Page 56 of A Night of Passion with the Duke
ChapterFourteen
“You gave in quite easily to your mother,” Arabella remarked once they set off down the path.
She smiled as the sun warmed her face and bathed everything in a beautiful golden glow.
“I find it easier to do as she says than to argue and have her excommunicate me from parlor games.”
She laughed out loud. “Are parlor games that important?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes. They’re the crux of dinnertime entertainment every Saturday,” Edward answered seriously.
“If I didn’t know you well now, I’d think you were joking.”
He smiled brilliantly, and just because nature loved him, the sun hit him at an angle that highlighted his best features.
God this is too much.
Arabella groaned inwardly.
“I actually thought you’d be a little more grumpy,” she joked, before clearing her throat.
“Oh, I was, but I thought it only fair.” He chuckled. “We have given them hell these past few days. Do you think it’s working?”
She shot him a look. “It doesn’t seem to be if we’re here now.” She sighed. “Emily has been trying to counsel me, and your mother keeps showing me the baby clothes you wore. I really would hate to break their hearts.”
Or mine.
They both fell silent.
“Do we have to separate?” he asked, shocking her.
“Pardon me?”
“I don’t know how to say this, but we are good together. You make me laugh, my family loves you, and I like you.”
“Edward, I… I feel the same way. I find myself becoming comfortable around you, and I look forward to catching your eye across the room when your mother says something particularly funny,” Arabella admitted. “You make me feel like I’m home, and it scares me.”
“It scares me, too.”
“Is this how it feels like?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” He laughed. “I should be asking you. You’re the one who reads romance novels.”
“That doesn’t mean I’ve experienced it!” she retorted. “You’re the one who has had many lovers.”
He gasped mockingly. “How dare you bring up my past?”
“I do dare because I’m your wife.”
“Fake wife.”
They halted their horses and looked at one another, as if finally seeing each other. They laughed at that and then took off in a small canter, but when they finally crested the hill, Arabella finally understood why his mother was adamant about him bringing her there.
“It’s so beautiful,” she gasped.
The lake below the hill glinted silver in the sunlight, and the field below was dotted with so many red, yellow and purple flowers that she wanted to run through them.
Edward led them to a shaded spot beneath a tall tree and set up the picnic while she took in the beauty around them. He was such a gentleman, but considering the stories he’d told her of his childhood, she could understand why.