“No,” Valeria said quietly. “It isn’t.”
“Do you miss your brother?”
“Sometimes,” she said. “Of course, I don’t miss being ordered around, or how terribly he treated me when I displeased him—and I did displease him often. But he was my only family for a long time. Even though I know that my life is better here—even though Aunt Alberta and Duncan treat me much better than he ever did—it’s hard to say goodbye to the past.”
Lord Woodsford nodded. “I completely understand that,” he said.
“You really do, don’t you?” She smiled. “I’m sorry. It’s so strange. I’m not glad that you’ve been through such terrible things at all. You didn’t deserve a bit of it. But it feels so wonderful to have someone who can understand me, at last, when I talk about these things!”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Lord Woodsford said fervently.
For a moment, the two of them just sat beaming at one another. Valeria felt a little silly, but at the same time, she was overcome with emotion—affection—and knew that she wasn’t the only one. He was feeling the same thing she was.
“I’m so happy I met you, Lord Woodsford,” she said quietly.
“As am I, Lady Valeria,” he assured her. “But I’ve thought well of you for years. I’ve told you that.”
“But you hardly knew me then,” she pointed out.
“Yes,” he agreed. “I’m happy to have had the opportunity to get to know you better. And even though I’m very sorry for the circumstances that have led you here, I admit that I’m very glad youarehere.”
“As am I,” Valeria said, and for the first time since leaving home, she meant it wholeheartedly.
He glanced at her, then looked away. She thought he seemed a bit nervous, somehow, and she wondered why. After all, they were certainly being more open with one another today than they ever had before. Valeria felt more relaxed with him than she would have believed possible.
“Lady Valeria,” he said.
“Yes?”
“I wonder if you might be willing to—well, to revisit the subject of courtship,” he said. “I certainly don’t mean to place any undue pressure on you. But now that we’ve discovered how much we have in common…”
“Oh,” she breathed.
Perhaps he mistook herohfor dejection, because he hastened to add, “We could take things as slowly as you liked. And we could always see each other in your cousin’s company, if that would make you more comfortable. I know that—having grown up with a family member who didn’t treat you well—you might be hesitant to allow someone new to get close to you.”
“I did feel hesitant about that,” she said. “But I’m beginning to think that if that someone was you… I don’t know. It might be different from what I thought it would be. It might be better than what I thought it would be.”
“Then you would consider it?” he asked.
“Have you spoken to Aunt Alberta?”
“No,” Lord Woodsford said.
“Well, you’ll have to speak to her,” Valeria said. “She will be the one to make the decision, not me.”
“I know that,” Lord Woodsford said. “But at the same time, I didn’t want to pursue this if it wasn’t something that would make you happy. If you were going to be uncomfortable, or if you didn’t want it, there was no point in my speaking to your aunt at all.”
“She could have instructed me to be courted by you, no matter how I felt about it,” Valeria pointed out. “She’s very interested in seeing me find a good match, you know. If a gentleman came calling, I don’t think it would bother her that I felt uncertain about it. She would do what she thought was best for me—and she thinks that a courtship is what’s best for me.”
“I realize that,” Lord Woodsford said. “But you must know, Lady Valeria, thatyouare the one who matters to me. I have no interest in courting you unless you are interested in me as well, whatever your aunt may think is best.”
She smiled. “I can tell you really mean that,” she said.
“I do.”
“That just makes me feel better about this offer you’re making,” she said.
“So then, you wouldn’t take offense if I spoke to your aunt?”
