Reality intruded, swiftly.
Ah yes, the list.
Katherine must have seen something in his expression for she cleared her throat. “I should be going then.” She bent down and retrieved the leather volume and her reticule.
He should let her go. It would be wise to let her dip her curtsy, turn on her heel, leave, and forget they’d ever met at the Frost Fair. At the possibility of never again seeing her again, something wrenched inside him. She took a step to leave. “You did not ever explain what would be the benefit in marrying me, Katherine.”
The tip of her boot hovered above the ground. She set it down, and eyed him warily, as though he’d set out some kind of trap that she were taking great pains to avoid.
“Well, I hate ringlets.”
Jasper furrowed his brow. “I beg your pardon.”
“And gowns made of too much ivory and lace.” She waved her hand. “Mother insists I wear them because it is the ladylike thing to do. It would be such good fun to wear vibrant shades. I should like to wear a silken gown of the deepest sapphire hue. I imagine as your wife, I’d have a good deal of freedom in selecting my wardrobe.”
“Undoubtedly,” he said in serious tones. If Katherine were his wife, he would hire the finest modiste and let her select whatever fancy laces and satins she desired.
Her brows knitted into a single line. “Are you making light of me again?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, dryly. “You’d wed me then to wear fine fabrics?”
She shook her head, dislodging one of those brown ringlets. “You misunderstand me, Your Grace. I don’t give a fig about the type or quality of the fabrics. I merely want to make a selection of my own. It is rather tedious going through life having every decision made for you. It seems like such a very small thing, selecting ones fabric, and yet it is a luxury I’m not afforded. Instead, I must do as my mother sees fit, whether how happy or unhappy those decisions make me.”
Jasper didn’t know if Katherine was aware of it, but somewhere along the way, she’d ceased to speak of fabrics and instead spoke of Bertrand Ekstrom.
It was also the moment he knew he would wed her.
“What else, Katherine?” he said, softly.
“I don’t believe you’d squander your wealth.” She glanced down at the snow. “I believe you to be a gentleman who’d not leave your family destitute, at the mercy of distant relatives.”#p#分页标题#e#
“And is that what happened to you, Katherine? Your father left your family destitute?”
She snapped her mouth closed, and her lips flattened into a single, mutinous line.
A vise-like pressure tightened around the heart he’d thought deadened. Except, if it was dead, he should not feel this dull pain at the thought of a young Katherine destitute, desperate, at the mercy of others. If her father were not dead, he’d gladly grind the bastard’s face beneath the weight of his fist.
Poor, Katherine.
Katherine glared up at him, her eyes snapping fire. “I do not want your pity.”
She possessed more strength and courage than most gentlemen he’d known in his life. “I wouldn’t dare pity you,” he murmured. Jasper didn’t believe he could identify a single lady who’d be so bold as to propose marriage, all to save herself from her scheming mother’s machinations.
Katherine’s eyes ran a path over his face, as if trying to ascertain the sincerity of his words, and he hated that his vibrant, spirited Katherine should have such a guarded look to her. She nodded slowly. “Well, then. Thank you again for the volume.”
She made to step around him, but he placed himself in front of her.
Her breath stirred little puffs of white winter air about her. She shifted the burdens of the book and reticule she carried. “What is it, then?” Heavy annoyance underlined her words.
There was something so very endearing about her unguarded reaction to him.
The volume in her hand fell again into the snow. Poor Wordsworth would be in quite the state if he could see the condition of his poor leather volume.
Jasper felt himself grinning in response.
“Yes,” he said.
An unladylike curse escaped her as she bent down to retrieve her volume. “Yes, what, Your Grace?”
“Yes, Jasper,” he corrected. “And yes, I’ll marry you.”
~13~
After he’d made certain that Katherine had made her way safely home, the implications of their meeting hit Jasper with all the force of a heap of stone being placed upon his chest. With his mind spinning and gut clenching, Jasper, for the first time in many years, sought out someone else’s counsel.