"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.