Chapter 5 #2
Without a single ruffle or furbelow to have a care for, Fiona only smoothed the straight lines of her blue cotton skirt to avoid any wrinkles as she took note of Lord Ramsay looking rather displeased as he waited for her not far ahead.
“I apologize if I was talking out of turn,” Ilona said quietly.
“You weren’t,” Fiona said, favoring her with a loving smile and reaching over to squeeze Ilona’s hand. “And never apologize to me.”
“For anything?”
Fiona shook her head, and Ilona sighed, absently plucking a nearby dandelion and twirling it between her fingers. “Then I will feel free to say what I think.”
“Haven’t you already?” Fiona said with a wry smile.
Ilona smiled brightly, her good humor restored. She pointed the dandelion at Fiona and twitched it like a lecturing schoolmarm. “I think you do not bear any love for Ramsay at all. Admit it.”
Looking across the water at Ramsay again, Fiona sighed and opted for honesty rather than another denial. “No, I don’t. But that is not why I am marrying him.”
With a little nod, Ilona said, “And there is nothing wrong for marrying for reasons other than love. People do it all the time and are happy enough with their choices.”
“But...?” Fiona prompted, picking a seeded dandelion of her own and blowing gently until the fluffy seeds took wing and floated away.
“Of course, there is that.” Watching the white flush float into the sky, Ilona picked one of the white fluff balls and repeated Fiona’s actions with a delighted grin. “I don’t believe you are one of those people, Fiona. Grasping at straws won’t bring you happiness.”
“I’m not grasping at straws!” Fiona gaped, her good humor fleeing quicker than the seeds on the wind. “Just because I want a marriage of my own? A home of my own? I’m not grasping for anything more than any lady hopes for.”
Her sister-in-law looked doubtful. “The straws I think you are grasping for are not the goals themselves, Fiona. Only your means of achieving them. You admit you have no true affection for this Ramsay fellow.”
“Yet,” Fiona insisted, glancing again at Ramsay, who was now pacing the bank of the Serpentine angrily as if that would solve anything. “I’m well aware of the price I will pay to get what I want, Ilona. But the payment will be made on my terms.”
“You would have it no other way.” Ilona inclined her head. “But there might be other avenues available to you at a lesser cost that I hope you will take the time to consider. Lord Temple, perhaps? Though you might consider him too serious a gentleman.”
“He asked me to go bicycling with him this afternoon.”
“There you are then! Opportunity knocking without you having to reach too hard. It’s a good thing the weather has turned in your favor,” Ilona enthused, drawing a deep breath and lifting her face to the sun.
She gave the impression of being utterly relaxed, though her posture never slumped.
“And mine. A week of gloomy weather had also begun to weigh on my mood.”
Fiona snorted lightly at that. As far as she had seen in all the years she’d known Ilona, very little could dim her spirits.
“Is that Lord Ramsay then, across the lake?” Ilona asked, her eyes still closed and a smile playing on her lips.
“He’s fairly handsome, at least,” she went on as if Fiona had answered.
“Dark and tall. I know you like that. He reminds me of that gentleman...I cannot recall his name. Lord Something. You know, the one who was courting Moira before she wed Vin?”
She stiffened in surprise and looked at Ramsay again. He was tall but lanky rather than muscular. His hair was black, and his eyes were pale blue. But surely that was just a coincidence? Had such a slight resemblance played into her decision?
She stifled a groan but Ilona seemed to hear her and opened one eye. “He seems to be waiting for you. Would you like to speak with him? I don’t mind resting alone for a bit.”
“I should, I suppose.” Fiona rose slowly, shaking out her skirts.
“Extend my apologies for disrupting your meeting.”
Fiona laughed at her blatant insincerity as she walked the short distance to Ramsay, studying him as she went. Ah, damn!
* * *
He didn’t look any happier than Fiona felt by the time she reached him. Without even bothering with a polite greeting, Ramsay said irritably, “It’s about time you came over. Who is that?”
She looked back. Iona’s eyes were still closed, and she seemed utterly content with where she was. Fiona couldn’t help but wish she was there as well. “My sister-in-law. She saw that I was going out and asked to come along. It would have been rude to put her off.”
“But I wanted to see you alone.”
A vaguely plaintive note in his voice rubbed Fiona wrong, and she couldn’t help but snap, “I am the lone unmarried female living in a house with six married couples and four more brothers to boot. I haven’t hardly a chance of even breathing by myself.
” Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to relax.
She reminded herself of what she really wanted.
“If you would simply call at the house, we wouldn’t have to resort to such subterfuge.
If you won’t, you’ll have to settle for the little time I can carve out alone. ”
“Call at the house?” he asked. “And be turned off like a beggar?”
“I have spoken to Hobbes. It won’t happen again,” Fiona assured him, hoping she was right. “Come spend time with my family.”
Ramsay only laughed. “How awkward for us all. Run away with me,” he urged. “Come with me and be my wife. Let us get away from all this, from your family and start a life for ourselves.”
With little to consider, she shook her head automatically. “I love my family. I want their approval.”
“Ah, darling,” he sighed, taking her hands.
“I want it too. I’m sorry for my impatience.
It’s just that I love you so. I adore you and want to spend my days making you happy, not watching from the outskirts of your life.
If it weren’t for all of this, we could be honeymooning abroad already and discovering all the best courses for you to play on. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”
It did. Ramsay often said the most delightful things in his efforts to please her.
And there was absolutely nothing about him that resembled Aylesbury.
Nothing at all! “Just a few more months, my lord. While I am not any more pleased with the situation than you are, I know my brothers. In the end, it will all go our way.”
“I hope so,” he grumbled. “The sooner the better.”
Fiona only nodded. He would get no argument from her there.