Chapter Nine
“Who are you looking for?”
Nicola gasped as the voice came from behind her. She’d been peering from the doors where Caledonia and Thor had disappeared, trying to catch a glimpse of them, and someone had snuck up behind her. Whirling around, she came face to face with Darius de Winter.
“It’s you,” she said, hand on her chest to ease her pounding heart. “I was looking for Thor.”
Darius threw a thumb in the general direction of the gatehouse and apartments. “I am certain he is gone by now,” he said. “If I had a new wife, I would not spend my time in a hall talking to other men. I would be with her. Always with her.”
The mood rapidly turned into something warm and wistful.
Painful, even. Nicola’s gaze drifted over the big, handsome knight, a man she’d been in love with for the past two years, if not longer.
She’d only been sixteen when she fell for the brawny, dark de Winter son, a man who served her brother, but she hadn’t hinted to her mother about him until about a year ago, mostly because she knew that her parents would say she would have to wait because her older sister, Diara, wasn’t betrothed yet.
Happily, Diara was now betrothed to a d’Avignon son, a marriage that was to take place in the autumn when the leaves turned colors.
That left the path open for Nicola now.
“I know you would,” she whispered. “I’ve not spoken to you in two days. I’ve missed you.”
“And I’ve missed you,” Darius said in that sweet, low voice. “You look beautiful tonight.”
Nicola looked down at her blue silk dress. “This is your favorite dress.”
“It is.”
“I wore it for you.”
“And it is much appreciated.”
She looked at him again. “Do you suppose you can meet me tomorrow?” she said. “I can break away from the princess for a short time. Mayhap you can meet me by the river in our usual place?”
He nodded, but his expression was serious.
He took a step toward her. “I shall, but seeing your brother marry has made me realize that I no longer wish to waste time,” he said.
“I have done as you have asked. I have refrained from speaking to your father. But you were eighteen years of age last month, Nica. I want to ask your father’s permission to marry you.
May I, my dearest? Is there any reason we must still wait? ”
Nicola went to him, wrapping her hands around his as he held them against his broad chest. “He may be feeling sentimental with my brother getting married,” she said softly. “And my sister is marrying in a few months. I’ve always felt we should wait until Diara marries before we speak with him.”
Darius wasn’t happy with that answer. “I fail to understand why,” he said. “It is not as if our feelings are any secret.”
“I know.”
“Your father knows I am going to ask for your hand.”
“I know.”
“Then why the delay?”
“Because she is my youngest daughter and I am a selfish man.”
It wasn’t Nicola who replied, but Gage. He stood just a few feet behind them, but they’d been so wrapped up in one another that they never heard him approach.
They were tucked over in a darkened corner of the hall and the ambient noise had masked his movements.
Nicola gasped and yanked her hands out of Darius’ grip, but her father had seen them.
He knew they had been holding hands. In fact, he’d seen Darius approach Nicola as she peered from the doors, looking for her brother, and that was when he’d left the dais and headed for them.
He had to chuckle at a daughter who thought he hadn’t seen the obvious.
“Christ,” he muttered, looking at Darius. “Did you get rope burn on your palms with the speed with which she removed her hands?”
Darius smiled weakly, holding up both hands, palms out. “Am I bleeding, my lord?”
Gage pretended to peer more closely. “Not that I can see,” he said. Then his gaze moved to his daughter. “Nica, surely you do not think I am oblivious to this. I’ve known for a while now. You needn’t pretend any longer.”
Nicola tried not to look guilty. “I am sorry, Papa,” she said. “I wasn’t pretending anything. At least, I wasn’t trying to.”
“But you think I did not know?”
“Did Mama tell you?”
He pointed to his face. “I have eyes, lass,” he said wryly.
“I would have had to be blind not to see what is going on between you and de Winter. When I asked Thor if there was something I should know, he said that it was not his secret to tell. And your mother did mention something, but very little. Of course I figured it out. I am not a fool.”
Nicola went to him, putting her hands on his arm. “Are you angry?”
Gage shook his head. “Angry? Nay,” he said. “But I would have been angry if either one of you had spoken to me about this before you came of age. Darius, the time has come to be plain. Am I to assume you have intentions toward my daughter?”
Darius wasn’t prepared for this conversation.
Not really. He’d been planning it in his mind for nearly two years, ever since he became aware that the flame-haired de Reyne sister couldn’t take her eyes off him, but she had been adamant that they must wait until her older sister was married.
Now that the sister was planning her nuptials, Darius was more prepared to move forward, but he hadn’t expected it at this very moment.
He’d been caught off guard. Yet the moment was here and he stood straight, focused on the mighty Earl of Ashington.
His future father-in-law.
He hoped.
“I do, my lord,” he said with as much bravery as he could summon on such short notice. “Lady Nicola has forbidden me to speak to you until she came of age, and—”
“That was wise.”
Darius nodded even though Gage had cut him off. “Indeed, my lord,” he said. “When Lady Nicola told me the time was right, I planned to approach you and ask for her hand.”
“And?”
Darius took his eyes of Gage long enough to look at Nicola, who was gazing back at him with a hopeful expression. But not just any hope.
Hope for a future for them both.
Darius smiled faintly at her.
“I am not asking for just any hand,” he said quietly, returning his attention to Gage.
“I am asking for the hand of a woman who is as kind as she is wise. Who is as beautiful outside as she is in character. The hand of a woman I would die for a thousand times over and cherish forever as my wife. The hand of a woman I will love with all my heart until the end of all things. That is what I wanted to say to you. Should you grant me permission to marry her, know that there is no moment in my life, now or evermore, that will be as important to me as this moment. The moment that the woman I love becomes mine.”
By the time he was finished, Nicola was teary-eyed and Gage had a smile on his face. It had been a powerful and touching speech, articulated by a man who had spoken from his heart. In fact, Gage chuckled softly.
“Good God, Darius,” he finally muttered. “Is that what you were going to say?”
“It is, my lord. Every word of it.”
Still smiling, Gage looked at Nicola, who beamed up at him with the anticipation that all young women in love had. He could read it in her eyes.
It would be difficult to refuse, in any case.
“And this is what you wish, sweetheart?” he asked. “This would make you happy?”
Nicola nodded, flicking a tear from her eye. “Look at him, Papa,” she said. “Is he not the most handsome, most wonderful man in all of England?”
Gage laughed softly, kissing her on the cheek.
“He is fairly wonderful, aye,” he said. “If you are terribly sure, then I see no reason to deny him. Darius, you have my permission to marry Nicola. But let us wait until after her sister is married, please. Let this be Diara’s year. You two can marry next spring.”
With a shriek of delight, Nicola threw her arms around her father’s neck, knocking him sideways.
He barely had time to recover his balance before she let him go and rushed at Darius, hitting the man so hard with a flying hug that he grunted at the impact.
All the while, she was squealing with happiness.
Rubbing his neck where she’d hit his throat, Gage chuckled at the unbridled display of joy.
“Nicola, show some decorum,” he admonished her, but he knew it was futile. “You nearly smashed your betrothed into the ground with that display. Did she break any ribs, Darius?”
Darius had one arm around Nicola as she danced around, trying to calm down as her father requested but being unable to do so. “If she did, they will heal,” he said, rubbing his sternum. “Thank you, my lord. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
Gage nodded, watching the two of them beam at each other. “Be happy together,” he said. “That is all the thanks I require.”
“I will do my best, my lord,” Darius said. “You have my word.”
“That is good enough for me,” Gage said. “But I am afraid I did not come here to only discuss a betrothal. I have come with some news that will see you two separated for a time.”
Both Darius and Nicola looked at him with concern as she stopped dancing about. “What is it, Papa?” she asked.
“My lord?” Darius said, overlapping her.
Gage could see how upset they were, right on the heels of having been so deliriously happy. He felt rather sorry for them.
“It is not terrible,” he said, holding up a hand to ease them, “but Thor wants to go to his new properties in the north and, Darius, you will be going with him. Henry has given his permission.”
Darius looked at Nicola to see her reaction before returning his gaze to Gage. “For how long, my lord?”
Gage shrugged. “I do not know,” he said. “As long as it takes Thor to survey his properties, I suppose. It will not be forever.”
Nicola reached out to take Darius’ hand, holding it tightly with both of her small, warm mitts. The poor woman looked as if she wanted to cry.
“Thank you for telling us, Papa,” she said. “And thank you… for your permission to marry. It means so very much to us.”