My Last Duchess, стр. 38
“I see,” Ophelia said. She folded her hands before her. She was wearing a gown that he recognized, thanks to Louisa, as beingà la française. His sister wore monstrous petticoats this evening, with a silk gown embroidered with birds of paradise.
Hugo found he vastly preferred a simple rose stripe, albeit decorated with silver-edged ruffles.
“Sir Peter was lucky enough to be introduced to you during your first foray into society,” he said now. “He was smart enoughto know what he had in front of him, and he snatched you up before another gentleman had a chance.”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. My parents knew his parents . . .”
“Your parents’ only mistake was that they underestimated your charms,” Hugo said deliberately. “Sir Peter saw you, an intelligent, gorgeous, and sensual woman, and he knew he’d found gold. I wouldn’t be surprised if he proposed to youduring your second dance.”
She blinked. “Over supper following our second dance.”
“Had he waited until the next day, he wouldn’t have been able to afford you,” Hugo said. “Polite society is a ruthless marketplace.I saw you during your first entry into society after widowhood. I knew that I had no time, so I followed you into a snowstorm. Why do you suppose that was?”
A smile was easing the corners of her lips. “Could we simply agree that you and Peter were slightly mad, and leave it at that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to win you under false pretenses. I think you could likely have any bachelor of your choicein all London, Phee.”
She was laughing now. “Including the twenty-year-olds, just leaving Oxford?”
“Those too.” He meant it. “London is full of women who are brittle, angry, or—like my second wife—dissatisfied. You look likea person who knows how to be happy.”
“I’m no happier than the next person,” she said, looking startled.
He raised an eyebrow. “Were you madly in love with Sir Peter?”
“That is private.”
“Yet you never succumbed to bitterness or ennui,” he said, ignoring her unhelpful response. “You built a life with him, aman whom you’d known for the space of two dances. He enjoyed London, so you accompanied him here.”
“That is common for married couples,” she pointed out.
He shook his head. “I’ve been in an unhappy marriage. My wife was unwilling to be in the country for a day more than she hadto, although my responsibilities did not allow me to always live in the city. She returned to London without me.”
“If you would like to marry me because I would put your desires ahead of my own,” Ophelia said, “I think you should returnto your former theme.”
“I will put your desires above my own. You love dancing; if you wish it, we can engage a dancing master to bring me up tosnuff. What I am saying is that if I was lucky enough to win your hand, you would be my partner, Phee. I know that Sir Peterwould agree with me that a true marital partnership is a gift from God.”
“Partnership suggests friendship,” she said. “You declined to be my friend.”
“I wasn’t clear,” he said, frowning. “I want to be so much more than merely a friend. You would be my closest friend, butalso my lover. The person I wish to walk beside for the whole of my life.”
“Hmm,” she said. Her eyes were shining, and Hugo felt a flash of hopefulness. “Let’s go back to the question of whether Iam more beautiful than Maddie, which is plain absurdity.”
He walked closer to her, unable to resist her smile. “To me, you have the perfect nose.” He kissed it. “I adore your chin.”He kissed it.
“Now I know you’ve lost your mind!” But she didn’t move away.
“Your lips are exquisite,” he whispered, and dropped a kiss on them. “Your eyes are like deep, like . . . like pools of hotchocolate.”
She started giggling again.
“I’m not a poet,” Hugo said. “All I can say is that I am putting my life, my title, my family at your feet, Phee.” He caughther hands in his. “Everything that I am. And fair warning, I shall keep trying to convince you. Last time I saw you, you wereadamant that you would have nothing to do with me. But now . . . you allowed me to escort you on this ridiculous errand. Youwalked into this room with me.”
He held his breath, hoping.
“I don’t like seeing you with another woman,” Ophelia confessed, a delicate wash of pink rising in her cheeks. “I didn’t likeit at the Frost Fair either.”
“I won’t marry the lady.” He stated it calmly. “There will never be another woman, if you won’t have me.”
“You had good reasons for courting her, I’m sure.”
“Your refusal was not a good enough reason,” Hugo said. “Lady Woolhastings doesn’t deserve a man who is more than half inlove with someone else.”
“Perhaps you deserve more as well,” Ophelia suggested. She took a step toward him. Now they were close enough so that the hem of her skirtbrushed his shoe, and he caught a whiff of sweet lemon from her hair.
“I love that you don’t wear a wig,” he said. “Damn it, you make me feel as unbalanced as a lad of fifteen.”
Watching her eyes carefully, he took the last step toward her and his arms closed around her. “If you marry me, you’ll losea part of your freedom,” he said, his voice roughening. “The life of a duchess is not easy, although I will do everythingin my power to provide you as much privacy as I am able. I own a large castle and the grounds are protected from the public.We can do as we wish there.”
Ophelia met his eyes and then cupped his face in her hands, came up on her toes, and brushed his lips with hers. “I thinkI might give up my freedom for you. What would I miss?”
“Had I met you while I was married to Yvette and you were married to