Page 78 of Captivating the Countess
The musicians struck up a merrier tune, burying her protest.
Drawn by the pudding and the music, guests began to join them. Bell felt as if she were the center of a circus and didn’t know what act she was expected to perform. Nervously, she eased toward Iona.
“Don’t go yet!” Rainford’s voice echoed down from above. “Give me a minute.”
Puzzled, not knowing if she should be alarmed, Bell searched the shadows at the top of the stairs. Her heart pounded a little harder in anticipation of seeing Rain again. She hoped she did not drop like a rock before she had a chance to say farewell.
“Now, Dru, drop them now.” The echoing reverberations of the entryway picked up the male whisper.
A shower of fragrant pink and white blossoms tumbled over the upstairs railing. The parrot squawked happily and flew through them, scattering petals onto the flaming pudding. The delicate blue flared into a bonfire flinging out sparks. To the gasps and shrieks of guests, the footman hastily poured tea over the cook’s work of art.
Heart thumping, Bell scoured the upper hall for the mad marquess. What in the name of the goddess was he doing?
A moment later, wearing a top hat, an unfastened tailed evening coat and starched collar, the breath-takingly striking, normally blasé, Marquess of Rainford dashed down the stairs, under the swinging chandelier, carrying Drucilla. Bell feared she might faint simply at the sheer magnificence of the sight. He was stunningly handsome in his black and white, but many men were handsome.
Not every man would think to carry a lame child who gave every appearance of having the time of her life. Bell wasn’t entirely certainwhyhe was carrying her, but the sight made her want to cry anyway. She had hoped that together they might heal Dru just a little, but he’d never mentioned it.
The chandelier rocked a little harder as Rainford reached the ground floor and immediately dropped to one knee, still holding Dru. “Show her, Dru,” he whispered. “Open the box.”
By now, every guest and servant in the house, and possibly every person who lived on the estate, was spilling into the huge circular entry. They pushed and shoved for a better sight of the Ice King on his knees. Covering her mouth, Bell froze, uncertain of what was expected of her.
“Don’t go, Lady C,” Dru said, holding up a velvet box. “I can’t open it.”
Laughter tittered around the room.
Rain juggled child and box and managed to open the top to reveal a collection of brilliant jewels. “I didn’t have time to choose the one best suited to you. Sapphires and diamonds and pearls seemed right, but then I remembered how lovely you look in gold, and I just threw in everything.”
Tears crept down Bell’s cheeks. “I don’t know... I’m... I just...” Shattered by the restrained marquess making a passionate spectacle of himself in front of friends and family, she couldn’t speak.
“Marry me, Lady Isobel Craigmore, be my marchioness, be my wife and mother of my children, please. I love you madly, obviously, because I’ve gone utterly barmy and can’t seem to find the words... Help me, please!” On the tongue of a polished gentleman—alord—as educated and experienced as Rainford, the desperate plea was astonishing and heartrending.
Weeping openly, Bell dropped to her knees in front of him. She closed the jewelry box and wrapped Dru’s hands tightly around it. “Take these to the pudding table, please, can you do that?”
“I can.” Dru stood, and holding the velvet box on both of her small arms, proudly hobbled away.
“I love you, Bell,” Rainford whispered. With both hands free, he caught her cheeks and kissed her in front of all his family and guests. “Marry me, please. The duke thinks a wife might learn to love me. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you love me, I promise. I don’t want to make the mistake of waiting any longer.”
She wanted this man so much... so very much. She’d tried so hard to shield herself from this kind of pain. She...
She blinked in realization. “I didn’t faint. You threw flowers at me, and I didn’t faint. You’ve shocked me to my very core, andI didn’t faint.”
“I’ll throw flowers at you every day. I’ll shower you in jewels. You cannotfaint as much as you like.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. “Just tell me what you want, make me understand, because you don’t talk any better than I do. I think it may belovethat heals. If so, I can try to heal your weak heart. Together, we might heal Dru. Would you like that? Or we can go to Sommersville and disturb the ghosts there. Hold exorcisms, if you like. Have plum pudding every day. Only tell me what you need to be happy, and you shall have it.”
Her heart pounded so hard, she thought the feeble organ might turn inside out from the ferocity. She so seldom spoke of what she felt or what she wanted... He was right. Rainford didn’t show his feelings because he had so much responsibility, he had to keep his own counsel at all times.
But she didn’t speak—because she was afraid.
She had lived her entire life in fear—of poverty, of her stepfather, of the ghosts that threatened to possess her. They were very real fears, but she’d been trapped by them.
Here was a brilliant man offering her everything she’d ever wanted and a freedom she’d never imagined. She couldn’t let fear stand in her way, could she?
“I...” She hadn’t even allowed herself to think it. To say it outright... Because she was too terrified to express herself.
Bell took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Even knowing everyone watched and strained to hear over the music, she had to say what her heart was telling her. “What I need is for you to be happy,” she whispered.
That didn’t sound quite right. She stammered and tried again. “I mean, it is your happiness that makes me happy. But if it ismyhappiness you seek, I need you to be happy about loving me,” she said a little louder. “Because I don’t want to love you if it will hurt you in any way. I couldn’t bear it. I need...” She wept, unable to express all the things she’d never learned to say.
Rainford stood and lifted her. With both arms around her waist, he swung Bell into a waltz, and kissed her, kissed her hard and thoroughly and with so much enthusiasm that the crowd had to back away as they swung around the marble floor. “I love you, I love you today and I will love you more tomorrow forever and always. You can only hurt me by leaving me. Can you love a cold and unfeeling man like me?”
