. I thought to build it, and then, after a few more projects—a few years later—I would be able to afford to take a wife.”
She inhaled softly. “Do you have someone in mind? To be your wife?”
“I don’t... I... I didn’t,” he stammered. “It’s always been a house first, then a wife. That was the plan.”
When he didn’t say anything more, she said, “It sounds as if you haven’t taken the benefits of a dowry into consideration.”
For a moment, Daniel looked as if he was suffering from indigestion. He dipped his head. “A dowry is supposed to be used for a woman’s future, especially if there are children,” he argued. “For when her husband dies, so she has the means to carry on,” he added.
Isabella’s eyes rounded. “Really?”
“What did you think it was for?”
She lifted a shoulder. “To pay off gambling debts?”
Daniel barked a laugh. “I suppose there are situations where that might be the case,” he hedged.
“But you’re not a gambler?” she guessed.
He shook his head. “I play cards on occasion, but not for money,” he admitted.
