Page 10 of The Dream of Love
They took a full turn around the flower beds before Adam said a word. Remi knew his hesitation did not bode well for her.
She cast him an encouraging smile. “Is the news that bad?”
He pondered the question a long moment before responding. “I’m not sure.”
“You’re not sure it is bad? Or is it bad, and you’re not sure how to tell me?” She studied his features, his dark hair gleaming in the sun and the tense set of his fine, firm jaw. His eyes held her gaze with a power so captivating, they stole her breath away.
“He has decided to marry you off.”
“Marry me off?” Remi laughed, at first believing it was a jest. But Adam wasn’t smiling. She swallowed hard. “To whom?”
“I don’t know.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Your father refused to tell me.”
“Can he do this?” She tried not to sound alarmed, but neither her body nor her mind was cooperating. Her heart began to race, her lungs were about to burst, and all her limbs were now shaking. “He cannot just sell me to the highest bidder. I’ll refuse. Am I permitted to refuse under law?”
“Were I officiating and the bride proved unwilling, I would not go through with the ceremony. But I doubt I’ll be asked to officiate. Your father will find some drunken sloth of a minister to accomplish the task.”
“Someone easily bribed who will lie and say I consented?”
Adam arched an eyebrow. “Yes. But before you panic, let me try to find out if he has someone particular in mind. The man might not be so bad.”
“Do you really think my father cares if I am happily wed?” She laughed in disbelief.
A muscle twitched in his jaw. “What your father cares about is keeping up appearances, as you’ve told me yourself. He won’t marry you off to just anyone. Likely it will be to a gentleman of rank who is in need of funds to restore his estate.”
“Hah! Or just an aristocratic wastrel who will gamble away my dowry.”
“No, then he would have you and your wastrel husband back in his house and creditors dunning him everywhere he went. He’ll choose someone who may need funds, but who will spend it wisely.”
“Or he might cast me off to one of his old-goat friends.”
“I hope not. I think not, for it would gain him no advantage. Marriage to a significantly older man would likely leave you a young and wealthy widow over whom he would have no control. I think he has a younger man in mind. This man may even fall in love with you. You are beautiful, Remi. There will be men who will put themselves forward simply because they want you.”
Remi shook her head. “Such men do not exist.”
“They do.” He clasped his hands behind his back as they continued to take another turn around the flower beds. “You just haven’t bothered to notice them yet.”
“Is it my fault now?” She stopped walking and frowned at him to mark her displeasure.
“No, of course not. All I am suggesting is that not every man is odious.”
“So, I should be grateful to my father for choosing the least odious man to marry me?”
“Remi, I am going to throttle ye if ye dinna stop twisting my words,” he said, his brogue more pronounced now that he was irritated with her. “Arranged marriages are made all the time. Many of these couples are quite happily wed. Dinna hate the man simply because your father chose him. He might turn out to be someone ye can love.”
The fight suddenly went out of her as she realized there was a serious problem. “But Adam…”
“What is it?” He took her hand, running a light circle over it with his thumb to calm her when he noticed her chin wobbling and her eyes beginning to tear.
“I’ve had so little love in my life.”
“Och, I know, lass.”
“All I have to go by is what I’ve seen here at Sherbourne. First when I was a little girl and again now. But these are examples of family love. How will I recognize the other sort of love, that between a woman and a man? Romantic, sweep-me-away-with-kisses love, is what I mean.”
He seemed to stop breathing for a moment, staring at her with an intensity borne of confusion. But he soon recovered and cast her a wickedly handsome smile. Well, everything he did was wickedly handsome because this is what he was and every young woman was painfully aware of it. “I was thinking about this very thing while I rode over here. You need someone to teach you about romantic love.”
Now it was her turn to stop breathing.
