“
Cecily.” His gaze wandered from her unbound hair to her disheveled gown, to her fingers still laced with Luke’s. “I . . . I was just about to go searching for you.”
“There you are!” Portia called from behind him. “Come in, come in.” She lay swaddled in blankets on the divan, with her bandaged leg propped on a nearby ottoman. Brooke sat beside her, balancing a teacup in either hand.
Cecily turned to Denny. “I’m sorry to have worried you, but . . .” She squeezed Luke’s hand for courage. “You see, Luke and I—”
“I understand,” he replied. The serious expression on his face told her he did understand, completely. To his credit, he took it well. He turned to Luke. “When will you be married?”
“Married?” Portia exclaimed.
Cecily sighed. Just like Denny, to take his responsibilities as her third cousin twice removed— and only male relation in the vicinity— so seriously. But did he have to force the issue now? Certainly, she hoped that she and Luke might one day—
“As soon as possible.” Luke’s arm slid around her waist.
Cecily’s gaze snapped up to his. Are you certain? she asked him silently. He answered her with a quick kiss.
“Well, then. When can we be married?” Brooke directed his question to Portia.
“Married!” Blushing furiously, Portia made a dismissive gesture with both hands. “Why, I’m only just learning to enjoy being a widow. I don’t want to be married. I want to write scandalous novels and take dozens of lovers.”
Brooke raised an eyebrow. “Can that be negotiated to lover, singular?”
“That,” she said, giving him a coy smile, “would depend on your skill at negotiation.”
“What an evening you’ve had, Portia,” Cecily said. “A brush with death, a proposal of marriage, an indecent proposition . . . Surely you have sufficient inspiration for your gothic novel?”
“Too much inspiration!” Portia wailed, gesturing toward her bandaged foot. “I am done with gothics completely. No, I shall take a cue from my insipid wallpaper and write a bawdy little tale about a wanton dairymaid and her many lovers.”
“Lover, singular.” Brooke flopped on the divan and settled her feet in his lap.
“Oh,” she sighed, as he massaged her uninjured foot. “Oh, very well.”
Luke tugged on Cecily’s hand, drawing her toward the doorway. “Let’s make our escape.”
As they left, she heard Denny say in his usual jocular tone, “Do me a favor, Portia? Model your hero after me. Just once, I should like to get the girl.
”
”