Page 156 of The Earl She Once Saved

“Ezra told me your brother demanded that you offer for Miss Marchmont.”

“Yes.”

“You refused.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

She asked it quietly, without quite looking at him. The morning air smelled of wet earth and roses beaten down by rain. Rafe could hear a gardener working beyond the hedge, his shears closing at steady intervals.

He had spent years keeping the answer from her. Now she stood close enough for him to see a loose thread at the cuff of her sleeve, and he could find no honest answer that did not lead to the whole of it.

He waited until she raised her eyes.

“I think you know why,” he spoke.

Her fingers closed around the stick. She did not turn away. For one breath, he believed she might tell him what she knew or ask him to say more.

He wanted to. The words had come easily in the yard, where he could speak of her work and her courage before everyone. These were hers alone to hear. She had only just told him she trusted him, and she still bore Roland’s name. Rafe would not make her regret coming to him.

Sergeant arrived between them with a force neither had expected. He struck Rafe’s knee, pushed his broad head beneath Verity’s hand, and nosed the stick so insistently that she nearly dropped it.

“He has reconsidered the merits of haste,” Rafe smiled.

Verity gave a breath of laughter. Her cheeks were colored, though she looked down before he could be certain of what had brought it there.

“Then he must be rewarded.”

She threw the stick toward the far edge of the lawn. Sergeant lumbered after it, apparently willing to make the journey as often as she wished. The gardener’s shears resumed beyond the hedge. The moment between them had passed. Rafe watched her smile at the dog and was glad he had left her room to answer him in her own time.

Win came from the house before Sergeant returned. She crossed the lawn quickly, her ring of keys striking against her skirt.

“My lady, Mr. Henshaw has arrived.”

Verity looked toward the drive. “Already?”

“He set out at first light. I have shown him into the morning room.” Win addressed her with her usual composure, but her voice was not quite steady. When she glanced at Rafe, she lowered her eyes at once.

“Thank you,” he said. “We will come in.”

Win nodded and turned back toward the house. Rafe watched her go. Ezra had told him the previous evening that he meant to leave for London within the week. Whether he had spoken to Win again, Rafe did not know. He could guess how his friend’s decision might have reached her.

Verity watched Win too, longer than he did.

“She did not sleep,” Verity revealed.

“Ezra has made plans to leave.”

“I know what he asked her.” Verity called Sergeant back with a sharp whistle. “They must speak to one another. I can tell her I want her happiness. I cannot decide what she is able to do.”

Sergeant returned without the stick. Verity looked at his empty mouth.

“A poor bargain,” she told him.

“He may fetch it when we return.”

She waited for the dog to fall in beside them, then walked toward the house with Rafe. At the steps, she looked up at him briefly. She said nothing more of Celestine. She did not need to. He felt her trust beside him as distinctly as her nearness.