Page 61 of A Bachelor’s Lessons in Love

Edward studied her for a moment, before looking up at the night sky. “What is troubling you?”

She let out a short laugh. “Where shall I begin?”

He met her gaze and raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing. He simply waited.

What was there to do but speak? “I have spent my whole life in someone else’s home,” she said slowly. “My father’s, then my brother’s. Now I live in yours.” Felicity traced her fingers along the back of the garden bench, grounding herself. “I thought I was content,” she admitted softly. “I thought it did not matter.” She looked up, meeting his gaze. “But Daphne has asked me recently a question I thought I knew the answer to. She asked what I would do when she marries.”

Edward’s expression shifted, but the shadows and moonlight made it difficult to read when he stood so many feet away. “And what did you tell her, Captain?”

Felicity swallowed. “The same thing I have always told myself. That I will go away. Someplace quiet. Someplace small. I will live on gossip and tea, take long walks on a pebbled beach. Do nothing of consequence.”

The Colonel’s brow furrowed, and for a moment, he looked as though he wanted to say something. But he did not. Instead, he waited.

“I suppose it hardly matters,” she said, forcing a lighter tone. “I am far too stubborn for courtship. Too set in my ways for marriage.”

That was when Edward took a slow step toward her.

Felicity chuckled softly, ignoring his closer presence. “I am too old to be wanted, besides.”

Edward’s voice was low and even. “Three and thirty is hardly old, Miss Price.”

She shook her head as though that could alter her very age. “You are very kind.”

“I am not,” he said as though the matter were quite simple. “I am truthful.”

Felicity glanced away, watching the ground as his shadow grew nearer. “You do not know me as well as you think. There are so many reasons I will never marry.”

“Tell me. As many as you can list.”

Her gaze went to his again, and a disbelieving laugh left her lips. “Edward. Really?” He folded his arms and waited. “You are alarmingly patient this evening.”

“I am told it is a virtue.”

“I do not think it applies in situations like this, where you needle a woman to give you consequential answers about her life.”

“I am not needling. I have asked, quite politely, for you to list these reasons you speak of. Come along, Felicity. Tell me all the reasons you will never marry.” He stood so close now. Close enough for her to see the gleam in his eye.

Was it a challenge?

“Very well.” Felicity began listing her faults, one by one, ticking them off on her fingers. “I am sharp-tongued⁠—”

“You are intelligent,” Edward countered, startling her with the interruption. “I find it preferable to insipid conversation.”

She rolled her eyes. “I argue too much.”

“You argue when it matters.”

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. He was doing this on purpose. “I do not bend easily.”

“You shouldn’t have to. And neither do I.”

“I am quite set on getting my way.”

“When you are in the right, I fail to see the problem with that.” He leaned a little closer. “Go on. I can do this all night.”

Felicity’s breath caught, her heart thudding painfully against her ribs as she stared up at him. His gaze was unwavering, steady, and open enough that she read something startling within them.

Edward cared for her.