enormous disadvantage during any family altercation. But if she had learned one tactic well it was that the best defense was frequently offense. And surprise.
"I suggest, then, Lord Rosthorn," she said crisply, "that we step out of this avenue, which according to your own admission is visible from every part of the picnic area, and into the forest itself. Or do you wish to be seen to kiss me-or to attempt to do so?"
He pursed his lips and his eyes danced with merriment. He made her a courtly bow and offered his arm.
"I wish to see the contrast between the night forest and the picnic area, of course," she told him as he turned them away from the avenue marked out by lanterns. "Between nature in its raw state and nature with man's interaction."
"Ah," he said, "so this is merely a nature walk, is it?"
"I may," she said with careful disdain, "allow you to kiss me before we return, Lord Rosthorn, or I may not. If I do, it will not be a stolen kiss but one that I grant-or withhold."
He threw back his head and laughed outright.
"You are not afraid that I will then steal a second and a third,chérie ?" he asked her.
"No." Already light and sound had receded sufficiently that she could focus upon the forest. She stopped walking and looked up. "I will not allow you to. I probably will not allow even one."
"Perhaps no one has mentioned my reputation to you," he said, stopping too and releasing her arm in order to lean back nonchalantly against a tree trunk. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Perhaps I am dangerous,chérie . Perhaps youshould be afraid of me."
"How foolishly you speak," she told him. "If you meant me any real harm, you would keep very quiet about your unsavory past and hope that I had not heard of it elsewhere." Though she had to admit to herself that standing as he was andwhere he was-in the dark forest with no one else close by except her-he really did look very dangerous indeed.
He chuckled.
"What is to be tonight's particular topic of nature study?" he asked her, his voice lazy and teasing.
Actually, it really was lovely to be away from the crowds and the worst of the noise. The night sky was still bright with starlight and scored with the high branches of the trees. She would punish him by pretending that there was no danger at all, that she had invited him out here simply for companionship.
"Have you ever considered," she asked him, "how fortunate we are to have been gifted with so many contrasts?" She turned around in a complete circle and then closed her eyes and breathed in deeply so that she would not ignore the smells.
"Male and female?" he said. "Near and far? Up and down?"
She turned her head to look at him with interest though of course she could no longer see him clearly at all. If she had asked that question of Rosamond or Captain Gordon or a dozen other of her acquaintances, she would have drawn nothing but blank stares.
"Light and shade, sound and silence, company and solitude," she said.
"Sacred and profane, large and small, war and peace," he added. "Beauty and ugliness."
"Oh, no," she protested. "There is no contrast there. Everything that is ugly to us is doubtless beautiful to someone or something else. The slimiest slug is probably beautiful to another slug. A storm, which brings rain and chill to someone intent upon a pleasure outing, is beautiful to a farmer who has been anxiously watching his parched crops."
"And what looks large or small to us will look quite different from the perspective of an elephant or an ant," he added. "Opposites are merely two sides of the same coin-one cannot exist without the other."
"Precisely." She stepped closer to him. "So contrasts are inextricably linked. They are only a way for us to process information, to understand, to appreciate. Past and future, for example. There are no such things really, are there? There is only now. But if there were not those contrasting perceptions, we would not be able to organize our lives or our thoughts. We
"I suggest, then, Lord Rosthorn," she said crisply, "that we step out of this avenue, which according to your own admission is visible from every part of the picnic area, and into the forest itself. Or do you wish to be seen to kiss me-or to attempt to do so?"
He pursed his lips and his eyes danced with merriment. He made her a courtly bow and offered his arm.
"I wish to see the contrast between the night forest and the picnic area, of course," she told him as he turned them away from the avenue marked out by lanterns. "Between nature in its raw state and nature with man's interaction."
"Ah," he said, "so this is merely a nature walk, is it?"
"I may," she said with careful disdain, "allow you to kiss me before we return, Lord Rosthorn, or I may not. If I do, it will not be a stolen kiss but one that I grant-or withhold."
He threw back his head and laughed outright.
"You are not afraid that I will then steal a second and a third,chérie ?" he asked her.
"No." Already light and sound had receded sufficiently that she could focus upon the forest. She stopped walking and looked up. "I will not allow you to. I probably will not allow even one."
"Perhaps no one has mentioned my reputation to you," he said, stopping too and releasing her arm in order to lean back nonchalantly against a tree trunk. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Perhaps I am dangerous,chérie . Perhaps youshould be afraid of me."
"How foolishly you speak," she told him. "If you meant me any real harm, you would keep very quiet about your unsavory past and hope that I had not heard of it elsewhere." Though she had to admit to herself that standing as he was andwhere he was-in the dark forest with no one else close by except her-he really did look very dangerous indeed.
He chuckled.
"What is to be tonight's particular topic of nature study?" he asked her, his voice lazy and teasing.
Actually, it really was lovely to be away from the crowds and the worst of the noise. The night sky was still bright with starlight and scored with the high branches of the trees. She would punish him by pretending that there was no danger at all, that she had invited him out here simply for companionship.
"Have you ever considered," she asked him, "how fortunate we are to have been gifted with so many contrasts?" She turned around in a complete circle and then closed her eyes and breathed in deeply so that she would not ignore the smells.
"Male and female?" he said. "Near and far? Up and down?"
She turned her head to look at him with interest though of course she could no longer see him clearly at all. If she had asked that question of Rosamond or Captain Gordon or a dozen other of her acquaintances, she would have drawn nothing but blank stares.
"Light and shade, sound and silence, company and solitude," she said.
"Sacred and profane, large and small, war and peace," he added. "Beauty and ugliness."
"Oh, no," she protested. "There is no contrast there. Everything that is ugly to us is doubtless beautiful to someone or something else. The slimiest slug is probably beautiful to another slug. A storm, which brings rain and chill to someone intent upon a pleasure outing, is beautiful to a farmer who has been anxiously watching his parched crops."
"And what looks large or small to us will look quite different from the perspective of an elephant or an ant," he added. "Opposites are merely two sides of the same coin-one cannot exist without the other."
"Precisely." She stepped closer to him. "So contrasts are inextricably linked. They are only a way for us to process information, to understand, to appreciate. Past and future, for example. There are no such things really, are there? There is only now. But if there were not those contrasting perceptions, we would not be able to organize our lives or our thoughts. We
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