A Lily Among Thorns(121)

“Now you’re just fishing for compliments,” he said.

“I am not,” she said indignantly, and he stopped trying to hide his smile. He pulled her to him, turning her so her back was to his front, and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you because you understand me,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you because you never give up. I love you because we both hate that Jack Ashton doesn’t pay his bills on time, and because there is no dye that can match the color of your eyes.” He nipped her ear. “Besides, have you ever looked in a mirror?”

She hit him, laughing, and then they were tussling and swatting at each other, giggling and dizzy and light-headed. They fetched up against an apple tree, shaking water down on themselves, and a small red-and-gold apple fell from the tree past Solomon’s shoulder. Solomon reached out and caught it with unwonted grace.

“‘As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons,’” she quoted, as he dried the fruit on his sleeve. “And what am I? A Thorn among the lilies.”

He stilled in his polishing, and met her gaze. “‘Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee,’” he promised softly, “no spot save this”—he brushed a thumb over the birthmark on her brow, and she shivered—“and this”—he made a small circle with his finger on her chemisette, over where the second birthmark lay, and desire unfurled inside her like a flowering tree—“and this—”

“Solomon!” she snapped in a small, pleased tone, and his eyes gleamed.

“I wouldn’t trade one of those spots for all the muslin in India,” he told her. “And is there any difference, really, between a thorn among lilies and a lily among thorns?”

But Serena did not give this philosophical speculation the attention it deserved, because Solomon held out the apple in his scarred hand and the world ground to a halt. Slowly, she reached out and took it. Slowly she brought it to her lips, and just as her teeth broke the skin with a crunch, he said, “Marry me.”

Serena choked and spat out apple onto the ground. She stared at him in stunned disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

He laughed. “So you’re willing to accept my pledges of undying devotion, but you can’t believe that I want to marry you?”

“But—but—” she sputtered, “have you run mad? You don’t marry a woman like me. You can’t. It just—it isn’t done.”

“Funny, I never thought that would be your objection. Not quite as unconventional as you like to appear, are you, my straitlaced sweetheart?”

There was a challenge in his eyes, and something in Serena rose joyfully to meet it. After all, she had never refused a dare in her life. “All right,” she said, and found to her surprise that it was easy. She took another bite of apple. It was sweet and tart and tasted like happiness. “Let’s get married.”

He beamed. “If my father starts reading the banns next Sunday, we can be married in a month.”

There was a problem with that, but Serena wanted to let him smile a little while longer. “Will your father mind?” she asked instead.

“Are you joking? This is exactly what he wants. It’s us living in sin that he’d hate.”

Serena blinked. Then she gave up; nothing made sense when Hathaways were involved. And she couldn’t put off reminding him any longer. “It may not be for some time, though,” she cautioned.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m still legally married to René.”

He caught her hands. “Poor Serena. This isn’t the best month of your life, is it? And here I am asking you to give me more—”

And now it was her turn to reach up and gently place a hand over his mouth. He bit her palm lightly, and she felt a lazy warmth settle in her belly. “It is the best month of my life,” she told him. “And if René’s papers don’t get me an annulment, we can save up for a divorce, and perhaps in five or ten years—” It still seemed unreal, to think in five or ten years, and to believe that Solomon would be there.

Unexpectedly, he grinned behind her hand. “You’ll get an annulment. Just leave it to me.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Suffering delusions of grandeur?”

“Don’t you trust me?” he asked with a teasing grin.

And the funny thing was, she did. He wouldn’t say it if he didn’t know it was true. “With my life.”