Page 15 of A Flaming Lady's Secret Valentine
“They do notknow.” Cecilia frowned. She forced a smile when Raphael frowned in turn. “That is a lie. Her Grace knows, and she has allotted me some time to make up my mind about Lord Radcliff before any sort of betrothal is established.”
“I am glad.”
“You are?”
Raphael straightened up. “Should I not be?”
“Yes. No—Forgive me, I cannot recall what we were even saying,” she lied. It was easier than wondering why Mr Raphael Travers would be happy she had forestalled an engagement. “Have you no wife of your own?”
“No wife.”
“No children?”
“No children either. Do you find that strange?”
“Not particularly. Edward is yet unmarried, and he is six-and-twenty.”
“I am six-and-twenty.”
Cecilia blushed. “Oh, heavens. Well, I suppose it is different for men thanwomen.”
“I am not so sure. Do they not teach that love is unconditional and absolute, and all that other nonsense?”
“Goodness, I had no idea you were such a misanthrope.”
Raphael gave a burst of laughter. “I am not a misanthrope.”
“All right—a non-believer in love, then.”
“I believe.” The sky flashed white again behind him. “Somewhat.”
“You just said that you believe that love is nonsense, Mr Travers!”
“You misunderstand me. I believe that the parameters by which we measure love are nonsense. That is all.”
“You surprise me.”
He gave another entrancing, lopsided smile. “Because I am not illiterate and indifferent to great ideas? I have opinions, Lady Cecilia. Many of them, in fact.”
She saw an opportunity, and she took it. “What is your opinion on my match with the Earl of Radcliff, then?”
He wagged his finger at her. “Now that really is a trap.” He hesitated. “But I will oblige you. I cannot comment on Lord Radcliff’s character, partly because I do notknow the man, and partly because I fear I would get the sack if I did.”
“But?”
Raphael took on a serious air, and Cecilia shuffled atop her hay bale. “But we live in a world that crushes unmarried women—even the daughters of dukes. If Radcliff can provide a steady life for you, that would not be miserable, it is something to consider properly.”
The air shifted between them, siphoning the magic from it, and replacing it with tension. “So, you believe I should accept him?”
“I was not finished.” He ran his hands over his trousers and stepped toward her. “The world is also a theatre of endless passion. You should not deny yourself anything, Lady Cecilia. That is my opinion.”
Cecilia looked deeply into his eyes as he spoke, completely enthralled. Their conversation was pushing the bounds of good etiquette. Some more prudish members of theTonwould have considered her compromised at the utterance of the word ‘passion.’ Cecilia was not convinced.
There was much more Mr Raphael Travers could do to compromise her, and her imagination ran wild with every word he spoke. So wild, in fact, that it almost to Cecilia like he was suggesting she have her cake and eat it too.
“That is complicated indeed,” she murmured.
“Is it? Seems simple enough to me, my lady.”
