Heiress in Red Silk (Duke's Heiress #2) - Madeline Hunter Page 0,96
even harder in a small version.”
“I am aware of that. Which is why I first asked at watch and clock makers. I assume it is much the same sort of craft.”
They paced on in silence. “Similar,” he finally said.
“One clock maker gave me this address and said this man might be willing to try it.” She waved her paper in front of his face. “I don’t need something like that swan. Just a woman who puts on a hat. Simple. Arm up, hat on, arm down. Although even the mechanical man in a smaller size would be a fine toy. If he was small, it would not matter if he rammed into things.”
More silence. Then—“Even simple, they would be too costly for parents to buy for children.”
“My sort, for certain. But not your sort. Your sort indulges their children. Which is why some of your sort have no manners.”
Having spied the sign she wanted, she broke away and strode across the street. He caught up at once. “I will accompany you.”
“No. Don’t you dare.”
“Then I’ll wait outside.”
“I can’t stop you. Do as you wish.” She turned the latch and entered the building.
A half hour later she stepped back onto the street. Kevin pushed away from the wall. “It must have gone well. At least you are smiling.”
“No thanks to you.” She was very pleased with herself, so she could not scold much longer than that. “He will do it. I sketched out enough of the woman for him to have an idea. The notion of making it charmed him. He mostly makes clock parts for others to use, so using them himself for this other purpose intrigued him.”
“Then you saw success. Come, I’ll walk you to your hackney. You should not be alone on this street. Promise you will not venture here again unprotected.”
She allowed him to walk with her.
“My apologies,” he said. “Can you forget our argument?”
“I’m not sure that I can. With no cause, you assumed betrayal on my part. If you don’t trust me, there is really no purpose in our having anything more than a business partnership.”
“I will admit that I behaved badly. I made assumptions when I should have first learned your intentions. I do trust you, Rosamund. I don’t think I would have been like that if I didn’t.”
She stopped and looked up at him. “I know how important this is to you. I understand that. I may not always agree with you, but I would never do anything to endanger your plans. It was hurtful of you to say I would.”
He looked very contrite now, as well he should. “I know that.”
“If you really do, then I can forgive you.”
He smiled. “Since I am so inexcusable as to have a row on the street, I think I can be inexcusable enough to kiss you on the street.”
He leaned in to do so. She turned her head. “Not here. Not now. Tonight, maybe, if you promise to be very nice to me.”
* * *
Bursts of light filled the sky with thousands of tiny flames. Again and again the booms crackled as the fireworks shot up.
Rosamund had asked to go to Vauxhall Gardens two nights after their row, and Kevin had agreed.
“I’ve been before,” she had said. “But I want to do it up right.”
They had sat in one of the pavilions and eaten the proprietor’s ham, and later strolled the gardens while music played. Now, as the night deepened, she knew it was time to tell him the truth.
She had said she would decide about a marriage today. Yet here they were, on that day, and she had avoided the subject because another one needed to be discussed first. She did not think she would need to make a decision about marriage after that.
The booms stopped. Only stars now lit the sky. The onlookers dispersed, to return to other pleasures and entertainment.
“Let us walk on the secluded paths,” she said, turning toward the wooded copse at the western end of the gardens. “I never have before. Everyone warned it was not safe for a woman alone.”
“More misunderstood than not safe.”
“Misunderstandings can be the worst kind of danger.” She examined the passersby. “It was busier when I came in the past. More of your sort too.”
“The pleasure gardens have become less fashionable. Also, there was a big ball tonight. The kind that all the ladies would insist on attending.”
“Yet you are not there. Were you invited, or had you offended the hostess?”