Wishing for Rainbows

Trenton smiled with masculine delight at dismay she struggled to contain. “I have to return to my estate soon because there are matters awaiting my attention that I can’t put off for much longer.” He looked down at her somewhat ruefully. “I like to get out of London before the season gets too busy.”

“I thought you were staying for the season.” She winced when she realised how presumptuous she had been. “I am sorry. It is none of my business.”

“Nonsense. We are making conversation. There is nothing wrong with that. I don’t usually come to London during the season. It is too crowded and the formalities drive me mad.” He shared a rueful look with her. “I am only here now to tie up some loose ends before I head to my estate for the winter.”

“So you will be in Yorkshire at Christmas?” she asked, unsure where she would be.

He nodded. “I am looking forward to it,” he replied.

When she didn’t seem inclined to say anything else, he looked down at her. “How do you like the London at this time of year?” he asked and threw her a cheeky smile. “Aside from the formalities.” He hadn’t really considered it before, but he wanted to know if she intended to remain in London because she liked the constant social whirl, or was here purely to escape her father.

“It is alright, I suppose. I am not here by choice, I can assure you,” she confided.

He heaved a sigh of relief at that and threw her a measured look. “Your father told you to come to find a husband.”

“I can’t believe he told you,” she snorted in disgust.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of,” he assured her. “Your father has ordered you to find a husband within the month, that’s all.”

“That’s all?” she cried, and stared at him in horror. “He is trying to force me into marriage.”

“He only wants the best for you, Ursula,” he reasoned cautiously. He could feel anger positively vibrating off her.

“Are you saying he is perfectly right to give me four weeks to choose a husband I am expected to share the rest of my life with?” She was horrified at the very thought that Trenton would side with her father. It made her wonder whether she knew either man at all. She frowned when she realised she didn’t really know Trenton anyway, in spite of the fact that he had been the main focus of her existence for years.

“No, but if it gets you to consider the possibility of marriage then I can see his reasoning. You are hardly a debutant at your first coming out.”

She drew to a stop in the middle of the path and stared at him in outrage. “Are you suggesting that I am old?”

“No, I am just saying that at four and twenty, your father is right to try to push you to think about marriage. Someone like you should be married and with a family by now.” He winced when her outrage turned into icy disdain and he suddenly wished he could take the words back. It was too late though, she was furious with him.

“I think I should like to go back now,” she said crisply and spun on her heel.

Before she could walk away, he caught her elbow and spun her around to face him.

“I am just saying that you should consider marriage, but not to just anybody,” he snapped. “Nobody should choose a husband after just four weeks’ acquaintance. However, you should not remain locked away in Yorkshire all of your life.” He touched the side of her face gently, relieved when she didn’t smack his face, or attempt to push him into the river. “Someone as beautiful as you should be adored by a husband who would give you whatever your heart desires.”

Ursula wasn’t about to be appeased though and continued to glare up at him. “Oh, so I am incapable of surviving by myself, am I? I need a husband to look after me.”

Trenton sighed at the disgust on her face and wondered if she was always this argumentative. He was starting to sympathise with her father for having been driven to send her to London in the first place.

“Have you always been this averse to marriage?” he demanded.

“I am not averse to marriage. People do it all the time, and I wish them well in their endeavours. I just don’t see why I should be made to marry when I don’t want to. After all, I am not incapable of making decisions for myself. People just arrogantly assume that I am happy to have the majority of my day decided for me. I have no intention of handing my future over to a husband. You might be happy to step into the parson’s trap, but I certainly won’t,” she snorted.

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Affronted by his reasoning, she yanked her arm out of his grip and began to march back to the main street where Trenton’s curricle was waiting.

It was only once she was walking back down the towpath that she realised just how far they had walked, and she hadn’t even looked at the Thames. She had little interest in it now, and didn’t even spare it a cursory glance as she stalked toward the steps with ground-eating, and every unladylike, strides.

“Wait. Ursula.”

He caught her arm when she made no attempt to stop and hauled her around to face him before she could scold him.

Ursula gasped when she found herself slammed against his chest. Valiantly ignoring the shiver of awareness, she tossed her head back defiantly, ready to scold him some more.

Trenton studied her; she had never looked more beautiful; so vibrantly, gloriously alive. There was a hint of wildness to her that captivated him and made him want to push to see more.