The Lady Always Wins(18)

“That woman,” Simon agreed happily.

One of the many men who was nearby offered her a hand as she descended the scaffolding. No; not just one; four of them held out hands, practically falling over themselves to help her.

“Was that your idea or hers?” Fortas demanded.

Simon looked up. “The champagne was my idea. The rest of this was hers.”

“She’s a holy terror.”

This, Simon suspected, was as close to a compliment as Fortas would ever deliver.

“I know,” Simon said.

She had clambered down to the ground. He couldn’t see anything of her in the milling crowd—nothing except the bobbing silk flowers that adorned her bonnet. But he could mark her passage: The crowd grew dense around her, and people turned to look at her.

He almost felt sorry for the other men—thinking that Ginny was nothing more than a sweet, kind, lovely, wealthy woman. They didn’t know her strength. They didn’t know her stubbornness. And they certainly didn’t know how dangerous it could be when she smiled. By some obscene miracle, Simon had been given the power to make her smile.

He was never going to take it for granted again.

“She’s having you on,” Fortas grumbled. “It’s been weeks, now. How long are you going to have to court her?”

Finally, he caught a glimpse of her. Ten yards distant, but still surrounded by others.

“If I’m lucky,” Simon said, “the rest of my life. Now, if you’ll excuse me?”

GINNY COULD TELL the instant that Simon joined the ring of admirers that surrounded her. He didn’t glower at the other men. He didn’t threaten them. He even greeted two of them by name and exchanged pleasantries. Nothing that he did signaled to the other men that he was in possession of her heart.

It was what she did. She could feel herself turn toward him like a lily seeking the sun, opening up in a broad smile.

He stood a few yards away, adjusting his cuffs. As he did so, the little diamond-eyed beetles winked at her, as if the sun were reflecting a secret between just the two of them.

“Well, Mr. Davenant,” Ginny said bravely. “You look tired. Never say the ceremony has worn you out.”

“Not the ceremony. I was up last night watching for a meteor shower.”

“There were meteors showering last night?” She unfolded her fan and waved it languidly across her face. “I heard of no such thing, and I read the astronomical section of the newspaper with regularity.”

The corner of his lip twitched. “You’ll notice I didn’t say I saw any meteors. I was given false information.”

And what deliciously false information it had been. Come watch the meteor showers with me, her note had said. He’d helped her clamber out of her hotel window, much the way he’d helped her escape her bedroom when they were younger. They’d laughed and he’d taken her up a hill, spread out a blanket for her, and they’d lain next to each other, joined only by their fingertips.

There had been no meteors. They’d not even seen a single shooting star. But he’d held her hand and told her jokes. As they lay in the warm night, she’d breathed out the last of her bitterness. They’d made mistakes. They’d hurt one another. But he was still the man she wanted to hold her hand in the dark of night.

“Entrapped by false reports of incoming asteroids,” Ginny said demurely. “How awful. I hope you hold the fellow who misled you accountable.”

He shrugged. “I hope I do, too. Now, would you be willing to come on a walk with me?” He held out his arm to her.

Only her fingertips touched his elbow. But there was no only to it. He was so warm; he drew her eye. He smiled. She smiled. The whole world could see them smiling at each other.

Well. Ginny curled her fingers into the crook of his arm. If the whole world could see them smiling, it could watch them leave together.

He waited until they’d left the crowd behind, until the cobblestone streets of Chapton had given way to a dusty tree-lined track, before he spoke.

“I’ve sold three of my railway lines,” he said.

“No! But why?”

He shrugged. “They’ve been a fabulous investment. They made me my money back one hundred to one. But anything that fabulous is inherently risky. I started thinking, what would happen if Parliament changed its mind about railways? What would happen if it were discovered that the steam engine had a fatal flaw? What if someone invents some way to transport goods more economically by…by, I don’t know, hot air balloons. All my money would be in trains. And then it would be gone.” He glanced at her. “I procured the buyers over the last few weeks. I put almost half of the proceeds into a tinned-goods manufacturer, and another half into the five percents.”

“The five percents.” She stopped and looked at him. “Why on earth did you do that?”

“Because I wanted you to know.” He set his finger under her chin and slowly, slowly tilted her face up. “When you marry me, I want you to know that your future is secure. Always. It’s what I should have offered you from the start: that if you give your heart into my keeping, I will never let you down.”

Ginny swallowed and leaned into the palm of his hand. It wasn’t just her cheek that he warmed; it was all of her, from head to toe. “We’ve both made mistakes.”