Mary Balogh: Red Rose

"Don't have hysterics, my girl," the Earl of Raymore said to Jenny, "it is just me. Out you come and up on the box with Ben and Harry."

Having lifted the girl out, Raymore vaulted into the carriage and shut the door behind him. Rosalind sat on the edge of her seat, saucer-eyed, staring at him.

"It's no good," he said, obviously greatly agitated. "I cannot let you go."

She sat back in her seat and turned her head to look out the window. "I see," she said stiffly. "Has Sir Rowland made a more tempting offer, or do you have someone else picked out for me?"

"The latter," he said.

Her head jerked back in his direction. "No," she said, "I am not for sale. You promised, my lord."

"I am the one offering," he blurted. "I love you, Rosalind. I don't think I can live without you."

"You cannot love me," she denied. "I am ugly and I limp."

His jaw clenched. "I will not have you describe yourself that way," he said. "You are your own worst enemy, Rosalind. You are beautiful, quite exceptionally lovely, like a red, red rose.' He must have known you, Robert Burns. And do you still limp? I confess I have not noticed lately."

"No," she said, her face pale, "it is not true. You know it is not true, Edward. People would laugh at you."

His jaw was still clenched. "You know," he said, "when I realized finally that I loved you, I thought I would never wish to quarrel with you again. Right now I am holding onto my temper with all my willpower. Why do you do this to me?"

"I belong at Raymore Manor," she said stubbornly, "where no one can see me and where I can do the things I love doing."

"Come back to London with me," he said, "and I shall see to it that you spend the rest of your life doing what you like doing. But not in loneliness, Rosalind. You have too much to share: your musical talent with the world, your passion with me."

She darted him a startled look.

"You have proved your worth, love," he said. "You are well-admired in London. I want to marry you in St. George s. and I want you to walk the whole length of the aisle toward me, with your chin up and your eyes on me. Will you?"

"Oh, Edward," she said, laughing but with tears springing to her eyes, "what an absurd picture you paint."

"Will you?"

"Are you sure you really wish to, Edward?" she asked wistfully. "It is not just that you have fallen in love with my music?"

He smiled. "It is not my pianoforte, much as I value it, that I long to take to bed or to Florence and Milan and Rome with me. I believe you will make a much warmer and more passionate companion, Rosalind. You have become part of my life, love, whether you wish it or not. You are like the other half of my soul. I cannot face living without you."

"I do love you so," she said almost in a whisper.

They sat and stared at each other from opposite corners of the carriage for long moments.

"Come here," he said finally, and when she came, he pulled her down roughly across his lap and met her open mouth with his in a kiss that immediately had passion flaring between them.

Ben had to expend some energy steadying the horses when the carriage suddenly lurched. He addressed the head of the horse most distant from him. "If I ever understands the quality," he said, "I'll know I've up an' died an' gone to 'eaven. Is lordship just took 'is leave of 'er two hours past."

Jenny sighed. "Lawks, it's so romantic," she said.

The Earl of Raymore leaned his head out of the carriage window at that moment. "Is the girl comfortable up there, Ben?" he called. "Will you tie my horse behind and return to Grosvenor Square?"

Ben and the footman exchanged knowing glances and Jenny peeped shyly up into the latter's face.

"Now," said Raymore, shutting the window and settling Rosalind more comfortably on his lap, "what was I saying?"

"I don't believe you were saying anything, my lord," she replied, twining her arms around his neck.

"Really?" he said, his eyebrows arching above very blue eyes. "What was I doing, then?"

"This, Edward," she said, threading her fingers through his thick blond hair and feathering a kiss across his lips.

"Ah, yes," he said, "I remember." His fingers began to remove one by one the pins that held her hair on top of her head. "I have noticed that you have not answered my question. I am determined that you shall marry me, Rosalind. As your guardian, I strongly disapprove of your present behavior with a man who is not even your betrothed. If you do not say yes immediately, I shall have to use coercion, you know." He brushed his lips tantalizingly across hers. "Well, what do you say?"

She looked down at him, her heart shining from her eyes. "You had better try coercion, my lord," she said, shaking her hair loose as he removed the last hairpin.