“I love growing plants. When I’m home, I spend most of the time in the conservatory. My dream is to have a glasshouse where there are always blossoming flowers of every colour, and plants from distant places. It would be like holding the whole world under the same roof. Imagine, plants from the cold Scandinavia to the warm Amazon, all in one place. It’s silly, I know.”
He frowned, holding the gate to the castle for her. “You should stop referring to yourself as silly.”
“Well, if anything, it’s good that Helen is your possible choice of a wife. She’ll fill the role of the duchess perfectly.” She must have said something he didn’t like because his frown deepened. Perhaps she shouldn’t talk about his choices since nothing had been decided yet.
Once inside the castle, they took a route new to her that ran along a set of arched windows.
“This way is more spectacular.” She stopped to admire the view of the forest.
“It’s less safe than the one we took yesterday. Sometimes servants use this passage to go to the tower?—”
“The tower!” She faced him.
His harsh lines softened. “Right here. Come.”
Large stone steps formed a steep spiral staircase. As they went up, the sound of their footfalls filled the silence.
She gasped when they arrived at the top.
A round room was lined with large windows from which the whole of England was visible. Gentle hills rose in the distance through a veil of fog. A river shone like a silver ribbon across a green expanse, and the forest looked like a dormant giant.
“Beautiful.” She leant over a window. The trees below seemed like toys.
“Careful.” He pulled her back gently by taking her waist. “These stones are ancient. You never know.”
The contact started a flutter in her belly, and he stared at her with the usual awe that made her feel special.
“Thank you for this gift,” she said.
He lowered his gaze as if worried she might see the emotions in his eyes. How she wished he would let her see them. She wanted to see him lose his stony composure and fully enjoy himself for once, without the burden of his sadness returning to weigh down on him.
“We should go back.” Something had changed in him because his tone had nothing of the warmth from before. His constant sadness punished him every time he was happy.
Or perhaps she’d been too loud or too annoying. “Of course.”
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Their hands brushed against each other a few times, and she could swear he tried to lace his fingers through hers.
He stopped in the same spot as the other day. “Thank you for your company. It means a lot.”
He sounded so formal she didn’t know how to respond.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
They stared at each other in the dimly lit room that had to be centuries old and must have seen generations of dukes and duchesses exercising their power. But at that moment, as she stared into his sad green eyes, she saw only a man who carried a heavy burden. A burden she wasn’t sure he would let her share with him.
