Page 10 of Second Chance Prince
Roberta.
“Leopold!” she exclaimed, and Niki’s stallion danced uneasily at the sight of her approach. Perhaps he remembered her stealing him and putting him through that prickly hedge? Or perhaps not. Leopold was nervous with anyone apart from his master and his groom.
Roberta looked so pleased to see him, her eyes sparkling; there was a flush on her cheeks from the exercise, and her beautiful face lit up with her smile. Niki tried to tell himself that it was Leopold she was pleased to see and not him, but his heart didn’t seem to realize it.
“Sir,” she said, as an afterthought, her gaze clashing with his, and then narrowing. “Are you well?” she said in her usual impulsive way. “You look as if you did not sleep.”
“I am never ill,” he retorted. “It is just that I have a great deal on my mind.”
“Oh, of course. I’m sorry.” She took a breath. It seemed to suggest that conversing with him was hard work, and Niki forced himself to try to relax. He searched for something to say that was less fraught.
“Karl thought you the belle of the ball.”
She looked startled and then amused. “I very much doubt that, but he was delightful. I am sure he has many admirers, and he doesn’t need me to add to their number.”
Niki thought she was right. Surely he wasn’t jealous of Karl, or did that emotion only raise its ugly head where Roberta was concerned?
She was still rattling on, as if his silence made her anxious. “I was wondering if you have any other brothers. I mean…I know you don’t have anybrothersas such, but maybe you have some who are…” She stopped, having tangled herself up in the complexities of being polite and yet being nosy at the same time.
Niki felt his mouth curl into a reluctant smile. “I have one other half brother and several half sisters,” he said, putting her out of her misery. “My father liked to spread his favors about.”
“Like my own,” she replied wryly. “Perhaps in that we are well matched, sir.”
“Perhaps we are. And please, call me Niki. We are old friends, are we not?”
“Niki,” she said, watching him carefully. “So how will we do this? Or will we just make it up and pretend you’ve dropped to your knee and expressed your fervent love of me?”
She pulled a face, as if she thought she’d said too much again, but Niki laughed. It was a relief to release some of his apprehension. “No, I think we should perform the proposal as if it was a play. Then we can repeat the story from memory if anyone asks. If we make it up, there might be details we forget to share, and someone might notice the inconsistencies.”
“That makes sense,” she agreed.
She seemed to be waiting for him to take the lead, and Niki was happy to do so.
“Should we ride a little first? There is a secluded spot over in that direction. I noticed a couple there yesterday, although I didn’t actually see the gentleman drop to his knee and propose.”
That made her smile, but all she said was, “Do you ride often, Niki?”
“As much as I can. At home, I try to ride every day, but it is not always possible. Here, I feel at liberty to indulge myself, or at least I did until recently.”
The park was nearly empty, only a few grooms and early riders to interrupt their solitude. Niki hadn’t been explicitly told that he had a bodyguard somewhere about, but he knew Freddie would have arranged that. The man was very efficient.
The secluded spot he had spoken of was just ahead, and they drew to a halt. Niki jumped down from Leopold and went to assist Roberta. He was sure she was perfectly able to dismount alone, but it was the gentlemanly thing to do. She slid down into his arms, her body warm and soft and with the faintest of floral scents. He released her reluctantly, and she stepped away, her gaze sweeping over the area.
“Here, do you think?” she said. “Although I’m not sure that you should kneel before me. You are the ruler of Holtswig and far outrank me.”
“That’s not the point,” he said earnestly. “Aren’t even the greatest in the land humbled when it comes to matters of the heart?”
She smiled as if she liked what he had said. “Down you go then,” she said, and then gave an awkward laugh, as if she wasn’t sure her words were acceptable.
That amused Niki, and at the same time made him a little sorry. The Roberta he had known three years ago wouldn’t have cared a jot what she said to him. His fondest memories of her were of some of her most outrageous and inappropriate comments. Not to mention the day in the garden at Grantham when she had decided to turn a cartwheel, and her skirts fell down around her legs. Even his twin cousins had never done such an outrageous thing. But here was Roberta trying to change herself, trying to damp down that spark he had always admired, and although he understood why she needed to conform while she was in society, he really did not like it.
He dropped to his knee before her and then tried not to wince when he landed on something small and hard. He cleared his throat. “Lady Roberta Ashton, will you do me the great honor of being my wife?”
Her blue eyes widened. “You sound so serious,” she whispered.
“This is a serious business. Will you accept my proposal? I would prefer not to be seen like this.”
“Oh.” She took another of those deep breaths. “Yes, I will accept your proposal,” she said in a rush. “With—with all my heart.”
