Raph’s tense body loosened, and his head tilted at the exact same time as Maggie’s. “Pardon?” they said as one.
“This I must hear,” Tobias said.
“If you must know, I was hoping something like this would happen.” Maggie’s mama raised her chin in the air and sighed. “Putting a damsel out in the growing cold can only incite the most tender of impulses in any man.”
Maggie groaned. The entire thing had been a setup. She’d suspected it, but the knowledge still somehow surprised her.
Maggie’s mother brushed her skirts. “At the very least, someone else would see and desire her beauty, posed up there all day as she was.” She flashed a glance at Raph. “I’m not as unaware of our circumstances as you think. If Maggie can make an … advantageous match, we will all be better off.”
Raph tried to speak, but his words turned into inarticulate grunts. His hands curled and uncurled at his sides, and his face burned red. Maggie felt as he looked. How to put together the pieces of her mother’s speech? Her mother knew they were in need of funds. She did not live, as Maggie had believed, in a dreamy land where practical things like paying the servants mattered not. But her answer to the problem—to put Maggie up for auction without her knowledge … how could she?
Tobias laughed and all heads swung toward the ground. He stood up and dusted off his pants. “You risked your daughter’s health on the off chance I had at least one courtly bone in my entire body and would ride to her rescue? And if that didn’t happen, you assumed one of the few men with deep pockets assembled here today would fall in love by watching her shiver all afternoon? You do realize that the ones who can draw are not often the ones who can afford to buy a marquess’s daughter, don’t you?” He laughed some more, shaking his head. “I do love a farce.” He walked past Maggie’s enraged brother and sputtering mother and took Maggie’s hand. “I believe we were off before all of this began?”
Raph yanked him away from Maggie. “I think not.”
“Oh, Raph,” their mama moaned, “do leave them alone.”
Discomfort weighed heavy on Maggie’s shoulders. Not only was this a farce, playing out with her at the ridiculous center, but they had an audience. Across the garden, every eye that had been partially on her and partially on whatever task they had been executing were now fully on her and family. And Tobias. Paintbrushes forgotten, sketchbooks abandoned. Why work when a theatrical unfolded before them? “I think I win,” Maggie said, slipping softly between Tobias and Raph, who stared at one another as if a mere gaze could kill.
Her mother’s eyelids fluttered in confusion. “Win what, darling?”
“The yearly contest. It’s quite clear my little drama is the most scintillating thing to come from my hours on the pedestal. So, instead of pride, I demand the prize of privacy.” She needed to speak with Tobias. Things had changed. One compromising event was more than enough, yet with her unique upbringing she could ignore it if she liked, or pretend to. But two such events were inescapable. One made a mistake, two made a marriage. And, just like the first time, this second ruination was her fault. She owed Tobias. She needed to savehishonor.
She should not have kissed him.
But she could not stop herself.
Tobias’s words to her on the pedestal had shifted something inside her, shown her something she’d not thought possible. Someone liked her for herself. Not because she was the marquess’s daughter. Not because she was an artistic inspiration. But because she jumped about and guffawed. She’dwantedto compromise him. She’d wanted him to have to marry her. She’d wantedhim, poor or not. Her kiss had been purposeful, a declaration.
She stood tall and committed to that declaration. “I must speak with Tobias. Alone.”
Her mother beamed and clapped her hands. “Of course!”
Raph glared at her, his stare cornering her, even in the open garden. “I don’t think it wise. If he’ll kiss her in front of everyone, think of what he’ll have no compunction getting up to in private.”
Interesting thought, that. But they had no time for intrigue. Now that their futures were tied together, she needed a new plan. Her situation likely stood worse than ever. She came from a destitute family and was now promised to a destitute man.
Tobias’s strong hand stole into hers and he winked. “I do not know much about such situations, true, but I believe it is customary for the affianced coupled to have some time to themselves to, ahem, discuss matters.”
“Ha! Discuss.” Raph wagged his finger at Tobias. “That’s the problem.Thatis the danger.Discussion.”
Tobias’s eyes grew wide, and he lifted a fluttering hand to his chest with a slight frown. “Perhaps I’m going about discussions all wrong. In my experience, it’s nothing more than using the mouth and lips to—”
“Enough,” Raph growled.
“Your brother is a very bear, Mags,” Tobias drawled.
She’d had enough. Tightening her hold on Tobias’s hand she pulled him toward the house. “I will have my private conversation with or without your approval, Raph.”
Her brother crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at them.
Maggie’s mother waved as Maggie drew Tobias across the lawn. “Bye, my dears. Your father will expect Mr. Blake in his study in half an hour. Half an hour only. Until then”—she paused and Maggie turned to see a sly smile spreading across her mother’s face—“you mayconversehowever you please.”
“Gah.” Maggie marched faster.
“I rather like your mother. She’ll be a good sort to have as a mother-in-law. One likes to be amused at family gatherings. Some things I can do without, though.” His grip on her hand tightened. “I’d like to see her treat her daughter better. She won’t try to sell off the grandchildren, will she?”
Maggie pulled him inside a small parlor where her mother sculpted in the mornings. Small, crudely hewn nude statues dotted the shelves and tables.
