Robert pulled up a chair and sat beside her. “That gown would look lovely on you,” he said.
“Alas,” Victoria replied, viciously jabbing a pin into the material, “but it is spoken for by a countess.”
“I would tell you that I would buy you one just like it, but I don't think that would win me any points in my favor.”
“How astute of you, my lord.”
“You're annoyed with me,” he stated.
Victoria's head swiveled slowly around until she faced him. “You noticed.”
“Is it because you thought you'd rid yourself of me this morning?”
“It was a hope.”
“You're eager for your life to return to normal.”
Victoria let out a funny little sound that was part laugh, part sigh, and part snort. “You seem to be exceedingly proficient at stating the obvious.”
“Hmmm.” Robert scratched his head, looking for all the world like a man deep in thought. “Your logic is flawed.”
Victoria didn't bother to reply.
“You see, you think this is normal.”
Victoria jabbed a few more pins into the hemline, realized that her irritation was making her careless, and had to pull them out and reposition them.
“But this isn't a normal life. How could it be? You've only lived it for a month.”
“I was only courted by you for two months,” she was compelled to point out.
“Yes, but you spent the next seven years thinking about me.”
Victoria didn't see any point in denying this, but she did say, “Weren't you listening to anything I said this morning?”
He leaned forward, his light blue eyes startlingly intense. “I listened to everything you said. And then I spent all morning thinking about it. I believe I understand your feelings.”
“Then why are you here?” she ground out.
“Because I think you're wrong.”
Victoria dropped her pins.
“Life isn't about crawling under a rock and watching the world go by, desperately hoping it won't touch us.” He knelt down and began to help her gather the pins. “Life is about taking chances, about reaching for the moon.”
“I took chances,” she said flatly. “I lost.”
“And you're going to let that rule your life forever? Victoria, you're only four and twenty. You have years ahead of you. Are you saying that you're going to take the safe road for the rest of your life?”
“As pertains to you, yes.”
He stood. “I can see that I will have to give you some time to reflect on this.”
She glared at him, hoping that he didn't notice how her hands were shaking.
“I will return at the end of the day to escort you home,” he said, and she wondered whether he meant her home or his.
“I won't be here,” she said.
He only shrugged. “I'll find you. I'll always find you.”
Victoria was saved from having to ponder that ominous statement by the bell over the door. “I have to work,” she muttered.
Robert executed a smart bow and waved his hand toward the door. His courtly gesture faltered, however, when he saw the dress shop's latest customers.
Mrs. Brightbill bustled in, pulling Harriet along behind her. “Ah, there you are, Miss Lyndon,” she trilled. “And Robert, too.”
“I had a feeling we might find you here, cousin,” Harriet said.
Victoria bobbed a curtsy. “Mrs. Brightbill. Miss Brightbill.”
Harriet waved a hand at her. “Please do call me Harriet. We are to be relations, after all.”
Robert beamed at his cousin.
Victoria scowled at the floor. Much as she would have liked to scowl at Harriet, store policy did not allow her to make faces at customers. And she had just spent all morning trying to convince Robert that she wanted to keep her position at the dress shop, hadn't she?
“We have come to ask you to tea,” Harriet announced.
“I'm afraid I must decline,” Victoria said demurely. “It wouldn't be proper.”
“Nonsense,” Mrs. Brightbill declared.
“My mother is considered an authority on what is proper and what is not,” Harriet said. “So if she says it is proper, you can be sure that it is.”
Victoria blinked, needing an extra second to work through the maze of Harriet's words.
“I'm afraid I must agree with Harriet, much as it pains me to do so,” Robert said. “I myself have often been on the receiving end of Aunt Brightbill's lectures on propriety.”
“I don't find that particularly difficult to believe,” Victoria said.