“Thatis what I am trying to say,” he urged, resuming his approach. “I do not just want to see you in passing. I want to bewithyou, always.Thatis why I want you to stay!”
Phoebe hesitated. “You no longer fear this curse you spoke of?”
“I fear it, but I am not afraid of living anymore,” he replied, relieved. “I do not want to waste what life I might have left, whether it is two years or twenty or one hundred. So, my dearest Phoebe, might you do me the greatest honor of—”
“Stop right there!” she insisted, closing the gap between them. Her hand came up, closing over his mouth. “Do not say another word.”
He frowned at her, mumbling a muffled, “You do not feel the same?” against her palm.
“It is not about how I feel now, but how Ihavefelt,” she replied, gazing into his eyes. “I have not yet forgiven you for making me endure so much torment and guilt, alongside the heartbreak you have caused me. There are injuries on my heart that have not healed yet, and cannot be healed in a single moment.”
His heart dropped. “Might you take your hand off my mouth?”
“Only if you promise not to continue with what you were about to say.”
He gave a small nod. “I promise.”
Hesitantly, she withdrew her hand.
“Does this mean you wish me to leave and never return?” he asked, realizing what a prize idiot he had been.
Just because he was aware of all of the difficult contemplation he had done, and the maelstrom of conflict and guilt thathehad gone through, it did not mean she knew what it had taken for him to reach that point. After all, she could not see into his mind. If she could, this might have been simpler.
“If you had told me of this ‘curse’ sooner,” she said haltingly, “I would have understood. I would have told you that you were being very silly, of course, to reject everything life has to offer out of fear. But I would have understood, and I would have asked you to givemethe choice to decide if I could bear any sorrow that might come. You might have preferred the outcome.”
He nodded slowly. “I have made many mistakes, Phoebe, but I will do whatever I can, whatever I must, to prove myself to you.” He paused. “Of course, if youdowant me to leave and never repeat what I had hoped to say today, I shall understand. I have been… exceedingly foolish, and I must accept the consequences of that.”
“You are giving up so soon?” There was a hint of teasing in her voice, blowing breath onto the dwindling fire of hope in his heart.
He reached for her hands, bringing them to his lips to kiss them. “Not at all, but you are bewildering, Phoebe—I do not want to become an annoyance to you.”
“It is much too late for that,” she replied, a half-smile on her lips.
“What I mean is, I want to do whatever it is that you want me to do, even if that means… being turned away for good,” he tried to explain. “It sounded as if that is what you wanted.”
Phoebe tutted quietly. “Making assumptions yet again. First, you must cease that, for it will only get you into further trouble.” She tilted her head to the side. “As for what you can do to win my favor and my forgiveness, I think I have the perfect task.”
“Name it,” Daniel urged, kissing her hands again.
She wore no gloves, and though he knew he should resist, he could not help pressing his lips to her soft skin. As he did, he prayed for a day when she might kiss him again, as she had done in the cedar tree what felt like an eternity ago.
Phoebe smiled. “You might regret saying that.”
“Never,” he insisted. “But… I must know, before you make your request, are my feelings for you reciprocated?”
A sadness gleamed in her dusky blue eyes for a moment as she brought hishand to her lips and kissed it gently. “We shall see,” she murmured. “I hope so.”
“That is enough for me,” he replied, his heart swelling with possibility. “Now, name this Herculean task, and I shall see it done.”
Phoebe kissed his hand again, whispering, “Well…”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
“Istill do not understand why you have not sprinted to the nearest church and married the poor fellow!” Joanna declared from the back of the carriage.
The three sisters were journeying toward Westyork Manor for the sixth time in as many weeks.
Phoebe chuckled. “Youdounderstand. If I must explain it to you again, I swear I shall open this carriage door, leap out, and wander across the fields and hills until I have regained my sanity.”
