The Innocent's One-Night Confession. Sara Craven

idea,’ she said as she finished her cider, and put down her empty glass. ‘Congratulations.’

      ‘I felt something was needed,’ Gerard admitted ruefully. ‘The weekend so far isn’t exactly proceeding as I planned. I seem to be at other people’s beck and call the whole time. But that’s going to stop.’

      He smiled with faint awkwardness. ‘From here on, it’s you and me against the world.’

      Alanna felt a stirring of alarm.

      She said steadily, ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’

      He reached across and took her hand. ‘Alanna—I know it’s too soon, but I want you to agree to become engaged to me.’

      Her lips parted in a gasp of sheer astonishment. She said faintly, ‘But we hardly know each other...’

      ‘If you’re saying we’ve never been on intimate terms, that’s quite true.’ He hesitated. ‘Alanna, I was in a bad place when you quite literally fell into my life. And as I got to know you, I had the impression that you’d been in a similar situation.

      ‘I—I’ve never asked you about it, or talked about my own problems because I’d come to see that nothing can be gained by endlessly rehashing past mistakes.’

      She swallowed. ‘Well, we can certainly agree about that,’ she said unevenly. ‘But, Gerard...’

      ‘Please hear me out.’ His fingers tightened round hers. ‘Right now, I’m simply offering an engagement, not pressuring you into marriage—or anything else for that matter. I think—I hope we could be happy together, if we gave each other the chance.’

      She gave him a straight look. ‘But there are other people who might not be happy at all.’

      ‘You mean Grandam.’ His mouth tightened. ‘I love her dearly, Alanna, but she has to realise she can’t control my life. Not any more.’

      Alanna wasn’t too sure of that, just as she was totally certain this engagement idea was a path she didn’t want to follow. Because marriage was out of the question.

      Even if she’d fallen in love with him, twenty-four hours at the abbey would have warned her to think again and run for her life. For all kinds of reasons.

      But to tell him so bluntly would be unkind.

      A bad place. Well, as he’d guessed, she knew all about that. And that was another good reason for letting him down lightly.

      She said quietly, ‘This has come as such a total surprise. You have to give me some time. Let me think about it.’

      ‘Take as long as you need. And as I said, I won’t try to change our relationship—push you into something you’re not ready for. So let’s just see how it goes. Shall we?’

      ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I suppose.’ She hesitated. ‘But, Gerard, I’m not promising anything. I can’t. Not yet.’

       Not ever...

      She added, ‘You must understand that.’

      She felt dazed as they returned to the car. If he’d stripped naked and jumped into the stream, she couldn’t have been more astonished, although she supposed it explained the unusually proprietorial attitude he’d shown since the start of the weekend.

      Which must have also set Niamh Harrington’s alarm bells ringing.

      Well, let her worry, she thought with grim determination. At the party tonight, for the first and last time, she’ll be seeing me in full devoted girlfriend mode. And to hell with the consequences.