“Trenton, please, don’t pull away.” Ariana tightened her arms about his back. “I want to trust you completely, but I don’t know how. You insist on closing me off … from your life, your past and all your grim secrets … even though those secrets involve my sister’s death. What am I to think?”
“But you love me, remember? If trust is an integral part of love, shouldn’t one automatically imply the other?”
“That’s not fair,” Ariana whispered.
“Life’s not fair, misty angel.” Trenton pressed his forehead to hers, another layer of his implacable, self-protective wall crumbling. “Give me time.”
Ariana knew how much that request cost him, and her heart swelled with joy and compassion. “All that you need.” She breathed the words against his skin, feeling more a wife than she had in all their hours of lovemaking combined. “And Trenton?”
“What?”
“I can’t promise I’ll never fear you, or even occasionally doubt you. But I can promise I won’t stop loving you.”
Trenton raised his head. “You have no reason to trust me, Ariana, nor to believe in my innocence. You’ve been a Caldwell for eighteen years, and a wife for three days. I don’t expect a forced marriage to a virtual stranger to hold up against a lifetime of your brother’s teachings.”
A tiny smile touched Ariana’s lips. “Give me time.”
Tenderness softened the anguished lines about Trenton’s eyes.
“All that you need.”
CHAPTER
15
THE FOLLOWING DAY ARIANA lost her heart again—this time to the Isle of Wight.
Strolling through the village of Bembridge, climbing the cliffs overlooking the Solent, and running along the crystalline waters nearing Osborne Bay—this time having abandoned not only all her petticoats, but her stockings and slippers as well—Ariana’s passion for Wight was immediate and overwhelming.
“Is the whole island like this?” She wriggled her toes in the sand.
Trenton felt as if he were discovering his home all over again. “No, actually, the southern half of the Isle is completely different, though just as beautiful. Rather than being quaint and picturesque, the south is much more dramatic, filled with deep ravines and sharp, jutting rocks. I’ll take you there later this week and you can see which you prefer.”
“Can we walk farther along this stretch of beach?”
“A bit, yes.” He shielded his eyes, peering into the distance. “Osborne House is just a mile or so from here.”
“Oh.” Ariana looked crestfallen. “Then we’d best head back.”
“Why?”
“Trenton, even I know that the Queen’s grounds are not open to the public.”
This, at least, he knew he could give her. “Would you feel better if I were to tell you that Victoria would have no objections to our strolling the grounds of Osborne?”
Ariana’s eyes opened like saucers. “Truly?”
“Truly. The Queen and my family have been friends for many years.”
“That’s right; how could I forget? Her Majesty issued the edict for our marriage.”
Trenton looked quickly at Ariana, searching her face for bitterness or regret. He found none. “Yes, she did. But not merely as a gesture of friendship.” He wasn’t certain why, but suddenly he needed to give Ariana some portion of truth. “The day following the Covington ball, Princess Beatrice suffered a boating mishap in Osborne Bay. I happened to hear her calls for help.”
“You rescued her?”
“It was nothing dramatic. Nevertheless, Victoria was exceeding grateful. She insisted on granting my most fervent wish. I sought but one thing: vengeance against your family for ruining my life. Thus, the edict.” He waited.
“Then I owe the Queen my thanks, for without her unwanted interference you and I would never have wed.” Ariana gave him a brief, dazzling smile.