“But you didn’t.”
“Of course I didn’t,” she said. “I’ve never stolen in my life. It’s clear no one wants to believe it was me, but it seems the only logical explanation. They think I’ve developed a compulsion of some kind. Some sort of illness that drives me to steal.”
She exhaled heavily and wove her hands into a tight lattice of interlaced fingers. “Miss Price has requested a magistrate. I have no choice but to tell them the truth. I’ll tell them it couldn’t have been me, because I was here with you, all night long.”
His eyes flared. “What? Diana, you can’t tell them that.”
The vehemence of his reply took her by surprise. He pushed off the table and went to the forge, raking the coals of the dying fire and feeding it new splits of wood.
“I don’t think I have a choice,” she said. “It is the truth.”
“Yes. And if you tell them, you will be ruined. In truth.”
“Better to be a ruined woman than a suspected thief. Don’t you agree?”
He didn’t agree, nor give any response at all.
“That missing brooch is gold, Aaron. It’s worth a great deal. Thieves are hanged for stealing less.”
“No one’s going to hang you. You’re not a thief. The items will turn up, or someone else will confess. They have no evidence, only suspicion.” He approached her and put his hands on her shoulders. Their weight settled, heavy as a yoke. “Why tell everyone about last night and invite uncharitable gossip?”
She shrugged. “Perhaps I don’t care about the gossip.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Then try a little harder.” Diana was frustrated now. Hadn’t he promised to trust that she knew her own mind?
She tried to explain. “When I came downstairs this morning and saw them all staring at me, I thought we were found out. For a moment, I was stricken by sheer terror. I was certain I’d be ruined. But then something changed. Once I’d resigned myself to the inevitability . . . I felt strangely free. Unashamed, excited. Aaron, I want people to know.”
“Well, I don’t. Not like this.” He released her and began pacing the smithy.
She watched him, perplexed. “I don’t understand. Aren’t we planning to marry?”
“Aye, but I wanted to wed you in a respectable fashion. If they hear about this, people will think we only married because I seduced you and you had no choice.”
“So this is about your pride,” she said. “Your reputation, not mine.”
“It’s both, Diana. But yes, I have a reputation, too. People respect me in this village. This is my home.”
“I hope it will be my home, as well.”
“Then think this through. What if word gets around London that you were defiled by a local craftsman? Good families might stop sending their young ladies to Spindle Cove. The whole village would suffer, and it would be my fault. I might not be able to support you then.”
This probably wasn’t the time to remind him that her dowry, while modest by aristocratic standards, could keep them comfortable for decades. He would only receive it as another insult.
“Aaron, I don’t know what to say. Except that perhaps you should have thought about all this before you carried me to your bed last night.”
He rubbed his mouth. “I wasn’t thinking last night. Obviously.”
Diana struggled to not take offense. She tried, very hard, to interpret his words in the kindest possible light.
When she’d come to his cottage last night, she’d done so with forethought and a full knowledge of the risks. However, he’d been taken by surprise to find her there. And he’d been in a vulnerable state, after a long day spent grappling with mortality and fatigue. Perhaps if he’d had time to think it all through, he would have sent her home and not made love to her.
But even so . . . How could he regret it now? What they’d shared had been so wonderful. At least, it had been wonderful for her. She felt ready to be with him, marry him, pledge her life to him.
Maybe he didn’t feel as ready as she did.
“Aaron, I understand if you’re afraid. I’m frightened, too. We knew it wouldn’t be easy to announce our plans, even under the best of circumstances. But I don’t see a way around telling the truth.”
“It’s easy,” he said. “We wait. In a day or two, this theft business is sure to be resolved. Then I’ll propose to you properly.”