She blinked at the tears forming in her eyes.
“The more time I spent with you, the more I dreaded saying goodbye. I am in better straits than I was when our paths first crossed, but I still don’t have much, and I won’t for years to come.”
“You have a garden,” she said.
“I have a garden,” he whispered. “A garden that will forevermore be yours.”
“As much as I love this spot, it is not the thing I love most about Sarvol House.”
“It will be years yet before this home will be free of the constraints of retrenchment. Could you be happy here, Gillian, without some of the comforts of life? Living in a home with boarded windows and few visitors?”
“I could be happy in a hovel if we were there together.”
He smiled. “I believe I can offer something better than a hovel.”
“A hovelwith a garden?”
“Precisely.” His light laugh drifted away. “The thought of you leaving here makes me heartsick, Gillian.”
“I don’t want to leave either.”
Scott set his hand lightly on her cheek. “Will you marry me? Will you marry me and stay here and build a life with me, even if that life is quiet and simple and the house we live in is boarded and empty?”
A life with him. How very different it would be from the life she’d known. From being so alone to being surrounded by friends and family. From being laughed to scorn by the cads of Society to finding in Scott a gentleman who loved fully and deeply, who saw worth and value in her, who comforted her in her sorrows and brought her such joy.
“Oh, Scott. I was hoping you would ask me and that you wouldn’t wait until Thimbleby and the Sarvol estate were thriving. I just want to be with you. Together.”
He slid his arms around her. “I suspect we are going to be rather ridiculously happy.”
“That is my plan.”
He kissed her quickly. “I love you, Gillian.”
She set her hands on either side of his face. “And I love you.”
Scott raised an eyebrow, his gaze turning decidedly warm. “Do you love me more than you love trees and flowers and beautiful natural vistas?”
She mimicked his quickly offered kiss. “I love you more thanyoulove writing letters.”
“Then we truly will be ridiculously happy.” He held her tightly to him, his embrace at once comforting and heart-pounding and filled with lavender and citrus.
Her darling Scott. Her home. Her heart.
Chapter Thirty-seven
London, early spring 1819
Marriage was all Scott haddreamed it would be. Gillian’s presence had made Sarvol House a home and his life a joy. She had begun the work of restoring the gardens. Someday, when they’d money enough, she could undertake the effort in earnest.
As a wedding present, Mrs. Brownlow had arranged for them to journey to London to spend a small portion of the Season there. They were staying at Mrs. Brownlow’s London house with her. And that night, they would be attending their first Society event.
Scott descended the stairs to discover Gillian checking her appearance in the gilded mirror hanging in the entryway. She wore a dress in a shade of purple he didn’t have a name for but liked very much. It had, as it had been explained to him, been designed specifically for her by Miss Martinette, a modiste who was taking London by storm. Artemis, he felt certain, had arranged for that and must have paid for it as well since he had not received a bill for the gown. Gillian had gasped in delight when it had been delivered earlier that day. Seeing her wearing it, he could hardly keep himself from gasping as well.
He crossed to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her in a tender embrace.
She met his gaze in the mirror. “Lord and Lady Debenham’s ball is always a crush,” she warned him. “Which is why Artemis always insists the Huntresses attend. She calls it ‘strategic positioning.’”
“I call it a wonderful way to spend an evening with you.”