The Perils of Pleasure (37 page)

“Good day to you, Horace. It’s lovely to see you. Out for a walk on the docks?”

“Me ’n’ Snap, aye, that we are. Fine morning fer a walk. Yer off to America, then, Mrs. Greenway?”

“I’m—”

Her hand froze on Snap’s head.

And all at once the heaviness in her chest cracked open and a realization sent a wash of goosefl esh up her arms. The dock and Horace Peele swam before her eyes, because tears were pouring from them. But she was smiling, too, which, judging from Horace’s expres
sion, disconcerted the devil out of him.

It was . . . Snap. She’d been terrified of him when he first hurtled toward her at Mutton Cottage. And just like that, love had hurtled toward her, and she’d been relieved to escape it, because it terrified her. But there was nothing to fear, and she
couldn’t
escape it, really.

Because she carried it, and Colin, everywhere with her now.

An old fear had sent her away from Sussex. But it had no place in her life anymore. Love drove her to her feet now, and she only hoped it wasn’t too late.

“No, Horace. As it turns out, I’m going to Sussex.”

He hadn’t been sleeping—sleep had been fi tful for the five days he’d been home now—so Colin heard the first pebble strike his window. One little click.

He was so alert to everything now—he’d in fact been lying awake wondering if alertness was just one of the legacies of his days on the run—that he considered that it might have just been the sound of a large and unfor
tunate insect’s demise. But when the clicks continued to arrive at relatively even intervals, he decided it couldn’t possibly be insects or even rain.

And his heart leaped into his throat.

He was afraid to hope. Too nervous to pray. So he took action instead: he slid out of bed, parted the cur
tains, and looked down.

To see Madeleine looking up. Well, what he saw was actually nothing more than a pale blur in the dark against the tree, but he’d seen her in so many dark enclosed spaces, he would have known that pale blur anywhere.

He slid the window up and went back to sit on his bed. He’d told her about the tree. He thought he’d make her work a bit for this.

Less than a minute later he heard the sound of her shinnying up—leaves shimmying, the narrower branches jumping—and then she appeared on the open sill and, despite her skirts, gracefully, crisply, swung her legs over it to perch there.

“You were wrong,” she said.

“Was I?” he said softly, conversationally. His heart was flinging itself at the walls of his chest. He could
only
speak softly. “About what?”

She hovered on the sill, looped her arms around her knees. As if deciding whether to come in or not.

“I’m not the bravest person.”

“
Surely
this isn’t true.”

She snorted a little laugh, and then glanced down to gauge the height from the sill to the floor. Deciding it was safe to do it, she lowered herself a bit then jumped the rest of the way, landing easily. She came to sit down at the foot of his bed. Deliberately out of arm’s reach, he noticed, for now at least.

He waited for her to speak. She’d looped her arms around her knees again and was looking at the coun
terpane, rather than at him. Her face was made of light and shadows; her dress was dark. He
could
see she was frowning a little.

“You didn’t marry Louisa?” she finally asked softly.

It was more of a statement than a question, given that she was sitting on his bed, in the Eversea house, and Louisa wasn’t in it.

“Well, no. I’m going to marry you,” he said reasonably.

She was quiet.

“Very well, then,” she conceded.

He laughed at that. “Don’t be afraid, Mad.”

Her head snapped up. “I’m
not
—”

“You are. So am I, but that’s to be expected, as I’m the most dreadful coward.”

He said it because he knew she would leap indig
nantly to his defense. “You’re perhaps the bravest, most perfect man there is, Colin Eversea.”

Now this was funny, indeed, and he laughed again, and she made a frantic shushing sound.

“Perfect for
you
, perhaps. Kiss me, Mad.”

She obliged, leaning forward a little awkwardly, pressing her soft mouth lightly against his. Her lips were cool from the night air, but he’d warm her quickly enough.

He sighed, and pressed his cheek against hers to let his heat seep into her. Breathed her in.
Ah, Madeleine.

“What of Louisa?” she whispered against his cheek. Scooting her body a bit closer.

“Do you care?”

She leaned back then and shrugged, and looked somewhere off beyond his shoulder.

“Louisa was delighted to see me alive. She is mar
ried to Marcus. And I believe they will be very happy together, and nothing makes me happier than knowing this, unless it’s knowing I’ll spend the rest of my life with you.”

A silence as she took this in.

“Do you love her?” she asked, and it wasn’t a tenta
tive question.

“Yes.”

Madeleine began to pull back, but he wasn’t about to allow that. His arms looped her and he held her fast.

“I love her the way I love . . . memories of youth. Or the way I love my sisters Genevieve, or Olivia, or . . . Well, I wasn’t going to say, ‘No, I don’t love her, Mad,’ because it isn’t true, and I won’t ever lie to you. But don’t you see?
You
are my . . . very heart. You
are
love to me. I’m
in
love with you. I simply can’t live without you. I . . . well, for heaven’s sake, don’t make me keep talking like this. Like a romantic fool. Do you under
stand? Tell me you understand.”

She smiled her beautiful smile. “I understand.”

And he felt what surely must have been all the joy in the universe unfurling in his chest.

“Do you think you’ll like married life out here in the Sussex Downs, Madeleine? On a farm?”

“I don’t know,” she said honestly.

He smiled a little. “That will have to do, I suppose.”

“I shall try,” she added quickly.

“We shall never grow bored,” he promised her, just as quickly.

“No,” she agreed, not without some trepidation.

“Perhaps we’ll even grow staid in a decade or so.”

She took a long, deep breath and exhaled, gathering her courage. “It doesn’t matter what we grow, as long as I’m with you.”

She’d looked away when she said it. Following a hunch, Colin brushed the back of his hand against her cheeks and felt the heat of her blush. She’d said the words rather in a rush. Brave girl.

She looked up at him again, and he cradled her chin in his hand.

“Precisely,” he said steadily. And though he was nearly as terrified as she was, he would be brave for her from now on. He would protect her all his days, so that she was never afraid of anything again, and never alone again. She’d made a hero of him. He would be a hero for her every day for the rest of his life.

He was light-headed, dizzy with happiness at the idea of forever with Madeleine.

“I love you, Colin,” she said. “You’re my heart, too, you know.”

“Ah, very good,” he said contentedly. “And I know
an infinite number of ways to show you
how
much I

love you, if you’re curious.”

“Start now, please,” she ordered.

Far be it for him to disobey an order. He pulled her down into his arms and began to show her.

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