Married to the Marquess (33 page)

Kate laughed and patted his chest. “I’m sure you are of much use, but if they can spare you, then I will gladly take you.”

“Really?”

She rolled her eyes at his suggestive tone and shoved at his chest. “Idiot. Go change, I can hardly picnic with a man dressed and smelling as you do at the moment.”

He looked appropriately hurt. “But Kate, I thought it a rather nice testament to my manliness to look so active and laborious.”

“That it is, I’m sure, but Hyde Park might not think so.”

His brows raised just a touch. “Hyde Park? We’re to picnic publicly?”

Now it was her turn to grin. “Not quite. I know a spot…”

He laughed out loud, throwing his head back just a bit. “Of course you do. I’ll be back down momentarily, and then we can be off.”

Her smile softened as he turned from the room, then it grew once more as he took the stairs three at a time up to the bedchamber. Life with Derek was never dull, she had to admit. Even when she hadn’t liked him, she had known that.

She much preferred liking him.

After enjoying the lovely meal that Hallstead had packed for them, Derek opted to lay down in the grass for a short nap to “recover his strength” so that he might go back to work when the returned. Kate suspected he was merely delaying their return to avoid the labor that awaited him. She didn’t mind. She was rather enjoying sitting against her tree, letting the warmth of the sunshine dance through the leaves across her face, feeling the cool breeze tickle her cheeks and sending her hair swaying against the back of her neck. They had managed to reach her secluded spot without much difficulty, though they did have to greet Lady Greversham with tight smiles and bald faced lies in wishing her well. But even the crotchety Lady Greversham could not spoil Kate’s day.

She glanced over at her supposedly dozing husband, who lay stretched out with one arm across his face and the other on his chest. She had mentally smirked when he had skirted the pond where the geese gathered, remembering Diana’s remarks on the subject. He had pretended to be avoiding uneven ground for Kate’s sake, which she had thanked him appropriately for, though she hid a laugh.

What a puzzling creature he was. A maddening, confusing, delightful puzzle all wrapped up in the form of a ridiculously handsome man. And he was already hers.

It shouldn’t be this easy.

She released a sigh and looked up at the sky, where just a few clouds dotted the bright blue color, and she started doing something she had not done since she was a very young girl; she looked for shapes in those clouds, smiling when she found one.

“What has got you so silent, Kate?” Derek asked from his position, his eyes still closed.

“Oh, I’m just looking at shapes in the clouds.”

He grinned, but didn’t move. “Such a tricky thing, cloud shape identifying. What have you found so far?”

“A rabbit, a butterfly, a flower, and a crème
brûlée
.”

His brows quirked. “Crème
brûlée
? After those delicious tarts we had just now, you are thinking of crème
brûlée
?”

“It appeared in the clouds,” she protested with a laugh. “I can’t help it if my mind jumped to that first.”

“No, I supposed not,” he sighed. “Crème
brûlée
does tend to thrust itself wherever it wishes to go. Have you ever noticed the different colors that make up clouds?”

“The what?”

He shrugged. “Think about it. Look above you. No cloud is simply white or gray or black. Some are purple in places, some have no less than five shades of a single color, others have at least three different colors in the same cloud, and some are so thin they could be a veil. Even on cloudy days, the sky is a mass of colors.”

Kate had never considered such a thing, but as she took his advice and examined her cloud shapes more closely, she saw what he was talking about. And oddly enough, she found herself wishing for yet another cloudy day so that she could see the sky then with as much wonder as he did.

“You have made a study of the sky, haven’t you?” she asked with a fond smile, looking over at him.

“It’s not just the night sky that captivates me.” He heaved a sigh and shifted just a bit in the grass. “The daytime sky is just as mystifying.”

That was not the only captivating and mystifying thing, she thought to herself as she watched him. She was herself entirely captivated and mystified by him. More and more she was finding herself wanting to be with him every moment, and not just the waking ones. What would it feel like to wake in his arms in the morning? Would he wake her with soft, feather kisses that tickled her skin? Or would she wake first and be able to watch him sleep in the morning light, waiting for him to wake?

Suddenly, the prospect of children with this man was not something she feared, but something she craved. She wanted to have sons and daughters who could play with their father and be themselves, whoever they were, and who would not be forced into a childhood of rules and regulations and lectures. She wanted to see Derek rocking their babies in his arms, reading to them in bed, teaching them about the clouds and the stars. She wanted to have children with Derek, not because it was their duty, not for the title, not for the continuation of their family bloodlines. She wanted to have them because she loved him.

Because she could not imagine her life with anyone else.

She thought her heart was going to burst within her, and she restrained herself from clasping a hand to her chest to prevent it. Such a rush of emotion was becoming shockingly frequent, and she didn’t know how she was going to contain it if they become regular.

There was only one question remaining in her mind; was Derek going to stay after the garden was completed? And by extension, despite what she had seen, what she had thought, could he actually love her in return?

The fear of his departure sent a chill through her. He was well within his rights to do as he chose, to leave whenever he wanted, and to go wherever he pleased, but he would be leaving behind a wife with a broken heart, and a pile of her broken dreams.

“You know, Kate, I’ve been thinking...” Derek started slowly, or was it reluctantly?

Her heart sunk to her toes. He
was
leaving. He was leaving the project of her garden into someone else’s hands, and he was leaving. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the words, praying that she would be able to retain some sense of composure.

“I was thinking that this has been rather fun, us being friends.”

“It has...” she replied carefully, uncertain as to his point.

He rolled to his side and propped his head onto his elbow, peering up at her. “Probably the best time I have had in a long time.”

She swallowed down a troublesome lump that had risen. “Thank you.”

“I don’t want it to end, Kate.” He paused. “I’m not leaving.”

Her heart, having returned to her chest, now stopped beating. “You’re not?” she gasped, feeling as though her mind was working backwards.

“No," he said, as he moved to put his head in her lap. “I’m going to stay and annoy you some more. It’s entirely too much fun, and you are far too easy to tease. I have a rather large project to finish, which no doubt makes me seem very pleasant and generous, but when we have done with that, you can be sure I will return to my former state of annoying, troublesome, utterly maddening husband that you so enjoyed before. I shall spend quite a long time driving you to distraction.”

She grinned, trying not to cry in relief, and started running her fingers through his hair. “I suppose I shall have to make do," she sighed rather dramatically.

“You don’t mind?" he asked, looking up at her, his expression suddenly serious.

She smiled down at him, entwined her fingers with his, then brought their hands up to kiss his. “I don’t mind,” she whispered happily.

He grinned broadly and reached up to stroke her cheek with his free hand. Then he cupped the back of her head and brought her down for a slow, gentle, lingering kiss. “Now, Kate, how dare you,” Derek scolded against her lips. “You have entirely distracted me from napping.”

She giggled and touched her nose to his as his thumb brushed her cheek again. “How terribly rude of me.”

“Indeed.” He dropped his hand and snuggled in more comfortably against her, closing his eyes. “Now stop being so alluring and let a poor man sleep.”

“Yes, Derek,” she replied dutifully, resuming running her fingers through his hair.

After a moment, his breathing deepened, and he sighed, “You’re still alluring, Kate.”

“Sorry,” she whispered with a smile.

“Don’t be. I love it.” And with that, he drifted off into sleep, leaving Kate very contentedly alone with the man she loved laying in her lap. She leaned her head back against the tree, and allowed herself a private, unheard sigh of satisfaction.

Derek was staying.

The future was looking bright indeed.

As they reentered their home, fingers entwined, they went by unspoken agreement to the drawing room, exchanging shy smiles and flirtatious glances.

Kate bit her lip and squeezed Derek’s hand. “I want to give you something.”

He gave her a wry grin. “I would be happy to let you.”

She rolled her eyes and sat down on the sofa. “I mean, I want to give you something special. You’ve given me so much lately.”

He toyed with her fingers a little. “Kate, I don’t expect anything from you.”

She raised a brow. “Nor did I expect anything from you. But I don’t know what to give you, Derek. You don’t need anything.”

He smiled down at her. “I don’t particularly think that you needed a whole new garden, Kate. It doesn’t matter. Besides, you don’t have to give me anything.”

“But I want to.”

He sighed. “Then you are just going to have to get very creative, Kate. But I warn you, it takes a great deal to surprise me.”

“That was what I was afraid of,” she grumbled, tugging her hand away.

He snickered and took a seat next to her. “Come on, it cannot be that bad. Surely you can think of something.”

“Well,” she said slowly, “I have thought of something for you… a rather small thing, really… but it is not ready yet.”

“Ah ha!” he cried, rubbing his hands together. “I knew you were a clever girl. Do I get a hint?”

She considered for a moment how to reply, then said, “I have been working at it while you have been out.”

He frowned at her. “What sort of a hint is that? How am I to know what you have been doing when I’m out? I am
out
!”

She smirked rather proudly and tossed her hair a little. “Perhaps you ought to come home unexpectedly, then. You would be able to sneak up on me without my having the slightest knowledge of it.”

“Are you inviting me to surprise you, Kate?” he asked, looking suspicious. “I smell a trick.”

“No trick,” she laughed. “Surprise me all you like. I welcome the opportunity.”

Derek leaned back a little, his eyes unreadable, but his mouth curved in a warm smile.

Kate tried not to laugh, but really, it was delightful to toy with him. He would have no idea that the surprise would be far more on his side. Another day of work, perhaps, and it would be complete. She could not wait to play it for him and to reveal what she truly felt.