Page 31 of The Lord Next Door I Wished For
She glanced over and this time he smiled and he sat up straight as he seemed to give the question thought. “I don’t know…” He turned to her with a crooked grin. “Do you still know how to catch frogs?”
CHAPTERNINE
Do not rush her.
This was the phrase Luke had started to repeat endlessly as the day wore on.
With every passing moment, every shared laugh, every teasing jest, it grew increasingly more difficult for Luke to remember that he needed to give her time and space.
But he did.
At every turn, he resisted the urge to reach for her, the desire to kiss her.
Instead, he focused on steering the conversation to happier topics than the heavy ones at hand. Rather than discussing the future and the wedding and all that followed, he talked of his past, telling her about his time at school and the travel he’d done.
He was heartened indeed when she spoke of her own past, and filled him in on her experiences during those years he’d been away.
“Nothing like the sort of adventures you had,” she said with a teasing smile as she held her skirts up a little higher to step over a rock. He held a hand out and she took it with a grateful smile as they continued their trek through the shallow waters.
“Adventures…” He repeated the word she’d used, testing it out. Were his travels adventures? With her they would have been. But without her there to find the humor and the mischief… “I wouldn’t call it adventures,” he said. “Most of the schooling and the travel were in the name of learning how to take over for my father, and then my grandfather.” He gave her a baleful look. “I’m not sure treading in other men’s footsteps is terribly adventurous.”
“Nonsense!” She stopped, turning to him with such an affronted look, his lips twitched with the urge to laugh. “You’ve been learning how to be a gentleman who can stand on his own and be a true leader.” She resumed walking, not seeming to notice that he still held her hand and hovered close lest she slip on the rocks.
“And besides,” she continued. “There’s nothing that says you must follow in their footsteps.”
“Isn’t there? I rather thought that was the whole point of being an heir.”
“I disagree. You can do what you wish with the title and your power. It’s your choice how you treat others and whether they truly respect you…”
He couldn’t stop watching her. Her expressive features were endlessly fascinating. As a child, she’d always been an open book, and it seemed this was one aspect that hadn’t changed much.
“Even for me…” She paused, her expression thoughtful. “I often feel as though I’m…oh, trapped, I suppose. That I’ve been cast in a role that doesn’t fit me. But even so, I’m fortunate, and I know it. Everyone is born into a life, in some ways, but that doesn’t mean that person can’t make a change. I don’t have to act like my mother any more than you have to be just like your father.”
He nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”
Even though he agreed, she still looked pensive. He wondered if she was thinking about their future roles. That of Marquess and Marchioness. One day Duke and Duchess.
And always husband and wife.
“We will forge our own path,” he said quietly, and he was rewarded with a smile so genuine and filled with such gratitude, he nearly forgot his own name.
“Thank you for that,” she said, squeezing his hand.
He squeezed hers in turn.
His Jane. She’d changed so much, but in some ways—in the very best ways—she hadn’t changed at all.
She still wore her heart on her sleeve. Which was so blastedly rare. So unique, so sweet, and so…
So endearing.
If his chest kept aching like this, he surely wouldn’t survive this outing. But survive it he did, and the day was ending far too soon.
The sun sank in the sky and they laughed on their picnic blanket, lying on their backs as they found animals in the clouds and talked of everything and nothing.
“This was lovely,” Jane sighed. She turned her head just as he did and so they were lying there, face to face, so close he’d only have to shift toward her slightly…
She sat up abruptly. “I ought to head back soon.”
