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“Then I will take you with me.”

Her eyes were wide and then narrowed in suspicion. “You will take me to London to visit the queen?”

“If I must go to London, then you will come with me and, one day, in a few years from now, when you are a bit more grown, you will be presented to the queen and I bet she will announce you as the diamond of the season.”

“I do not think I wish to be a diamond any more than I wish to be a mushroom.”

He chuckled. “You may think differently once you are grown up.”

She lifted her brows at him. “And you and Rose will take me?”

“If she agrees to be my wife, then yes. Though I warn you it is a long and tedious trip.”

Obviously, the tediousness of the trip did not concern her. “Is that why you need the proposal to be perfect? So she cannot say no?”

“I want to show her that I love her, that I am willing to do anything to marry her.”

“And that means making friends with me?”

“Max, if I had known the truth. If I had not been so stubborn, I would have wanted to be friends with you much sooner. It just so happened that I found I loved her at the same time I found out that I had been lied to about you.”

“Who told you the lie?”

He debated to tell her the truth. It would only bring up more questions. Questions he really did not have answers to. Then again, if she was to trust him, perhaps he should be honest with her. “It was your mother.”

“But she died.”

“Yes, she did. I’m afraid she did not like me very much. She told me the lie to hurt me, but then she died before I could find out the truth.”

“What did she lie about?”

He should have known that would be the next question. “I am not sure you are ready to know just yet. In a while, when we are better acquainted and you trust me more, I will tell you the whole thing. I promise.”

“That doesn’t seem fair, but I suppose you do not want to upset me when we have only just met.”

“Exactly. Some things are hard to explain on a first meeting,” he said as they left the stables.

She tapped her chin again. “The arbor is pretty. It is over by Aunt Anna’s rose garden. Shall I take you there?”

He suddenly felt very, very tired. It had been a physical and emotional day. “Can you take me tomorrow to see it?”

“I suppose. Do you not want to see it today?”

“I am very tired after my long journey, and I smell like horse and dust, and I think a bath is in order.”

“You do smell like horse. I did not want to be rude and say so.”

He laughed. “Then bath now and arbor tomorrow, yes?”

She smiled, and it was so much like Marianne’s smile that he wanted to cry.

“Yes.” She looked up at the sky. “I think it may rain, and Aunt Anna will be very unhappy if we trample dirt and leaves into the house, so we must hurry.”

He marveled at how easily he could talk to her. How intelligent she was! He knew he did not deserve it, but he craved it anyway. He saw that she studied him intently when she thought he was not looking. He understood that his suddenly being back in her life was jarring and that she did not know him or trust him yet. That would be something he would have to work on for a while yet, he suspected. “After dinner, would you show me more of your artwork?”

She nodded. When they got to the door, she turned and looked up at him. “Are you really going to stay and be my papa?”

“I would like to. I know this is all very strange right now. It is for me too.” He bent down more to her level. “Can I tell you a secret?”