Below them, the water lapped gently at the riverbank. They were in the shelter of the hillside that hid the folly where they’d agreed to meet the day before, and across the lake could be seen the crenelated towers of the twelfth-century castle ruin that visitors to Lord Quamby’s estate were fond of visiting.
“Who was the other heiress?”
Theo turned away in case he betrayed himself. “Miss Scott.” He pretended to study a couple of swans. “Apparently she is to marry Mr Dalgleish.”
“Miss Scott? Her maid is helping me to dress this evening.”
“You’ve met her?”
Amelia shook her head. “Only insofar as to accept her offer of her lady’s maid when she learned that mine was indisposed.”
“Very generous.”
Amelia nodded, but her thoughts were obviously far away. She put her hand on Theo’s forearm. “So, the day after tomorrow? You are sure this is what you want?”
“If it’s what you want, Amelia.”
She worried at her lower lip, and for a long time was silent. Finally, she said, “On our own we are completely at the mercy of forces beyond our control. It is only when we join that we can make something of our futures.”
Since Theo had come up with a version of those words some weeks before, he made no comment. He certainly did not voice the fact that his heart was far less captured by the idea than it had been when he and Amelia had concocted this spontaneous and extraordinary means of solving their individual difficulties.
When she looked up at him, he forced himself to smile. “Don’t look like that,” he said, running his thumbs gently along the planes of her cheeks. “Your sister might still be with us had I not made such a mull of things. Do you imagine I live with that easily?”
“Theo! You tried to save her from…that brute! It was I who sent you after them. Had it not been for you, Catherine would have been forced to marry her…”
Rapist. Of course, she couldn’t say the word. Not just because of her delicate sensibilities, but because Theo’s failure to neutralise the threat now meant he had all but dressed Amelia for the very same fate.
“And now Lord Leighton is on his way here.” Theo spoke the brutal truth with misgiving for it was what gave Amelia nightmares.
He felt her tremble as she whispered the words again. “Are you certain you are willing to do this, Theo? As certain as you were before?”
He knew how important it was to show no hesitation, though, in truth, his heart quavered at the permanence of their dangerous plan.
“Why? Are you getting cold feet?” He stroked her cheek. “You always were one for masterminding grand adventures for your dolls and then growing fearful for them at the last moment.”
“And now you make me out as if I am still that same child.” Despite herself, Amelia managed a tremulous smile. “But Theo, is it enough that I…” She sniffed and bit off the words, unwilling to voice her thoughts.
“Say it, Amelia,” he prompted softly. “Is it enough that you…what?”
She sighed, then said in a rush, “That I can keep your creditors at bay to repay you for what you have done? What you did for Catherine. And now, me? Or is the price too high?”
“Saving you from an unbearable fate that I all but forced upon you?”
“No. Being married to me for the rest of our lives.”
He lowered his head and gently touched his lips to her forehead. “I would not have suggested marriage if I hadn’t thought it was…” He might have said the only way to save ourselves but settled on, “how best we might make peace with what has happened.”
They had wandered a little away and were now in the midst of a copse of trees. In the distance, a flock of starlings circled the castle ruin; their loud chattering swept across the lake by a chilly wind. Amelia squeezed his hand and rested her cheek against his chest. “Perhaps marriage is easier when love is not a consideration,” she murmured as he stroked her hair.
He was silent as he considered her words. How much easier it would have been had his heart been in the ordered state it had been less than a week ago. But he couldn’t think of that.
“Love must always be a consideration in marriage, Amelia. You don’t doubt that I love you, I hope.”
“Not as a wife, I know that. But love grows and changes, I’ve heard.”
“I have heard that, too.” It is what gave him hope that he wasn’t condemning himself to perpetual unhappiness. It is what he had to focus on instead of that damnably inconvenient kiss with Miss Scott the night before.
“Shall we go back?”