Bailey broke the kiss at last, pulling her against him, his breath rather shaky close against her ear.
“I’d slay dragons for you,” he told her, sounding quite romantic and serious, which for some strange reason caused a giggle to escape her lips. And then they were both laughing. Laughing, and holding on to each other, and probably looking very silly to Maximillian Redgrave, who, because the gods weren’t always kind, had chosen that exact moment to make use of the lower garden as a shortcut back from the stables.
“Oops—forgot I wasn’t to come this—that is, oh, good. Made it up between you I see,” he said. “Kate’s a genius, almost as brilliant as our grandmother. Just don’t tell her, please. She’s smug enough as it is. Well, I’m off! See you both at dinner…or whenever.”
He’d just about passed them by when Bailey called out, “Wait a moment, Max. What did you mean? You weren’t supposed to come this way? Was that it? And Kate’s a genius?”
Max stopped, seemed to realize he’d soon be facing his sister’s wrath. He might be six years her senior, but Kate was a force to be reckoned with, and all her brothers knew it. “What? Oh, that. She said you two love each other and you’d figure that out and make it up between you. That’s all. Wagered me five pounds it would be today, as a matter of fact. I said not until tomorrow. Sorry for thinking you such a slow-top, Bailey. Now I’m off to clean up my dirt before dinner.”
By now Alana had not only managed to step clear of Bailey, who’d seemed to have forgotten he was holding on to her, but she was wondering why he was looking so…well, so guilty.
Or maybe she thought he looked guilty because she was feeling guilty?
Because she doubted either one of them believed Max’s story about a wager. Because he had not only looked guilty, but had sounded it as well. And then there was that business about being warned not to come back to the house via the lower garden.
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“Bailey?” Alana asked when her betrothed finally turned to look at her as if attempting to see into her head, discern what she was thinking. Which, by her quick reckoning, would be a disaster. “Is…is something wrong?”
“I don’t know. Alana, why were you here? In the lower garden, I mean. I’d been looking for you, to—well, in any case, when I couldn’t find you, Kate told me you were here.” He looked toward the gazebo as if it might provide some sort of answer, but then asked again, “Why were you here?”
She took refuge in a question of her own. “Why were you looking for me?”
“Why would you ask that? You weren’t hiding from me, were you?”
Oh, this wasn’t going well! If he was avoiding answering her, and she was avoiding answering him, they’d never get anywhere. Not that Alana was sure she wanted to go anywhere, not when she was beginning to think Lady Katherine Redgrave was behind whatever it was Bailey didn’t want to tell her as well as behind what she didn’t want to tell him.
But there was nothing else for it. One of them had to say something, and since she was the one who’d taken his hands and—well, she’d done what she’d done, hadn’t she? So it was up to her to answer Bailey’s question.
“I never should have asked you that horrible question,” she told him by way of preliminary…or trying to drag out the inevitable as long as possible. “I mean, it’s one thing for my inheritance to be…convenient for you. And it’s another thing for the fact that my parents had always hoped I’d marry into Society. But…but the important thing is that I love you. And you love me. Isn’t it?”
“No,” Bailey said after spending a few moments obviously trying to decipher what she’d said. “The important thing is that we know we love each other for ourselves, and not for fortune or social station. Because that really was your question, at the heart of it. Wasn’t it?”
“Yes! Yes, that was exactly it. And even though I should never have asked, never have questioned, once I had, it seemed imperative that I…that I show you how I feel about you. Be-before the wedding.”
“I see,” Bailey said rather stiffly. “And—” he put out his index fingers and rather twirled them in front of her breasts “—doing what you did was by way of being in aid of showing me? Let me hazard a guess here. It was Kate’s idea, wasn’t it? She set you on me, like a hound on the fox.”
She felt the heat of abject embarrassment rushing into her cheeks. “You don’t have to be crude, Bailey.”
“Yes, you’re right. That was uncalled for. If not a bit cold-blooded on your part,” he added, and then winced. “No, I didn’t mean that. We all make mistakes. Not that what you did was a mistake,” he amended quickly. “Or me, either. Made a mistake, that is. Damn it all, Alana, I don’t know what I’m saying anymore.”
Now his cheeks were looking rather pink. “Bailey? Why were you looking for me? Max seemed to know to stay away from this area of the gardens, and yet Kate directed you here.”
“Yes,” he said slowly, as if speaking might have suddenly become painful. “About that…”
And then, as surely as the sun Bailey had compared her to rose in the east, everything became suddenly and horrifyingly clear. Alana’s hands flew to her own cheeks as the realization hit her. She looked toward the gazebo, and then back at Bailey, who now was looking rather strangled. “Kate! Oh, my God! You came here to seduce me! Didn’t you? On…on orders from Kate!”
“It wasn’t so much an order as a suggestion.” Bailey took her hands in his, which wasn’t an easy feat, because she didn’t want him to hold her hands, didn’t want him to look at her the way he was looking at her. She wanted to be angry. She certainly was embarrassed—horribly so. “And I have to admit that, at least until Max showed up, a fairly good one.”
As it was time—past time—to be honest, Alana nodded her agreement. “We were being stupid, weren’t we? I mean, I know I was. Allowing Sylvia Wise to put doubts in my mind the way she did. I should have trusted you more…trusted myself more.” She looked up into his wonderful face. “I do love you, Bailey. Very much. And I trust you. I’ll never doubt you again.”
He took her in his arms again, and they kissed, sealing their love, committing to each other wholly and completely, and Alana was once more at home, safe and protected in Bailey’s arms, which was, after all, where she wanted to spend the rest of her life. She was willing, more than willing—even eager—to put the past few days behind them and get on with their lives.
And that should have been the end of it. They would marry on Sunday and live happily ever after.
But of course that couldn’t be the end of it. Not when dealing with the Redgraves.
Bailey broke the kiss and put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her slightly away from him. “Alana? Has it occurred to you that—the fact that her plan worked out so wonderfully well for the two of us to one side—at this very moment, Kate is sitting in the drawing room, licking cream off her whiskers?”