Dawn in My Heart by Ruth Axtell Morren Page A

break our necks. Father would be livid when he’d find out. But Edmund would just laugh and tell him it was nothing he hadn’t done himself when he was young, and Father would have to admit the truth of that.” Sky sobered, remembering his brother’s end.
    â€œI never thought it would be a coaching accident that would get my brother.”
    â€œWere you and Edmund close?” she asked softly.
    â€œWe were only a year apart.”
    â€œDo you miss him?”
    â€œNot anymore. I hadn’t seen him in over a decade.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you come back to London in all those years?”
    He shrugged. “There was nothing for me here once my mother passed away.”
    Before she could ask him anything more personal, he said instead, “Enough about me. Tell me instead how a young lady would ever have been inside a place like Tattersall’s. I imagined you with the typical upbringing.”
    She gave him a saucy smile. “What is that, may I ask?”
    â€œOh, a French governess until you were about twelve, then off to Miss Something-or-Other’s fine establishment on the outskirts of London. You’d see your parents on the rare occasion until your come-out….”
    She laughed. “How did you know? And what about you? Your boyhood, let’s see…” She put her finger up to her lips, pondering. “Eton, then Cambridge, probably sent down a few times.”
    â€œYou can’t imagine how many,” he replied dryly. “I probably wouldn’t have graduated if not for a young ladI met in my last year at Eton—a brilliant fellow. Latin declensions rolled off his tongue with the ease of a Roman orator.”
    â€œSo, you were a lazy scholar.”
    â€œI never believed in exerting myself over anything until—”
    â€œUntil?” she prompted.
    He shrugged. “Until I made a bargain with Father. In exchange for his paying off my last gambling debt, I would go out to the Indies and take over a failing plantation. I told him I’d turn it around and make it yield a profit.”
    â€œDid you?” she asked.
    â€œNot at first. It took a few years longer than I’d anticipated.”
    They walked back into the sunshine of the stone courtyard in time for the auction. Gillian became wrapped up in the bidding. When the black horse went for a hundred pounds, Sky shook his head and looked at the young buyer in disgust. “He wants a showy mount and doesn’t bother to look further than its appearance.”
    After the auction, Sky returned Gillian to her house. Before helping her down from the carriage, he removed the small jeweler’s box from his pocket. “I got you this the other day. I was going to give it to you at the Prince’s fete, but now seems the best time.”
    Her eyes widened in delight as she reached for the box he held out to her. “What is it?”
    He smiled at her childish enthusiasm. “Why don’t you open it and see? If you don’t like it, you can pick out something yourself.”
    She bowed her head over the velvet box and, with a flick,undid the tiny clasp. Inside lay the diamond-and-ruby ring. The ruby shone brightly against the white satin cloth.
    He heard her sharp intake of breath. “It’s beautiful!”
    â€œMay I?” Before she could move away, he took the box from her hands and removed the ring. He held it out to her. “Would you like me to try it on you?”
    â€œOh yes!” She removed her glove and held out her hand.
    He took the pale, slim hand in his darker one and slipped the ring onto her finger. The gesture made him think of the marriage ceremony and the finality of that moment when he’d slip the wedding band on her finger. It would signal the beginning of their life together.
    The ring fit perfectly and looked nice on her. Maybe it was a good omen.
    â€œThank you…it’s lovely.”
    â€œNot more so than its