April Kihlstrom by The Dutiful Wife Read Free Book Online Page B

finally. “I must think about the matter. But whatever we decide, I am glad to see you again and wish to hear all about your life since you were last here.”
    He grinned, and it was as if he was that boy again. He began to talk at the rapid-fire pace she remembered from years ago and she was content to listen as he talked. He even made her laugh more than once. They walked through the rest of the garden and sat on a bench under her favorite tree. At least they meant to sit on the bench and talk. But they had barely done so when they were interrupted by someone clearing his throat.
    Beatrix looked up to see her parents standing there, a stern expression upon their faces even as Mrs. Trowley hastily shooed the other children back inside the house.
    “You have been out here a very long time,” Mr. Trowley said sharply.
    Rothwood stood and faced her father. In a voice that sounded stiff he said, “My apologies. I ought to have spoken to you first, Mr. Trowley. As I have told your daughter, I came here to see if we might suit each other. As husband and wife.”
    Rothwood looked down, smiling reassuringly at Beatrix. Her father, however, was not so pleased.
    “And has she accepted?” he demanded.
    Now Beatrix stood. She met her father’s gaze and said, “Lord Rothwood has just arrived. We have barely had time to get to know each other again. He has not yet decided whether to ask me to marry him, and I have not yet decided what I will say if he does.”
    “Not decided?” her mother echoed in dismay. “What is there to decide? The two of you looked quite taken with each other just now.”
    “We were becoming reacquainted,” Beatrix repeated sharply. “That is scarcely the same as knowing Lord Rothwood well enough to marry him!”
    “Your mother and I scarcely knew each other before we were wed,” her father countered.
    Beatrix blinked. “But you and Mama, that is, you are both so affectionate with each other. I always thought it was a love match.”
    “It became one,” her mother said briskly. “Just as it shall for the two of you. Come inside now. It isn’t proper for the two of you to be alone. Particularly if you are not yet betrothed.”
    Beatrix tried to protest, but her parents took no notice. Rothwood leaned toward her. “They mean well,” he said, “and they wish to see you happy. They know I can give you what you deserve. Come, let us not fight with them when it will clearly do no good. We have already agreed to get to know each other again before you, er, we decide. I shall not let them bully you.”
    She glanced at him doubtfully but then nodded. “I suppose you are right. If we decide we will not suit, Mama and Papa will have to understand. So long as we do not send out any announcements, no one will be the wiser if we choose not to wed.”
    * * *
    She could yet reject him, Rothwood thought, fear shaking him to his core. Until this moment he had not realized how much it meant to him that she not do so, and not just because of the provisions of his father’s will. It made no sense, he knew that. His father would have said he ought to either not care, or if he did care, use every persuasive way he knew to get her to agree to marry him. Indeed, he would have thought Miss Trowley daft for not instantly seizing on her sudden good fortune.
    But Edmund didn’t want a wife he had to trick or manipulate into marrying him or who did so simply because of his position. He wanted, he realized, Miss Trowley to want to marry him because she felt about him as he felt about her. Already he knew Miss Trowley was the same girl he remembered, even if at times she forgot herself in the present. Already he was drawn to her more than to any girl or woman he had encountered in all the years in between his last visit and this one. His friends would say it was folly. His father would be appalled that emotions played any part in his choice. Edmund only knew that when he was with Miss Trowley, he again felt the freedom of