Page 57 of Miss Whittier Makes a List
He didn’t move from her side, but flopped onto his stomach and turned his head to watch her.“Well, do you like your room?”
She nodded,her eyes delighted as she touched his back lightly at first, and then with a firmer gesture. He closed his eyes as she rubbed his back.‘Thank thee for this room. I felt I was home,”she said finally when she stopped.
“That was my intention. I am an unscrupulous lover, Lady Amber,and don’t you forget it. I’ll do anything to keep you here.”
“You even took outthe mirror,”she marveled.“How did you know?”
“Oh, it was something you said during those damnable midnight watches when you were telling me everything you knew, to keep me awake. I couldn’t find a rag rug for the floor, however.”
“How will I ever know what I look like?”she teased as he sat up and put on his shoes again.
He turned to her suddenly, his face more serious than she had ever seen him.“You can see yourself in my eyes, beloved,”he said,his voice soft.“I will be your mirror.”
“Then I will marry thee,”she said.
“Done,madam!”he shouted and grabbed her up from the bed, whirling her around.“You won’t go back on that?”
“I couldn’t,”ont>she said and stood on tiptoe for another kiss.
He hugged her so tightly that her ribs hurt.“No, I do not suppose you could,”he said.“Hannah. I love you, but God knows, this is not going to be an easy thing.”He took her by the hands and held her away from him, gazing at her with a light in his eyes that set her whole body tingling.
He led her to the windowseat, sat down, and patted the space beside him.“I suppose we always come back to your list, Miss Whittier.”
She smiled and touched his lips with her finger.“I do consider thy welfare above my own, or I never would have said yes.”
“Then I suppose there is nothing to do but write my solicitor and plot the next course,Lady Amber, which will involve some legal thrust andparry,”he said, leaning back against the window frame, never taking his eyes from her face.
She blushed.“Do not stare so, my love!”she protested.
“I cannot help myself,”be confessed.“I never thought that in the middle of war and national emergency, I would find my wife.”He broke his gaze finally and took her left hand in his,turning it over.“I may even have a diamond or an emerald suitable for an engagement ring.”
She drew her hand away.“No, none of that,”she said, her eyes wide with dismay.“We Friends do not hold with such fashion, Daniel. Nothing more than a plain gold band, if that, once we are wed.”
“It’s not enough for you,”he protested.
“It is more than enough,”an>she insisted, her voice firm,“just as this plain room suits me.”
He smiled finally, and touched her under the chin.“I never anticipated that a wife would be so economical!”He got to his feet and stretched.“Well, at least allow me one indulgence.”
“What?”she asked, her eyes merry.
“Let me have an engagement party within the week to introduce you to your neighbors.”
“Well....”
“You need to know them, considering that you will be falling back on their society when I am gone.”He watched her face.“What, my love?”he asked, his voice gentle.
“Nothing,”she murmured, wondering at the chill that settled around her heart with his words so casually spoken, even as the window glass warned her back and promised a sunny day.“I suppose I am just hungry.”
He nodded.“Mrs. Paige has breakfast waiting for you. Get dressed and I will join you. Then it’s off to the bookroom to compose a letter to my solicitor.”He paused in the open door.“Mama will come into her own here, my love. No one plans a party better. Lively now.”
If Lady Spark was disappointed with her son’s news of his engagement and impending marriage,the carrot of a party dangled before her eyes took away any misgivings.“It will take two heads to have everything ready by Thursday.”She shook a warning finger at her son,who was finishing his coffee by the window and grinning at her.“That means Hannah is my property until this party is over! Now, go on to the bookroom and write your letters.”
Hannah was composing invitations in the bookroom as soon as luncheon was over and Daniel returned from the village. He scooped her out of the chair pulled up to the desk, sat down,and pulled her onto his lap as she shrieked and made a grab to hold the inkwell as it teetered over a completed invitation.
“Thee is a sore distraction,”she exclaimed as he moved the inkwell out of her reach and took the quill from her hand.
“Then pay some attention to me for a few minutes, Hannah!”he insisted,nuzzling her neck at that junction by her jaw where his lips seemed to fit so naturally.“Much better,”he said after a moment. He rested his chin on her shoulder.“I mailed that letter and also spoke to my solicitor here. He said that once we have that writ of chancery, we can even be married by special license, and waive the banns.”
