Blackmoore(48)

“I do,” I whispered. “I like it very much.”

Now Henry’s smile broke free, and he rested his elbows on the wall and faced the ocean. “I have come here nearly every night of every visit, ever since I discovered the secret passageway when I was ten. When I was twelve I decided I wanted a comfortable place to sit and look at the stars.

So I lugged up buckets full of dirt every night. It took an entire month to get enough dirt up here to cover the floor. Then I begged some grass seed from the gardener, and I spread it the night before we were to leave. I had to wait an entire year to find out if the grass had grown.”

I bent down and ran my hand over the soft blades of grass. It was strange to think of twelve-year-old Henry planting something that I would see and feel all these years later.

“Have you ever brought anyone else here?” I asked, thinking of Sylvia and trying not to think of Miss St. Claire.

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Henry drew in a breath and leaned back against the wall, looking at me quietly for a moment. “No.” The word rested in the silence between us for a long moment, filling me with such gladness I could not keep myself from smiling. “I must confess something, Kate.”

He had my full attention. A confession from Henry was a rare and highly valuable thing.

“What?” I breathed, moving closer.

“I didn’t love Blackmoore when I was young. Not for years.”

I looked at him with surprise. “I don’t remember that.”

“No. I didn’t tell anyone. I was supposed to love this place, you know.

I was meant to inherit it. But it seemed so strange and so far away from what was home to me. I didn’t love it. Once I found the secret passageway, I used it to escape the house every night. But when you were so intrigued by the idea of Blackmoore. When I saw how much you wanted to come here, and how you peppered me with questions upon my return, I began to feel differently about it. I began to treasure it, because you did.” He moved closer, and I could see the faint smile in his grey eyes. “I always knew I would bring you here some day and tell you that. To thank you.”

I was so surprised I did not know how to respond but only stood there as something soft and sweet grew within me. Somebody appreci-ated me. Not just somebody—Henry. I smiled and whispered, “You’re welcome.”

“I thought this would be a good place for fulfilling our bargain,” he went on. “The three proposals. And what you will pay me.”

My smile slipped. I had momentarily forgotten about the question of payment.

“Yes, the payment. Have you decided what you want?”

“I have.”

He leaned down, resting his hand on the wall behind my back. I had to tilt my head back to look at him. My heart quickened with nervousness. “Your heart’s desire is to leave all of us and fly away to India. And my heart’s desire is to unravel the mystery of Kate Worthington.”

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J u l i a n n e D o n a l D s o n I laughed nervously, trying to find room to back away from him. But the stones at my back offered no escape, and I felt much too vulnerable so close to Henry in this dark night with the stars like jewels overhead and the dark rooks our only chaperones. “I am no mystery, Henry. How you exaggerate.”

He leaned down so that I could see the intent look in his eyes in the moonlight. And when he spoke, his voice was low and strong and unwav-ering. “Two years ago something happened to you. The Kitty I knew suddenly became Kate.” There was no trace of amusement in him. “The Kate who refused to dance with me. The Kate who declared to all the world that she would never marry. The Kate who gave her heart to her cat and no one else.” He paused, and I felt the weight of his words as if they were a confession. “I lost something then. And for two years I have wanted it back. Or at least to understand why I lost it.”

My thoughts were reeling, and I gripped the stones behind me as if the world was turning and they alone could keep from falling off the edge.

“So that is what I will trade you, Kate. Three proposals for three of your secrets. The answers to the mystery that you became two years ago.”

I could not believe he had just said those things. I could not believe he would ask this of me. We had gone so long without talking of these things—so long that I had been confident my secrets would remain mine forever. I tried to draw a steady breath, to process what he was saying, to wrap my mind around the idea of Henry in the moonlight.

But he was too close. I could do none of those things with him standing so close to me, leaning into me so that I felt his warmth. I could easily picture exactly where I would touch him, and how I would pull him to me, and I could count the breaths I would steal from him if I could kiss him.

My breath came quicker and quicker, and the tension between us became a palpable thing that quivered and stretched and made my skin burn with wanting. And finally, I could take it no more. I twisted out of the corner he had backed me into, ducking under his arm and slipping 144



away quickly. Then, several steps away from him, I turned back and said, “I will agree to your terms. Three secrets in exchange for three proposals.

So let’s have it. Say ‘Will you marry me?’ three times, and I will answer no three times, and then you may ask your questions, and we’ll be done.”

He shook his head. “No. Not in a hurry. Not to get it done. I will give you one proposal a night.”