by Mary Balogh
"I do not wish to talk to you, David," she said, splitting the stem of a daisy with her fingernail and fitting another through it with great care. "It is only because Mama and Papa insisted that I am here at all. I do not wish to hear you offer me marriage just because the world will not believe that we could spend the night under one roof without also spending it in the same bed. I feel a little insulted, sir, though I suppose I must thank you for the sense of honor that has brought you here."
"Rachel." He stooped down on his haunches in front of her so that she became suffocatingly aware of his nearness. She joined the two ends of the chain. There were no more daisies to add unless she moved from her place. "It is not merely or mainly for that reason that I have come."
"And I will not live in Richmond with you, basking in the luxury of your inherited fortune," she said. "I will be totally insulted by such a proposal again."
"I don't blame you," he said quietly. "It was very wrong of me to make that offer to you yesterday. I beg your forgiveness. I did it because I love you and I want you. And I have always thought it a man's responsibility to protect the woman he loves from all harm and hardship. I love you, Rachel, and I have tried to protect your way of life even if you were unwilling to do so for yourself. I have not credited you with any mind of your own or any strength of character. I have been very wrong. Please forgive me. I erred out of love, not out of any malice."
"You think me frivolous, pampered, and empty-headed," she said. "You really do not know me at all, David. I have always been happiest living quietly here, visiting my friends at the cottages. I have never craved social pleasures. I sought them out this year merely because my education as a lady had taught me that that was what I should want."
"When your father came to the vicarage this morning," David said, "I realized the necessity of making this visit. But I would have been making it anyway, Rachel. Please believe me. You see, last night I accepted the fact that I love you and wish you to be my wife. I have very little to offer except my devotion. But I will offer you that. Your feelings and your response must be yours to decide. I can see all the reasons why you should not make such a match, but the decision is not mine. It is yours. And I am yours, Rachel, if you will have me."
"Not in Richmond," she whispered, looking up at him for the first time.
"Here," he said. "We would stay here."
"And not with that fortune to buy me clothes and jewelry," she said. ›
"I have rejected my godmother's legacy, Rachel," he said.
"And you must not guard my dowry to spend on me," she said. "You must spend it as you do the money you earn."
He reached for her hand. "We will be very poor, dear," he said.
"No, we will not," she said, grasping his hand tightly. "We will not, David. You do not really believe so and neither do I. 'Consider the lilies of the field.' "
He smiled into her eyes. "You are quite right," he said. "We will be the wealthiest family in the parish. You see what beautiful jewels you will wear?" He took the daisy chain from her lap and looped it twice about her neck. "I will give you gifts of daisies, Rachel. Will you marry me?"
"Yes, I will, David," she said, her eyes shining into his as she put her arms up around his neck. "And you will teach me to make the adjustments to a new way of life. For I know I will find it difficult even though I know equally well that I will be able to do it and that I will be happy."
"And you will teach me to be joyful and trusting," he said. "To trust other people's strength as well as my own. You are a strong person, Rachel. You will be a better wife than I deserve. I love you so very dearly."
"Kiss me," she said, tightening her arms around him. "Before we go to find Mama and Papa and before we go to visit and admire the newest Master Perkins, kiss me. And I really do not think there is any hurry, for everyone else has gone riding, you see, except Lord and Lady Mountford. So Mama and Papa have nothing to do except relax and wait for us to come. And I will have plenty of time later to tell you Celia and Algie's news. They are going to be married, you know, and I am very delighted for both of them. They will suit, do you not chink?"
David's arms had closed around her so that they knelt together on the grass, clasped in each other's arms.
"The first thing I remember about you is your prattling," he said, smiling at her, his lips beginning to tease hers. "On Bond Street. I shall enjoy it for a lifetime, dear, I swear I will, provided only that you control the urge when you have asked me to kiss you."
"Oh, yes, of course I will," she said, her lips responding to the teasing of his. "David. Oh, David, have I told you how much I love you?"
"Mm," he said. "Tell me later. As many times as you wish, dear. But much later."
"Yes," she said, "much, much later, David, if you please. Mmmm."
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