The truth is," she said shakily, "that I am scared to death of being here."
"I know you are," he said, sobering, "but I am the last person in the world you'll ever have to fear."
His words and his tone made the quaking in her limbs, the hammering of her heart, begin again, and Elizabeth hastily drank a liberal amount of her wine, praying it would calm her rioting nerves. As if he saw her distress, he smoothly changed the topic. "Have you given any more thought to the injustice done Galileo?"
She shook her head. "I must have sounded very silly last night, going on about how wrong it was to bring him up before the Inquisition. It was an absurd thing to discuss with anyone, especially a gentleman."
"I thought it was a refreshing alternative to the usual insipid trivialities."
"Did you " Elizabeth asked, her eyes searching his with a mixture of disbelief and hope, unaware that she was being neatly distracted from her woes and drawn into a discussion she'd find easier.
"I did."
"I society felt that way."
He grinned sympathetically. "How long have you been required to hide the fact that you have a mind?"
"Four weeks," she admitted, chuckling at his phrasing. "You cannot imagine how awful it is to mouth platitudes to people when you're to ask them about things they've seen and things they know. If they're male, they wouldn't tell you, of course, even if you did ask."
"What would they say?" he teased.
"They would say," she said wryly, "that the answer would be beyond a female's comprehension-or that they fear offending my tender sensibilities."
"What sorts of questions have you been asking?"
Her eyes lit up with a mixture of laughter and frustration. "I asked Sir Elston Greeley, who had just returned from extensive travels, if he had happened to journey to the colonies, and he said that he had. But when I asked him to describe to me how the natives looked and how they lived, he coughed and sputtered and told me it wasn't at all 'the thing' to discuss 'savages' with a female, and that I'd swoon if he did."
"Their appearance and living habits depend upon their tribe," Ian told her, beginning to answer her questions. "Some of the tribes are 'savage' by our standards, not theirs, and some of the tribes are peaceful by any standards…"
Two hours flew by as Elizabeth asked him questions and listened in fascination to stories of places he had seen, and not once in all that time did he refuse to answer or treat her comments lightly. He spoke to her like an equal and seemed to enjoy it whenever she debated an opinion with him. They'd eaten lunch and returned to the sofa; she knew it was past time for her to leave, and yet she was loath to end their stolen afternoon.
"I know you are," he said, sobering, "but I am the last person in the world you'll ever have to fear."
His words and his tone made the quaking in her limbs, the hammering of her heart, begin again, and Elizabeth hastily drank a liberal amount of her wine, praying it would calm her rioting nerves. As if he saw her distress, he smoothly changed the topic. "Have you given any more thought to the injustice done Galileo?"
She shook her head. "I must have sounded very silly last night, going on about how wrong it was to bring him up before the Inquisition. It was an absurd thing to discuss with anyone, especially a gentleman."
"I thought it was a refreshing alternative to the usual insipid trivialities."
"Did you " Elizabeth asked, her eyes searching his with a mixture of disbelief and hope, unaware that she was being neatly distracted from her woes and drawn into a discussion she'd find easier.
"I did."
"I society felt that way."
He grinned sympathetically. "How long have you been required to hide the fact that you have a mind?"
"Four weeks," she admitted, chuckling at his phrasing. "You cannot imagine how awful it is to mouth platitudes to people when you're to ask them about things they've seen and things they know. If they're male, they wouldn't tell you, of course, even if you did ask."
"What would they say?" he teased.
"They would say," she said wryly, "that the answer would be beyond a female's comprehension-or that they fear offending my tender sensibilities."
"What sorts of questions have you been asking?"
Her eyes lit up with a mixture of laughter and frustration. "I asked Sir Elston Greeley, who had just returned from extensive travels, if he had happened to journey to the colonies, and he said that he had. But when I asked him to describe to me how the natives looked and how they lived, he coughed and sputtered and told me it wasn't at all 'the thing' to discuss 'savages' with a female, and that I'd swoon if he did."
"Their appearance and living habits depend upon their tribe," Ian told her, beginning to answer her questions. "Some of the tribes are 'savage' by our standards, not theirs, and some of the tribes are peaceful by any standards…"
Two hours flew by as Elizabeth asked him questions and listened in fascination to stories of places he had seen, and not once in all that time did he refuse to answer or treat her comments lightly. He spoke to her like an equal and seemed to enjoy it whenever she debated an opinion with him. They'd eaten lunch and returned to the sofa; she knew it was past time for her to leave, and yet she was loath to end their stolen afternoon.
( Judith McNaught )
[ Almost Heaven ]
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