Page 18 of Her Bear of a Duke

"No, I know. In truth, if I really tried, I could learn it all myself, but I will not pretend the thought of a tutor is not exciting."

"Then we shall arrange for it. If you are my wife, that is."

"Your Grace, why are you refusing to accept that I wish to be?"

"It is not a refusal. I simply– I do not want you to feel as though you are trapped in a marriage with a bear such as myself."

"I do not think you are a bear," she said softly, the pair of them standing still in the middle of the path. "And even if I did, you were wearing the face of one when we met, and that did not scare me away, did it?"

He chuckled, and she took his arm and they continued.

"Very well, then," he sighed. "You leave me with no other choice than to ask you to marry me."

She tapped her ring finger against his arm pointedly.

"I, on the other hand, have choices, but I shall accept your proposal regardless."

They continued on companionably, but eventually a dark cloud came over the Duke. Dorothy noticed it, but she hoped that it would disappear. In the same way that he did not want to force her hand, she did not want to force his. If he was going to be her husband, he would have to learn to speak to her if he felt he needed to.

And so, she began attempting to name flowers in Latin. She was surprised by how well she did, with the Duke only having to correct her a few times. She had never expected that she would do so well, and for the first time in her life she wondered just how far she could have come had she trusted herself more.

"And what might your favorite be?" the Duke asked after a while.

"I know this one in Latin. It is Strelitzia Reginae."

"Bird of paradise?" he asked. "I never would have guessed that. Why is that one your favorite?"

"I like that they have the appearance of birds. Have you ever seen one?"

"I have seen a picture, yes, but I did not see a bird."

"Then I will show you sometime. It is more than that, though. It is the colors. They are so beautiful."

He nodded along as she explained, and she enjoyed that. Even her friends had moments when they were not as invested in her passions as she would have liked, though she did not blame them for that. In any case, it was nice to have a companion that cared about what she had to say.

"What is your favorite?" she asked.

"Lilium Lancifolium," he replied. "Might you know what that is?"

"I believe so. A tiger lily, yes?"

He smiled, impressed with that.

"Do you have any?" she asked.

"I do not, although I would love to have a few. I have been thinking about having a greenhouse built, but I have yet to find the time."

"I would also like a greenhouse very much. We could grow all sorts of things that way."

"Then I shall see what can be done."

They continued on, and at last Dorothy found the courage to say what she had wanted to tell him.

"Would it be all right if I said something quite absurd?"

"I would not be averse to it."

"I believe we might actually be quite the match. I do not know why my father chose you, nor why you decided to agree to it, but I am pleased that you did."

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