She Fled Her Wedding — Then Found the Duke Escaping on the Same Train
Chapter 15
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"You have cancelled Italy?""No, not quite.""Why didn't you tell me?""Because I thought you would be pleased."He looked away down the path. "I would have been."The honesty hurt."Then what are we doing?" she asked."I don't know. I thought I was asking you to marry me.""Because you want to, or because everybody has begun putting the lace back on the table?""That is unfair.""Yes," she said, "it is. You are not the only one who has been hoping to avoid another embarrassing conversation."A bee moved through the lavender beside them. Piers watched it land, rise, and land again. He had spent weeks wanting to kiss her, thinking of remarks she would enjoy, feeling the shape of her absence after every visit. None of that was false. Neither was the relief he had felt when his mother mentioned the lace and Annora did not object."I didn't tell her you were leaving," he said.Annora looked up."I meant to. Then she seemed pleased about us, and I thought it could wait until after luncheon.""And after that?""After something else, probably."She sat on the bench. He remained standing, as though he were waiting to be dismissed."I do want you," he said. "It is not gratitude this time, or a wish to get it settled. I think about you in rooms where you have never been. I see something ridiculous and resent everyone present because you are somewhere else." She lifted her face toward him. "But I also want an easy life," he continued, "and I am beginning to suspect that when something frightens us, we both smile until it becomes impossible."Annora moved over on the bench. He sat beside her, leaving a small space between them."I thought falling in love would make me less frightened," she said.Piers turned. "Has it happened, then?""Yes, inconveniently."He reached across the space. This time, he did not stop before taking her hand. "It has happened to me, too."She closed her eyes. He pressed his mouth to her knuckles, and neither of them spoke for a while.At last, she said, "I am still going to Italy.""I know.""And I am not answering a proposal while I am wondering whether your mother will be upset.""I haven't managed to make a proposal yet.""No. It was rather a poor beginning."He laughed unwillingly, and she leaned against him. The happiness was there, under everything that frightened them; it had not disappeared because they had spoken badly. It might, she thought, be able to survive being spoken to at all.They went to see his mother together the following afternoon. Annora suggested it, then spent the journey wishing she had suggested something less virtuous.