Page 65 of To Catch a Husband
She left the bedchamber and closed the door softly behind her. Sir Rowland was a few paces away, speaking earnestly with his brother. He nodded, tapped Tom on the shoulder and turned as his brother went to do as he had been requested.
‘Miss Banham is conscious. I have sent a groom to367Lord Roxton and also one for the doctor, if he can be reached. Mrs Peplow and now Penwood are with her. Word has also been sent to the dower house.’
‘She will be all right?’
‘I have every reason to hope so.’ Sir Rowland looked more serious than usual. ‘Are you warm enough, now?’
‘Yes, indeed. But you, sir, have not attended to yourself. Your shirt is still damp.’
‘The sight of you warms me.’ The words sprang to his lips without thinking, and he stepped forward, took the hand she had instinctively held out to him and kissed it. ‘I like you in my dressing gown. You look beautiful.’
She looked up into his eyes, a small frown between her own.
‘But I am not at all like Madeleine Banham.’
‘A different beauty, though it is not the primary reason that I fell in love with you.’
‘You have fallen in love with me?’ She did not doubt it, and yet it was amazing. ‘Me.’
‘Yes, you.’ His eyes held warmth. ‘On Christmas Eve, events prevented me from making my declaration in full.’ An arm went about her waist, and he lifted her chin and placed a soft kiss upon her lips. ‘But you knew what I was asking.’ He smiled lovingly at her. ‘Will you do me the immense honour of becoming my wife?’
‘Oh! Oh, Rowland!’368
‘Yes will do,’ he suggested, mildly.
‘But I should not,’ her face paled suddenly, as a thought struck her.
‘Now, do not tell me that you have secretly contracted a marriage with old Wilmslow. I simply will not credit it.’
‘No, but—’
‘Then there is no reason which means you cannot say yes.’
‘But I have deceived you,’ she murmured, and her eyes filled with tears.
‘I think you will find that you have not, my love,’ he replied, holding her a little tighter.
‘I have, I have. I set out to entrap you. I threw out lures.’
‘You know, you are rather better with an artificial fly than live bait. I will acknowledge you to be an outstanding angler, but you do not throw lures with such craft, though you are immeasurably “al-luring”. Nevertheless, behold me, a happy fish, truly hooked and eager to be landed. Just do not assault me with anything heavy and lethal, I beg you.’ He sounded remarkably unperturbed by her admission, in fact rather amused.
‘But you do not understand. I set out to get you to marry me so that I might live in Tapley End again as my home.’
‘Congratulations. You have succeeded. You should be triumphant.’369
‘But …’ She looked at him through a film of tears.
‘Listen to yourself. If you were the heartless deceiver out only for the securing of your home, you would not have told me this now, before we are married. You have given the lie to the claim by revealing it. You never deceived me, Mary, though I was briefly put off when you commenced your attempts, and they ended long ago. If it is the time for confession, then there is mine, and what is more, I soon found your flirting terribly sweet, which I am sure will annoy you. You see, my love, what entranced me was not just that you are beautiful, and to me you are very beautiful, but the honesty of you, the practical good sense, the humour. You do not, as some women tend to do, wrap everything in pretence. They say no when they mean yes, they learn the “steps” of dalliance and perform the dance, and you are no dancer. You are a creature not of ballrooms and flirting fans, but of outdoors. That is your element, and you are as straight as the arrows you send into the target with such precision.’ The amusement had left his voice now and been replaced by tender passion that made it slightly husky.
‘How can you love me when I was not honest and true? I set out to get you to marry me, coldheartedly.’
‘And a very sensible plan it was too. But if it had been as you first, erroneously, thought, and Cradley had been me, could you have done it?’
‘No.’ She shook her head.370
‘No. And your heart did not stay cold, not for long. I felt that. There was, from the moment I saw you, something that drew me to you, even when you were fierce and angered. My darling, you needed no lures, you did not have to “try” to make me love you.’
‘I even tried not to love you for a little while, tried to keep it calculated, but I could not, Rowland.’ Her fingers touched his cheek and trembled slightly.
