LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

attending parties and balls, and all of this country air seemed somehow tiring. She sighed as she walked back into the Blue Drawing Room and resumed her seat on the sofa.

      A single thought kept her from yawning. Tonight might very well be the night the duke proposed.

      Once he did, she could go back to London.

      Royal stood at the window of the sitting room in his bedroom suite. Below him, the infamous Bransford hedge maze formed intricate patterns that culminated in a large marble fountain with cherubs spouting water out of their mouths.

      The fountain wasn’t easy to find. First, one had to meander along deceptive pathways that seemed to have no end, making dozens of false starts and stops, each avenue enclosed by hedges that took up nearly two acres, and over the years had grown more than ten feet tall.

      He grinned as he watched the lady who had made the mistake of entering the maze. His great-grandfather had taken great pride in making it one of the most difficult in the country.

      She made a turn, reached a dead end and backtracked, turned the wrong way and started along a path that led nowhere and would propose three alternate routes that also led nowhere. She could be in there for hours.

      Royal grinned again. Unless he showed her the way out.

      Taking his woolen cloak off the hook by the door, he headed downstairs.

      The day was sunny, but there was a crisp, late-January chill in the air, and the grass, brown from the winter frost, was spongy and damp. He stopped at the entrance to the maze, mentally went over where he had last seen Lily and started inside. A couple of turns and he could hear her, mumbling something that sounded oddly like a curse. She started forward, her slender feet padding along on the spongy grass.

      “Miss Moran!” he called out. “Lily, where are you?”

      “I’m over here!” she called back, relief in her voice, which was coming from a long passage two turns to the left.

      “Stay where you are,” he instructed. “I’ll come and get you.”

      He knew the maze by heart. He and his brothers had played there since they were boys. He made a couple of turns, took a little-used shortcut and walked quietly up behind her. She jumped when he settled his hands on her shoulders.

      Her hand came up to her heart as she whirled to face him. “Good grief, I didn’t hear you a’tall.”

      “The element of surprise. It comes in handy at times.”

      She smiled. “So you came here to rescue me?”

      “Just like a knight in shining armor.”

      “How did you know I was in here?”

      “I saw you from my bedroom window.”

      She gazed down the path in front of her. “I wanted to see the fountain.” Her bottom lip turned down in a pout that was rare for her and quite charming. “I thought I could find it.”

      “Actually, I usually warn our guests not to enter the maze unless they have plenty of time. It’s very large and extremely complex. My great-grandfather got an almost demonic thrill out of getting someone lost inside.”

      She looked up at him with those lovely sea-green eyes and his chest tightened.

      “Since you found me, I guess you know how to get out.”

      “My brothers and I played in here all of the time.”

      She flicked a glance toward the center of the maze and he read her disappointment. “I guess we should go back.”

      He knew he should take her back straightaway. Instead, he said, “I thought you wanted to see the fountain.”

      Her pretty eyes brightened. “Oh, I do!”

      Royal held out his hand. “Come on, then, and I’ll show you.”

      Lily hesitated only a moment then clasped the hand he offered. A lightning bolt seemed to arc between them and for an instant he couldn’t make himself move. Lily must have felt it, too, for her gaze jerked to his face and warm color washed into her cheeks.

      She tried to pull her hand away, but his great-grandfather’s blood ran through his veins and some demon inside him wouldn’t let go.

      “Come on,” he urged, his voice a little gruff. Tugging her forward, he led her deeper into the maze. Lily had no choice but to fall in beside him, and for a time they strolled quietly along the narrow paths.

      As the minutes ticked past, she began to relax and they strolled along as if they were a couple, instead of two people fighting a forbidden attraction. It would be unseemly if they were discovered, but at the moment, Royal couldn’t make himself care.

       Eight

      Lily felt the tug of Royal’s hand and followed once more in the direction he beckoned. The maze had suddenly become more exciting, the solitude more intriguing. Royal seemed even taller in the narrow confines of the hedgerows, his presence all the more powerful out here where they were alone.

      She could tell he knew exactly which way to go to reach the fountain in the center of the maze, stopping where it seemed the least likely, turning one way, then heading another. He took another avenue, chose an unlikely path that seemed to lead nowhere and pulled her that way. When they came to a choice between three paths, he stopped and looked down at her.

      “All right, you choose which way we should go.”

      She bit her lip, studying the different routes, deciding on the least obvious one. “The path to the far left.”

      He laughed. “We could get there that way, but it would take us a whole lot longer. This is the way.” He drew her forward and she smiled as she came up beside him. They followed several more twists and turns and finally stepped into the clearing in the middle of the garden.

      The fountain loomed ahead and Lily let go of his hand and hurried toward it, thinking the journey had been worthwhile.

      “It’s lovely,” she said, running her fingers round the rim where the water slipped over the edge onto the level below. “I love the sound. There’s a fountain in the gardens at Meadowbrook and I go there whenever I can. The sound of the falling water helps me forget my cares.”

      One of Royal’s dark blond eyebrows went up. “You seem happy in your circumstance. What cares do have, Lily Moran?”

      She sat down on the bench that encircled the base of the fountain, and Royal sat down beside her.

      “I worry about my future after I leave the Caulfields’. I worry that what I’ve saved won’t be enough to open my shop. I worry that if somehow I do manage, the shop won’t be a success.”

      “I don’t think you need worry in that regard. My aunt told me how good you are at what you do. She said your hats are quite amazing. I gather she commissioned a bonnet for herself.”

      She smiled. “In fact, she ordered several. I’m hoping she will like them. It would certainly help my reputation as a milliner to have a countess among my patrons.” She looked up at him. “Your aunt is a lovely woman.”

      “She’s very dear to me. To all of us.”

      “I think you are very dear to her, as well.”

      A long sigh whispered out, his mood abruptly changing. “She wants me to be happy, but—” He broke off as if he worried he might say something untoward.

      “It’s Jo, isn’t it? You are afraid the two of you won’t suit.”

      Royal raked a hand through his hair, dislodging the gleaming strands. “It doesn’t really matter. She’s beautiful and charming, well schooled in the things a woman should know in order to become a duchess. The marriage has been arranged. All that’s left are the formalities.”

      “I—I’m

Скачать книгу