“Ah. You would triumph over me.” He leaned his head back, staring at the sky as if the stars and the moon might explain the complexities of women. “You would reduce a man to the sum of his urges. Very well, my lady, I will tell you. You drive me to madness for want of you.” He frowned. “There. Does that please you?”
Elizabeth shook her head. It could not be. “It can’t be. What of today? You stopped.” She stamped her foot, slipper striking feebly against the gravel path. “Because of your horse.”
“Ahh.” He laughed at her.
She glowered at him and crossed her arms.
“And if I hadn’t stopped?” He tilted his head toward her, his words husky and rich, thrumming harmoniously with the mellow harp strains swirling around them.
She considered his question. I should have enjoyed it very much. But in the dim evening light, she noted the heat in his expression and realized her error. How very short-sighted she had been.
“Do you think I am made of stone?
Yes. No. She stepped back and shook her head.
“Did you think I could withstand the onslaught of your kisses without being moved?”
She averted her eyes. “I did not intend...”
“No.” He chucked her chin. “I don’t believe you did. Come. Walk with me. Before I am forced to kiss you again—right here in my father’s garden.”
He secured her hand on his arm and leaned to her ear, whispering conspiratorially. “They are probably, this very minute, up there, cracking open the window and extending the telescope, giggling like a couple of schoolgirls.”
She ignored his aside, still struggling to comprehend his declaration. “I thought you merely enjoyed taunting me. I didn’t believe you truly hid any warmth behind it.”
“There is no accounting for it, I agree.”
She squinted at the trees in the park ahead of them and thought she saw something rustling the shrubbery—probably a fox or an owl. “But we are not suited. You have said as much on several occasions.”
“Exactly.”
“You needn’t agree so readily.”
He patted her hand. “Would you have me deny the truth? That I find you arrogant in the extreme and—”
She yanked her hand away and turned to him, hands on hips. “I am not arrogant.”
“You most certainly are. And you have the sharpest tongue in all of Christendom.”
“I do not.”
“Right.” He knocked his palm against his forehead. “I forgot about my aunt. Very well, you have the second most lethal tongue.”
“Flatterer.” She crossed her arms.
He chuckled. “Yet in the face of it all, I find I am completely done for.”
“You have my sympathy.”
“I’m serious, Izzie.” He rubbed his hand against the satin on her shoulder. “What if I told you that I can no longer deny my feelings for you?”
He took his hand away from her shoulder.
She waited.
“It is unexplainable, this pull within me. I cannot resist you. Nevertheless I accept the reality of it. And after today, I cannot imagine...” He kneaded his brow for a moment and then straightened, soldierlike. “Life without you simply would not be palatable.”
It sounded very nearly like a proposal, and yet he was not down on one knee, he had not ascribed her beauty, or her character, as the source of his passion. Nay, he had ranted about her reprehensible traits.
“I am not quite certain what you are asking, my lord. But I am very sorry for your palate—to have to deny it such a distasteful morsel.”
He groaned. “You’ve taken offense.”
“It surprises you? You tell me you think me a perfectly dreadful person, and yet, much to your dismay, some wretched part of your physiology prefers to keep me nearby. I have no idea whether this is an indecent proposition or a proposal.”
He lifted a hand to heaven as if he might grab some help there. “It’s glaringly obvious, Izzie. I’m asking you to marry me. I may have done it badly—”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Very badly.”
He grasped her shoulders. “Surely you understand my bewilderment. You’ve held me in contempt since we first met. I felt certain you had as much aversion to me as I did to you. Then things slowly shifted, and today, after you kissed me, I realized…” His shoulders slumped and he ran his thumb gently over her shoulder. “This is all very confusing.”
“On that point, we are in complete agreement.” She refused to look at him, afraid she might fall for that earnest expression in his eyes.
“Look at me, Izzie.”
“No.”
“Please.”
She reluctantly complied.
“Things have changed.” He said it with a sincerity that almost frightened her.
“Not all things.” Elizabeth could not keep her chin from jutting up defensively. “You still insist on insulting me at every turn. No compliments. Nary a one. Anyone looking on would think you positively loathe me.”
“Is that it?” He squeezed her shoulders and let go. “You wish me to humble myself at your alter? Praise your beauty? Wax poetic over the softness of your lips? Tell you how I envy the moonlight because it touches your hair?” He exhaled loudly. “I’m a man of action, my girl. If I say such things aloud, I’m apt to yank out your pins and let your hair fall into my palm. Why talk about lips when I might be tasting them?”
She stood there wishing he would do exactly that. But he didn’t. Instead he left her raw senses at the mercy of the caressing breeze and the seductive music.
Elizabeth sighed and sat down on a bench. Valen stood in front of her like a Viking warlord losing his patience.
She could not drum up a confident air. “You are right. This is all very confusing.” In the face of her weakness and turmoil, she glanced up at Valen, knowing before she said it that she would regret the words. “You know my predicament, my lord. There are certain monetary considerations—”
In a low hard tone, he demanded the truth. “And these monetary considerations, do they take precedence over any feelings you may have toward me?”
“Feelings are fleeting.” She quoted from her father and
