Laura gave a gurgle of laughter. “A little perhaps.” She studied his face, the strong chin, his sensual mouth, and lustrous black hair. She wanted to ask him if he believed in love at first sight, but she feared he would accuse her of youthful romanticism. “I like the idea of standing by your side, aiding you in your endeavors.”
He raised his eyebrows, a grin tugging at his lips. “I like that too.”
“And should I wish to do more,” she continued, testing the waters. “You would permit it?”
He leaned forward and kissed her nose. “Providing you don’t go off on your own to study art in some foreign city or take a lover.”
There was a steely note beneath his words. Laura felt confident she would never wish for another lover; the man before her would fulfil all her dreams of love. But she had inherited her determination from her father. And one day she would take up the suffrage cause again, when the time was right.
Nathaniel jumped to his feet. He leaned down to take her hands and drew her to her feet. “Now I must do the proper thing and ask your father for your hand.”
His servants appeared and began to pack things away. There was so much food uneaten. “Could the food be given to the poor?” she asked. “Or a children’s orphanage?”
He smiled. “It will be done.”
They walked back to the carriage hand in hand. Her parents would be pleased. Her mother especially. While she could never take the place of Eliza, perhaps distance would improve their uneasy relationship. Her pulse thudded as life blossomed like a rose opening to the sun. Admittedly, Nathaniel had wooed and enticed her to accept him. But she no longer feared landing herself in a dreary marriage in a remote part of England. No place where Nathaniel was could ever be dreary. And she looked forward to a chance to become fully herself; to immerse herself in a new world where her energy and need to be useful could make a difference, and with a husband she was already half in love with.
***
After departing from his newly betrothed’s residence with Lord and Lady Parr’s best wishes for his marriage to their daughter, Nathaniel leaned against the leather squab and crossed his arms, his doubts reappearing to plague him. He had not been entirely honest with Laura. He had little faith in a happy marriage. Was it wrong to hope he could offer her a good life, while not giving too much of himself? His parent’s marriage ended in scandal and disaster. He could still taste the sour horror of betrayal and refused to be hurt deeply again. For all her bravado, spirit and intelligence, Laura was an innocent. She must be protected while Wolfram remained a cauldron of unrest.
He placed his booted foot over his knee and sighed. It was done. There was no going back, and he didn’t wish to. Laura’s effect on him was like water to a man dying of thirst. She lifted his spirits and imbued him with an emotion that had been absent for a long time: hope. But try as he might, he still couldn’t shrug off the fear of what he might have unleashed into her life.
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The Mystery at Falconbridge Hall Page 25
