Page 11 of A Naughty Proposal for His Winter Countess
“I want to court her,” Daniel said, plainly.
Ben nearly dropped his glass, “Beg your pardon?”
“Miss Harriet,” Daniel replied. “Tomorrow, I am going to give you my proposal for courtship.”
Ben shook his head, gulped the rest of his drink, and then rested his glass on a ledge. “Where is this coming from, Daniel? Last time I checked, you had sworn off marriage. Afterher, you told me you would never get leg shackled.”
Sobering, Daniel allowed a few painful memories to run through his mind, then sighed, before gazing out on the wintery landscape. It was a barren land that he felt mirrored parts of his soul. “I know, but I don’t want to keep seeing ghosts, Ben. I cannot count the many times you’ve coaxed me to try and live again, to move past all the regret of years behind me—well, this is my trying.”
Benjamin was quiet, then said, “Harriet is a free spirit, Daniel. She won’t be like the other ladies you know. She doesn’t follow the traditional paths—are you prepared for that?”
I realize that, and, for a short time, we will be together, I think I’ll do.
“It’s refreshing,” Daniel replied, while tilting his head up to the sky, dotted with silver speckles. “I like a lady who thinks for herself.”
“Oh, she does,” Ben snorted. “Harriet is an original.”
“Her coloring,” Daniel turned to him, “no one in your family had her coloring.”
“That, My Friend, is a mystery that boggles us all,” Ben shrugged. “Mother did not have red hair or freckles, and neither does Father. We just assigned it to God being colorful with his palate.”
“It's charming,” Daniel replied.
“Outside of our family, you’d be the first,” Benjamin said, then clamped his mouth shut, as if he had let out a secret that shouldn’t have been shared.
His words drew Daniel’s attention, and he cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve already said too much,” Ben said apologetically. “It’s a sensitive subject, that only Harriet can tell you in full.”
So, she has a haunted past as well.
Finishing his glass, Daniel nodded, “I’ll contact you on the morrow, Ben.”
“Good night,” Ben stuck out his hand, and Daniel took it.
“Same to you,” he replied.
After getting his coat, and calling for his coach, Daniel left the Manor to return home. The ramifications of his decision did not trouble him as much as he would have thought. If anything, both he and Harriet would benefit. She would learn how to choose good men, and he would get some relief from the empty spiral of his life that was gaming halls and brothels.
Harriet was a unique lady, with a coloring he truly found enchanting, but, what Ben had hinted about her past concerned him. Daniel put away the concern for another day, as he suspected, after a fitful night of sleep, he had a marriage contract to draw up.
* * *
Patiently waiting for Ben to look over the papers, Daniel’s mind wandered to Miss Harriet herself. Instead of being back at Carrington’s Manor, Daniel was at Ben’s apartment, in Soho's lower side.
He stood and went to the window to overlook the busy street not too far away, tucking his hands behind him. He knew there was nothing wrong with the paperwork, so he didn’t know why Ben was stalling.
I know I’m coming down hard on Dawson for being a rakehell, but am I any different?
“Raster,” Ben said behind him, “may I ask why you have a clause to have her agree to the courtship and, the power to break it whenever she chooses to and on whatever grounds she chooses to? This is, frankly, unheard of.”
Daniel pivoted on his heel, “Because I am not going to trap a free-spirit in a gilded cage of what might be a loveless marriage.”
Ben stood with a concerned look on his, “Is this about your—”
“Yes,” Daniel replied quickly, then turn back to the window. Under his breath, he said, “No need to press salt into a festering wound.”
Coming to stand by him, Ben rested a hand on his arm, and when Daniel turned to him, Ben said, “As concerned as I am about how bruised you two are, in your separate ways, I think both of you are fit for each other. You can help each other heal.”
