Talk of the Ton (Free Fellows League 5)

Didn’t the blasted woman know when a man was in love with her?

She said, “You cannot want this.”

He stood, going to her and taking her hand in his. “If you wish for me to tell you what I want, then I will happily do so. But you must first take off your spectacles. I am going to kiss you again. And hurry. I am not in a mood to wait.”

She looked dismayed. He pulled her up tightly against him and slid her eyeglasses off, holding them while he pressed his lips quickly against hers. He forced himself to make their contact light, merely a touch, for he did not trust himself further than that.

Sighing softly, her eyelids fluttered open, her moist lips parted as if inviting him to indulge more. After a dazed moment, she curved them slightly in a sultry smile that was nearly his undoing, and she said, “Then you do hold me in some affection?”

He frowned, but did not release her. “I seem to be unable to stop kissing you. I would say that indicates a fair amount of affection.”

“And you do wish to marry me?”

“I find myself quite unaccountably taken by the idea.”

“And the fact that I am not an heiress? Or anyone important?”

He felt a wave of embarrassment. “Did I appear so mer cenary?”

“You were quite clear that you were in the marriage market to see your duty done. And I recall your having said something about wanting a rich wife to make the trouble worthwhile.”

He grimaced. “Not one of my finer moments.” A mischievous impulse made him add, “There are other considerations that more than make up for your lack of a fortune. You are a sensible girl, quite bright, which I find I like. I believe we shall suit. And do not think I have not noticed,” he added wickedly, “that you are still in possession of all of your teeth.”

She laughed. She really was beautiful when she laughed. “Oh,” he added, pressing his cheek against her temple, “I neglected to tell you the most important reason of all. I have fallen completely in love with you.”

She looked at him, and he had to laugh at her. “You are adorable when you are disconcerted,” he informed her. “Does it please you to know you’ve brought down a man committed to logic and reason, to see him throw all of that away for the passion of the heart?”

“Oh, Miles. I love you, too. I was so afraid . . .”

“Afraid of what?”

“That it could not be. Because of Cassandra. I still worry—”

But he was going to have none of that. “She will recover, and quickly if my mark of her is correct. I hardly think it is the catastrophe you seem to think. It is better she be miserable now for a few days than get what she wanted and be miserable for the rest of her life. I could never make her contented, Jenny, but with you . . . with you, I feel I see a whole new future. Does that sound as droll as I think it does?”

“No. It sounds wonderful.”

“And you, do you wish to marry me? After all, you never really accepted me.”

“You never really asked,” she rem

inded him with a hint of coquettishness that warmed his blood.

“Then I shall do so, and properly.”

On bended knee, he requested the honor of her hand in marriage, and with tears in her eyes, Jenny accepted.

“There,” he said, rising to embrace her again. “It is done just as it should be. Now there are no regrets, no questions. Jenny. Why are you still frowning?”

“It is just . . . Aunt Iris . . .”

“She can handle her own daughter. Where did you get the idea that you were indispensable?”

“I never considered myself indispensable,” she retorted. But she realized she had been under the impression, perhaps quite false, that Aunt Iris could not survive without her. “Perhaps I did,” she admitted. “I think it was my vanity. I was so indebted to Aunt Iris for all she gave me when my parents died that I wanted to give something back. I only wished to help, to show her how much I appreciated her taking me so generously into her home. . . . Oh, Miles, do you really think this will all turn out right? I do not want to hurt anyone.”

“Well, Miss Alt, it will hurt me greatly if you do not consent to marriage. The rest will sort itself out, I promise you.”

She smiled, and it filled him with a clean wash of pride and happiness.