He wanted to marry her.
Surely she had been dreaming. Robert was an earl. An earl! And he would eventually become a marquess. Men of such lofty titles didn't marry vicar's daughters.
Still, he had kissed her. Victoria touched her lips, not at all surprised to see that her hands were trembling. She couldn't imagine that the kiss had been as meaningful to him as it had been to her—he was, after all, many years older than she was. He had surely kissed dozens of ladies before her.
Her fingers traced circles and hearts on the wooden tabletop as her mind dreamily recounted the afternoon. Robert. Robert. She mouthed his name, then wrote it on the table with her finger. Robert Phillip Arthur Kemble. She traced all his names out.
He was terribly handsome. His dark hair had been wavy and just a touch too long for fashion. And his eyes—one would have expected such a dark-haired man to have dark eyes, but his had been clear and blue. Pale blue, they should have looked icy, but his personality had kept them warm.
“What are you doing, Victoria?”
Victoria looked up to see her sister in the doorway. “Oh, hello, Ellie.”
Eleanor, younger than Victoria by exactly three years, crossed the room and picked Victoria's hand up off the table. “You're going to give yourself splinters.” She dropped Victoria's hand and sat down across from her.
Victoria looked at her sister's face but saw only Robert. Finely molded lips, always ready with a smile, the vague hint of whiskers on his chin. She wondered if he had to be shaved twice a day.
“Victoria!”
Victoria looked up blankly. “Did you say something?”
“I was asking you—for the second time—if you wanted to come with me tomorrow to bring food to Mrs. Gordon. Papa is sharing our tithe with her family while she is ill.”
Victoria nodded. As vicar, her father received a tithe of one-tenth of the area's farm produce. Much of this was sold to care for the village church, but there was always more than enough food for the Lyndon family. “Yes, yes,” she said absently. “Of course I'll go.”
Robert. She sighed. He had such a lovely laugh.
“…more in?”
Victoria looked up. “I'm sorry. Were you speaking to me?”
“I was saying,” Ellie said with a decided lack of patience, “that I tasted the stew earlier today. It needs salt. Would you like me to put more in?”
“No, no. I added a bit a few minutes ago.”
“Whatever is wrong with you, Victoria?”
“What do you mean?”
Ellie exhaled in an exasperated gesture. “You haven't heard two words of what I've said. I keep trying to talk to you, and all you do is gaze out the window and sigh.”
Victoria leaned forward. “Can you keep a secret?”
Ellie leaned forward. “You know I can.”
“I think I'm in love.”
“I don't believe that for one second.”
Victoria's mouth fell open in consternation. “I just told you that I have undergone the most life altering transformation in a woman's life, and you don't believe me?”
Ellie scoffed. “Who in Bellfield could you possibly fall in love with?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
“I already said I could.”
“Lord Macclesfield.”
“The marquess's son?” Ellie fairly yelled. “Victoria, he's an earl.”
“Keep your voice down!” Victoria looked over her shoulder to see if they had caught their father's attention. “And I am well aware that he is an earl.”
“You don't even know him. He was in London when the marquess had us up to Castleford.”
“I met him today.”
“And you think you're in love? Victoria, only fools and poets fall in love at first sight.”
“Then I suppose I'm a fool,” Victoria said loftily, “because Lord knows I am no poet.”
“You are mad, sister. Utterly mad.”
Victoria lifted her chin and looked down her nose at her sister. “Actually, Eleanor, I don't think I've ever been saner than I am at this very moment.”
It took Victoria hours to fall asleep that night, and when she did she dreamed of Robert. He was kissing her. Gently on the lips and then traveling along the planes of her cheek. He was whispering her name.
“Victoria…”
“Victoria…”
She came suddenly awake.
“Victoria…”
Was she still dreaming?
“Victoria…”
She scrambled out from under her covers and peered out the window that hung over her bed. He was there.