‘Because what other people expect of me isn’t important. Sometimes expectations can be a prison. I learnt that the hard way.’
‘Perhaps.’ The smile was gone from her voice now. ‘Although people having no expectations of you can be lonely, too. Being an outcast isn’t easy.’
‘Neither of us has to be lonely any more, Frances.’ He rubbed his hands tenderly over her neck and massaged her shoulder blades. Perhaps now was the time to tell her about his fears for the future, but it was hard to concentrate with the feeling of her skin beneath his fingertips and he was still distracted by his fleeting glimpse of cleavage. ‘Besides, you smell quite delectable now. What kind of a person would judge you by something so trivial?’
‘Leo would. He used to tell me if I had so much as a hair out of place.’
‘I believe you. His hair’s always perfect.’
‘You know, Lydia went out riding with him yesterday.’
‘With Fairfax?’ He was surprised enough to forget about her breasts for a moment.
‘Yes. I think it’s her way of getting back at me.’
‘I told you, you don’t have to feel guilty.’
‘I know. At least my head knows that, but it’s hard not to feel that way. I’ve tried talking to her, but it’s no use, she won’t listen. I think she’s really hurt.’ She heaved a sigh. ‘Poor Lydia.’
‘Poor Lydia who went riding with your former fiancé just to upset you?’
‘But it doesn’t upset me, not in the way that she thinks. She can do whatever she wants with Leo Fairfax. I don’t care.’
He dipped his head and pressed a kiss against the back of her neck. ‘Then let’s forget about them for today. Now dip your head under the water. You need a rinse.’
‘Are you going to look away again?’
‘Do you want me to?’
She was silent for a moment before spinning around suddenly, allowing him a full view of her bosom before sliding, mermaid-like, beneath the water.
‘There.’ She bobbed up again after a few moments, surrounded by a swirl of dripping black hair. ‘Clean enough for you?’
He cleared his throat, unable to answer as all coherent thought seemed to abandon him.
‘Today.’ She stood up, droplets of water cascading around her as she looked deep into his eyes and smiled.
‘Today?’ Somehow he croaked the word out.
‘For our wedding. I don’t want to wait any longer either. If you’ll still have me, we can get married today.’
‘If I’ll still have you...’ He didn’t bother to reach for a sheet, hauling her soaking-wet body straight into his arms instead. ‘Of course I will.’
* * *
‘What are you thinking about?’
Frances looked shyly across the breakfast table to where Arthur was leaning back in his chair, regarding her through half-closed eyelids with a lazy-looking smile on his face. It seemed ridiculous to feel self-conscious after she’d just stood completely naked in front of him, but she did. To be honest, it was hard to believe that she’d behaved in such an uncharacteristically forward fashion, although she didn’t regret it either. Arthur made her feel safe and accepted and loved. He made her feel brave, too—brave enough to show the whole of herself, just as she was—and he hadn’t exactly objected. On the contrary, his embrace had been positively bone-crushing, accompanied by a series of kisses so fierce that she’d felt vaguely disorientated, not to mention disappointed, when he’d pulled away again after a few moments, wrapping a sheet around her shoulders and then stepping aside like a gentleman. For the first time, she’d actually wished he was the callous brute she’d first taken him for.
Afterwards, he’d helped her to dress and even made an attempt to do her hair, with the result that it was now tied in some kind of knot at the nape of her neck, one that she wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to unravel, not that it mattered. Of all men in the world, Arthur was the very last who would ever judge her on the way she, or her hair, looked. It was one of the things she loved most about him.
‘I’m not thinking,’ he answered at last, his smile widening. ‘I’m just feeling happy.’
‘Happy?’ She lowered her fork in surprise. It wasn’t a word she associated with him, but now that he mentioned it, he did look happy, as well as younger and handsomer, too. The look on his face implied it was all due to her and the idea made her feel warm and tingly inside.
‘Hard though it may be to believe, yes. Very happy.’ The smile was a grin now. ‘I ought to watch you take a bath more often.’
‘Arthur!’ She threw a quick look at the open door to the hallway.