'But if you love each other, could he not settle down away from the tribe? I would have thought that with you he would have been content!'
'But I do not love him!' she replied angrily. 'I am fond of him, as I would be of a brother, but that is not enough! It would be unfair to him! I do not, though I ought!'
She turned away, unable to hide the tears in her eyes, and began to run along the path. Sir Edward, after the first startled moment, ran after her and caught her within a few strides. He grasped her arms, swinging her round to face him.
'But I thought, I have always thought, since I first saw you together, that you loved each other! Everything seemed to point to it! Was I wrong?'
'Yes! But what is it to you? Leave me alone, please,' she begged, trying to escape from his firm clasp on her arms.
'I will, if you answer me one more question,' he said firmly.
She closed her eyes, winking away the tears.
'I suppose I must! What is it?'
'Is there any hope for me?'
* * * *
Yasmin could not believe she had heard aright, and stared at him in blank astonishment.
'But you love Charlotte!' she said slowly at last.
'Charlotte? Good heavens, no! What gave you that idea?'
'I saw you kissing her today, and that time you carried her in after the accident on the lake, I thought you were going to kiss her then,' Yasmin explained, too bewildered to think of what she was saying.
Sir Edward laughed. 'You mean earlier today in the woods? You may have seen Charlotte, shameless hussy, kiss me! All I did was to inspect her eye and try to convince her she did not have an insect in it! As for that time on the lake, I have known Charlotte for too long to be taken in by her, and bent down to see whether she was shamming. She was,' he added, moving a step forward so that he was standing close to Yasmin, his arms in some unaccountable manner having slipped about her to hold her close to him.
'But I thought your fathers arranged it?' she said, staring up at him, disbelieving still what was happening was not a dream.
'The days of arranged marriages are past, and in any case my father is dead, whatever he may have wished for me. Answer me, Yasmin, my beloved one. Is there any hope whatsoever for me?'
He read the answer in her eyes, for he did not wait or give her an opportunity to speak. Instead he kissed her long and satisfyingly. When he lifted his lips from hers Yasmin was incapable of speech because she was trying to regain her breath.
'Will you marry me?' he asked, holding her tightly.
She had thought she was dreaming, but that shattered the dream.
'You cannot marry a gypsy,' she protested, struggling to extricate herself from his embrace.
'Half a gypsy,' he corrected her, laughing softly. 'My golden gypsy!'
'However much of a gypsy I am,' she replied crossly, 'you still cannot marry me!'
'Why not? Are you married already? Were you married in some Romany ceremony when you were a child?'
'No, of course not,' she said swiftly, and he laughed and kissed her again.
'Then why can I not be the one? Do you not love me?'
'It would not do. Sir Edward Curtis cannot marry a nameless half-gypsy!'
'Do you not love me?'
She did not answer, and he took her chin in his hand and tilted her face towards his so she had to look up into his eyes.
'I loved you from the moment I saw you,' he whispered. 'I thought, that first time we met, you felt the same towards me, I cannot believe you do not return my love, just a little.'
'But you were with Charlotte that day, and you scarcely looked at me!' Yasmin protested, still not daring to believe the miracle she had wished for had happened.
'I am rather tired of how Charlotte's name keeps intruding on this conversation, my love,' he remarked, and Yasmin giggled. 'In any case, Leon was with you then, and very swiftly made it obvious to me he had a proprietary interest in you. When the tribe returned, I came again to seek for you, but it appeared Leon claimed you and you looked content. When I found you in the woods after the accident, you were so frantic about him I had to accept you loved him, and I have been schooling myself ever since to try and forget you, but it is something I will never succeed in. I repeat, do you love me?'
'You cannot marry a gypsy,' was all she could fall back on. 'Your family, your friends, they would be horrified.'
'I shall marry whomsoever I will. In fact, a marriage with the niece of Lord Morris would be eminently respectable. An excellent match, the world will say!'
Yasmin had forgotten this unknown uncle. 'We cannot – I will not go to him and lay claims on him!' she said swiftly. 'He treated my mother abominably!'
'We will certainly not tell him he has a niece until we are safely married, for as far as I know he is your nearest relative, and might have some claims over you. Afterwards, I think he should be told how you frustrated Richard's plans, and he cannot help being proud of you.'
'Poor Leon,' Yasmin said suddenly, and Sir Edward nodded understandingly.
'Poor Leon indeed, not to have won you. You are right, though, my darling, in saying he would have regretted leaving the tribe if you could not love him. He will be able to go back to them, which I am sure is what he really wants, knowing he leaves you in good hands. It is sad for him, but best for him too in a way.'
After another lengthy kiss, he looked down at her with some amusement in his eyes.
'It grows late,' he remarked. 'How much longer must I wait for your answer? Have you forgotten the question? Will you, my precious, adorable Yasmin, say you will marry me?'
'Your mother,' she began desperately, but he silenced her effectively once again.
'She likes you and will be delighted I have found my true love,' he replied some time afterwards. 'She has begun to regard me as a hopeless case. And you know how fond of you Maria is. She will be thrilled in the time she can spare from her own joy! But if we are to announce it to them before dinner, dining so early as we do in the country, we ought to settle it soon. If you wish I will wait here all day, and all night too if necessary, but I would prefer to present you to our neighbours today! We can have a double betrothal party!'
'I cannot! It would not do, to spoil Maria's party!'
'She will not care a rap for that. And to do it so will prevent too many questions being put to you about your family that you may not wish to explain. By the time people have leisure to be curious, you will be established as my betrothed, and soon as my wife.'
'I have no dress,' she protested.
'Maria will gladly lend you one, if you think your golden one unsuitable. Personally, I favour that, and we will go to the cottage now to fetch it. Does it mean, my love, if you are thinking of what to wear, that you will, at last, my darling, consent?'
Yasmin had explored all the possible objections she could think of, and as he had so ruthlessly rejected them all, she felt free at last to smile shyly at him, incredulous at her happiness.
'Then, if you are sure it will do, yes, oh yes, Ned! I have loved you since the first moment I saw you, too! I cannot believe I am not dreaming!'
'It is no dream, my beloved golden gypsy,' he reassured her as he folded her in his arms again, and she finally relaxed and gave herself up to the complete happiness she had thought would never be hers.
Copyright © 1978 by Marina Oliver
Originally published by Robert Hale [UK] (ISBN 070916999X)
Electronically published in 2011 by Belgrave House/Regency Reads
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.