"We"re friends--if you"re sure you forgive me," she said shyly.
"Nothing in the world to forgive," he retorted cheerfully. "I"ve had the time of my life. Now I must go home and get to work."
"Yes," she agreed quietly, looking straight in front of her.
He drove in silence for a mile or two before he resumed the conversation.
"Of course I"ll want to come back for the wedding if you send me an invitation. I think a good deal of the prince consort, you know. He"s one man from the ground up."
"Yes?"
"He"s the only man I know that"s good enough for you. The more I see of him the better I like him. He"s sure the gamest ever, a straight-up man if ever there was one."
"I"m glad of that." She flashed a little sidelong look at him and laughed tremulously. "It"s good of you to pick me a husband you can endorse so heartily. Would you mind telling me his name--if it isn"t a secret?"
"You know mighty well, but I reckon all girls play the game of making believe it isn"t so for a while. All right. You don"t have to admit it till the right time. But you"ll send me a card, won"t you?"
Her eyes, shyly daring, derided him. "That"s no fair, Mr. Gordon. You go out of your way to pick a prince consort for me--a perfect paragon I"m given to understand--and then you expect me to say "Thank you kindly, sir," without even being told his name."
He smiled. "Oh, well, you can laugh at me all you like."
"But I"m not laughing at you," she corrected, her eyes dancing. "I"m trying to find out who this Admirable Crichton is. Surely I"m within my rights. This isn"t Turkey, you know. Perhaps I mayn"t like him. Or, more important still, he may not like me."
"Go right ahead with your fun. Don"t mind me."
"I don"t believe you"ve got a prince consort for me at all. If you had you wouldn"t dodge around like this."
At that instant he caught sight by chance of her ungloved left hand.
Again he observed that the solitaire was missing. His eyes flashed to hers. A sudden hope was born in his heart. He drew the horse to a halt.
"Are you telling me that----? What about Don Manuel?" he demanded.
Now that the crisis was upon her, she would have evaded it if she could.
Her long lashes fluttered to the hot cheeks.
"He is my cousin and my friend--the best friend I have," she answered in a low voice.
"No more than that?"
"No more." She lifted her eyes and tried to meet his boldly. "And now I really think you"ve been impudent enough, don"t you?"
He imprisoned her hands in his. "If it isn"t Don Manuel who is it?"
She knew her eyes had failed her, that they had told him too much. An agony of shyness drenched her from head to foot, but there was no escape from his masterful insistence.
"Will you let me go ... please?"
"No--not till you tell me that you love me, Valencia, not till you"ve made me the happiest man alive."
"But ..."
He plunged forward, an insurgent hope shaking his imperturbability.
"Is it yes, dear? Don"t keep me waiting. Do I win or lose, Valencia?"
Bravely her eyes lifted to his. "I love you with all my heart and soul.
I always have from the first. I always shall as long as life lasts," she murmured.
Swept away by the abandon of her adorable confession, he caught her in his arms and drew her to him. Close as breathing he held her, her heart beating against his like a fluttering bird. A delicious faintness overcame her. She lay in his embrace, wonderfully content.
The dewy eyes lifted again to his. Of their own volition almost their lips met for the first kiss.
THE END