Page 96 of Appointment in Bath

Ivo had arrived at Camden Place just in time to accompany them on the journey to the Park. Once there, he’d wasted no time in drawing Meg away from the others.

Only then was Meg content. No, not content. She was happy. Gloriously, incandescently happy.

They were finally alone together in the bright uncomplicated light of day. Not meeting surreptitiously by the river. Not reduced to polite conversation in a crowded ballroom. There was just the two of them. Here in the open at last, Meg holding Ivo’s arm as they walked down the slope on the north side of the property.

“I’ve been here before,” Ivo said. He was dressed in a dashing blue coat, cord breeches, and polished top boots. The perfect image of a country gentleman, though he was wearing spectacles.

He’d been wearing them last night at the Assembly Rooms, too. Meg felt now as she did then, as if he’d come to her as his true self, with no artifice between them.

She flashed him a smiling glance. “Have you? Why didn’t you say so?”

“Because it was long time ago,” he replied. “I was young and with my friends. And I wasn’t escorting the prettiest girl in Bath.”

“Ivo—” she objected, cheeks warming at his flattery.

“In any case, there’s something I want to show you. We can talk there. At least, I’ll talk and you can listen. There are things I want to say that I couldn’t say last night. We had so little privacy in the Upper Rooms.”

Ivo had returned her to her father the moment the waltz had ended. They’d only danced one other time during the evening. Anything more would have been deemed improper. It was a galop. A lively dance for couples. But though it had been merry, leaving Meg laughing and giddy, it had afforded no opportunity for conversation.

“What do you wish to tell me?” Meg’s pulse was already racing in anticipation.

“Wait,” he said. “We’re nearly there.”

They’d already gone more than a quarter mile from the mansion. A short distance farther and Ivo at last caught sight of his intended destination.

“Ah. That’s it, just there,” he said. “Can you see it?”

Meg squinted into the distance.

Ahead of them, the cold February sunlight glinted on the surface of a lake. A stunning honey-colored bridge spanned the water. Built in the same style as the house, it was held up by rusticated stone piers and boasted a colonnade, in the style of a classical temple, surmounted by a stone entablature.

“The Palladian Bridge,” Ivo said. “It’s a copy of one in Wiltshire, built to resemble the Rialto in Venice. There aren’t many of them left in the world.”

Meg was enchanted. “Oh, but it’s beautiful!”

“I rather think so. Not as treacherous as Sefton Bridge admittedly, and no rumors of deals with the devil to contend with, but I like to think that we left the peril of our early days behind us. Our future is on surer footing.”

She smiled up at him. “Do you want to cross it together?”

“That’s exactly what I want. Are you up for it?” He offered her his hand.

She accepted it, clasping it firmly. “I’m ready when you are.”

Returning her smile, Ivo led her up the stone steps and over the water, passing through the colonnade. The water was still as glass beneath them. When they got to the center of the bridge, he stopped. His handsome face grew uncommonly serious.

Meg felt a flare of her old insecurity. It surely couldn’t be anything good if he was looking at her that way, so grave and formal, so suddenly unlike himself. Her mouth went dry. “You had something you wanted to say to m-me?”

“Only this.” Still holding her hand, Ivo gracefully dropped to one knee. “Will you marry me, Meg?”

Meg stared down at him. Her throat clogged with emotion.

“I love you,” he said, pressing her fingers. “I love you. I can think of no greater honor—no finer state—than to go through life with you at my side. To marry you, my darling, and to belong to you as thoroughly as you would belong to me. Please, please say you will.”

She nodded rapidly, tears spilling from her eyes. “Yes. I will. Yes, yes. With all my heart.”

He was back on his feet in an instant and, in the next moment, she was in his arms.

She clung to his neck. “I love you, Ivo.”