Slowly, he meandered through the throng and made his way toward her. She looked up and gasped when she spotted him. She turned quickly and tried to run into the station waiting room, but two women blocked the entrance and he caught up to her.
“Let me go. Please.” Tears stood in her beautiful eyes.
“No, Lottie. I will not let you go. Not now, not ever.” He wrapped his arms around her despite them being in the middle of the platform with bustling porters and passengers filling the space.
“You don’t understand.” Her voice was almost a moan.
He gripped her chin and tilted her face up. “Yes. I do. I understand and you must know by now that you belong to me.”
“I don’t want a protector!” She shoved against him and turned to flee, but he stopped her. “No, sweetheart. Please. I would never humiliate you in that way.”
She stopped, one lone tear traveling down her soft skin. “Then I don’t understand.” She hiccupped, and he wanted to wrap her up and take her far, far,
away. Away from a world that blamed her for something she had nothing to do with.
He smiled softly at her and cupped her cheeks. “I love you, Miss Charlotte Danvers. I want to make you my wife.”
10
Lottie stared at Carter for a full minute, while her heart thundered in her chest and she repeated his words over and over in her head.
“I want to make you my wife.”
Either she had developed a hearing problem or Carter did not fully understand her dilemma. Too confused to even think about what he said, she asked, “Why are you here?”
A frown was his only answer.
“I mean, here at the rail station.”
He took her by the arm and moved her away from the noisy platform. “I will be happy to explain, but we must talk, and this is not the proper place for what I need to say.”
She waved her ticket in his face. “I am leaving on the next train to London.”
“You hate London, and you are going nowhere until I have the opportunity to say what I need to.”
She could think of only one reason why he would be here and made that ridiculous statement. Addie. She must have told him about her encounter with Lord Sterling. Most likely Carter was here to play the part of a knight rescuing a lady in distress and talk her out of leaving. Even resorting to saying absurd things.
I want to make you my wife.
“My carriage is around the corner. Since I prefer privacy that is perfect.” The determination on his face was almost comical.
She attempted to drag her feet. “I only have another twenty minutes until my train leaves.”
He didn’t answer her but continued to move her forward. “What I have to discuss will only take a few minutes.”
Resigned to allowing Carter to have his say, she walked with him to his carriage. He helped her in, then joined her. Once they were settled, he tapped on the ceiling of the carriage and it moved forward.
“I thought this would not take long. I have a train to catch.”
“No train. No leaving.” He reached over and pulled her across the space until she was sitting on his lap.
“Mr. Westbrooke! This is most improper.” For as inappropriate as it was, she couldn’t stop the tingle inside that always taunted her when she was near him. The familiar scent of his bath soap and the solid muscles of his thighs that she felt right through their multiple layers of clothes teased her with things she could never have.
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. “I would get down on one knee, but I’m afraid if I let you go you will foolishly jump from the moving carriage and hurt yourself.”
She shook her head. “Please don’t repeat what you said at the rail station.”
“I will repeat it, and I meant it. I want you to be my wife. I want to be your husband. I want us to be married. To each other. You and me.” He grinned. “Is that clear enough?”