Luna gasped. “No!” “It’s a no?”
A pulse like drums throbbed in her ears. She sat there, listening to it, counting out the beats. Convinced that surely she must have misheard the words echoing in her head behind that pulse.
Then her mouth opened, and she blurted, “What?”
“Marry me,” Ward repeated, leaning forward urgently.
His gorgeous green eyes took in her face, scanning her features for some sign of her forthcoming answer.
What he saw must not have encouraged him much, because his brows drew together.
“Come on, you don’t have to act so surprised.
You knew this was coming eventually, didn’t you? It’s what you wanted!”
Her lips came together, parted, came together again, without any sound emerging. Finally, with a rough shake of her head, she reached out and grabbed hold of his shoulders. “Oh, get up, Ward, please!”
“All right, all right,” he said, rising and brushing off the knees of his dress trousers. “It’s a bit damp down there anyway.” He peered at her from beneath the bobbing coil of his forehead curl, his brow creasing into deeper lines. “So, um . . . was that a yes?”
Luna gasped. “No!”
“It’s a no?”
“Well—yes!”
“So yes then?”
“Ward!”
“What?”
Covering her face with both hands, Luna valiantly wished on any miraculous stars that might just be passing by overhead to please, please, transport her to anywhere else in the world. The Phrigidos Isles. Hell. It didn’t matter. Anywhere not here.
But she had brought this on herself, hadn’t she?
She’d encouraged this man’s interest over the last several months.
No, she hadn’t tried to. But she hadn’t tried hard enough not to either.
Her own inexperience with all such matters came back to bite her in the arse, and she thoroughly deserved whatever discomfort she must now endure.
The least she could do was speak to him honestly. She owed him that much.
Dropping her hands, Luna made herself look up into his handsome face. “Oh, gracious goddess, Ward, you don’t really want to marry me, do you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I kind of thought that was implied when I, you know, got down on my knees and proposed. Wasn’t it?”
“But . . . why?”
Ward blinked. “What do you mean, why?”
“I mean, why on earth would you want to do something like that? With me?”
“Damn, Luna.” He turned away from her for a moment, growling his frustration. “Are you going to make me say it?”
She stared up at him, uncertain how she could possibly answer.
Ward threw up his hands. “Fine! Because I love you! All right? Is that what you want to hear? I love you, and I want to marry you, and . . . gods, why is this all so difficult?” A few quick steps, and he dropped to the stone bench beside her once more, his arms reaching.
“Stop it!” Luna squeaked.
“Just let me kiss you,” he urged, a bit desperately. “I’m no good with words, Luna. Just let me kiss you, and you’ll understand then!”
“No, I won’t!” She glared with undisguised annoyance. “So please, stop it. And keep your hands to yourself!” she added, peeling his hands from her body and pushing them away. The hurt look he shot her was almost enough to make her repent, but not enough to make her want him to touch her again.
Ward ran his fingers through his hair. “So that’s how it is?” he demanded. “You were just using me all this time?”
“Using you?” Her voice sounded painfully stupid in her ears.
Ward rubbed his hands down his face. “Never mind,” he growled.
Luna bit the inside of her cheek, a storm of conflicting emotions churning in her breast. “Ward,” she said, her voice trembling more than she liked. “Ward, I’m . . . I’m really sorry. I don’t know how this happened, honestly. I just didn’t think you . . . I didn’t think you cared all that much.”
“Really?” He shot her a dirty look. “What do think I’ve been doing these last few months, chasing after you?”
“But . . . my heptagram.” Luna held up her wrist, which was distinctly unmarked at the moment, which they both knew was illegal.
She dropped her hand again, twisting the corsage to hide the place where a tattoo ought to be visible.
“I thought maybe . . . I mean, after last night, I thought perhaps . . . perhaps you’ve just been keeping an eye on me.
” She made a little shrug with her bare shoulders. “It is your job, after all.”
He scoffed. “Like you’re some sort of case assignment?”
“Well . . . maybe?”
“So all this time, you thought I had it in my head that you, Luna Talbot from Crimble, with your sweet little sweaters and your aunties and your prayers, were some kind of dark sorceress I was investigating?”
She pressed her lips together, rolling her eyes to the distant, starry sky. “My earring . . .” she murmured at last.
“What about it?”
“You found it. Last night. At the warehouse.”
“Yeah?”
“So you know I was there. Doesn’t that make you . . . I don’t know. Suspicious?”
“Should I be?”
She blinked a few times, her brow knotted.
“Look, Luna,” he said, turning on the bench to face her again.
“I told you a long time ago that I’m good at reading people.
Right? I pegged you for the fresh little mountain daisy you are from the off.
I don’t know what you were doing down at the warehouse last night, but something tells me it probably had to do with that Mrs. Goddard’s idiot son and his tie-ups with the Brute Boys.
” He raised an eyebrow, looking at her closely. “Am I on the right track?”
“Um. Yes, actually.”
“So there you have it. I’m not undercover, I’m not conning you, and I don’t have any ulterior motive.” Ward shook his head, heaving a big sigh. “I just like you, Luna. Is that so hard to believe?”
She stared down at her hands, the awkwardness of the moment almost more than she could bear. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice choked. “I like you too, Ward. And I never meant to hurt you.”
Silence lingered between them for a count of heartbeats. Then he pressed gently, “So, I never got a clear answer to my question.”
“Which question?”
“Gods-damn it, Luna!” He rolled his eyes, sighing heavily. “The will you marry me question! What other question would I be talking about?”
“Oh, Ward! You don’t even love me.”
“Sure I do. Didn’t I say that? I’m pretty sure I just shouted it loud enough for half of Ballycastle to hear!”
Though it was the last thing she wanted to do, Luna forced herself to meet his eye. “But you don’t, Ward. You . . . you want to get in my knickers. And you think the only way to do that is by marrying me.”
“Yeah?” He raised both eyebrows. “What’s so wrong with that?
I knew from the start you were the marrying sort.
The type of girl my old mam always told me to bring home one day.
Maybe it’s time to settle down? Start a family?
” He slid a little closer to her on the bench, reaching for her hand, which she reluctantly allowed him to take.
“I’d be a good husband, Luna. I’d take care of you and I’d treat you right.
You can’t say I haven’t treated you well all this time. ”
“You’ve been . . . lovely,” she acknowledged.
Something in her voice must have communicated more than she meant to. She felt Ward’s fingers stiffen around hers, felt something like ice overlay his soul. “But let me guess,” he said coldly, “you’d rather waste your life fetching and carrying for old Nigel Grimm.”
Her chin jerked up. She turned to look at him, eyes blazing.
“Oh, don’t think I haven’t picked up a thing or two,” Ward continued bitterly. “Remember? I’m a wardsman. Attention to detail is the name of the game. I’ve seen the way you are with him. Ready to drop anything the minute he gives you the signal. If he asked, bet you wouldn’t hesitate to drop your—”
The slap cracked loudly. And hurt more than Luna expected.
She’d never slapped anyone before, only seen it done in flicks.
Somehow, some unconscious part of her imagination had believed it would only bestow pain, not send such a sharp stinging through her own palm.
She gasped at the shock of it, then gasped again realizing what she’d just done.
Clapping her smarting hand to her mouth, she swallowed back a little scream.
“Oh, Gracious Mother, I’m so sorry!” she squeaked through her fingers.
“Oh, Ward! I don’t know what came over me! Does it hurt very badly?”
Ward rubbed his reddened cheek, his expression rueful. “Nah, it’s all right. Not the first time I’ve been slapped by a dame at a party. Probably not the last either.”
Luna turned away. She dropped her trembling fingers from her mouth and clasped them tight in her lap. “You’ve got it all wrong,” she muttered at last. “About Mr. Grimm and me.”
She felt Ward’s look but hadn’t the courage to meet it. “Oh, have I?”
“He’s . . . a good boss, you know,” Luna persisted. “Very fair. Very honorable. Generous even. And always the perfect gentleman.”
“Yeah, spare me the list. I already know you’re in love with him.”
It was like a giant fist hit her between the shoulders, knocking all the wind from her body. Luna actually rocked under the blow. “What?” she whispered, a short expulsion of sound.
Ward chuckled without warmth. “Come on, Luna. What did I just say about attention to detail? I clocked that little tidbit as far back as Saint Jollify’s.”
“Saint . . . Saint Jollify’s?” she echoed stupidly.