Chapter 28 #2
“Thank you, Rus,” I said, launching forward to wrap him in an embrace. “But throwing him out won’t be necessary.”
Rus’s arms encircled me as he whispered. “Are you certain? I could take him.”
“Yes.” I smiled, fully doubting his claim. Rus was athletic, to be sure, but Edward had spent years in the Navy. That was bound to give him an advantage. “Quite certain.”
My brother pulled me away and nodded toward Edward, his lips twitching. “Well, go on then. Put the poor sap out of his misery. But”—he held up a finger—“remember that I will be watching. From over there. Don’t try anything improper. Either of you.”
“Noted,” I said before sweeping past him. “Though, respectfully, I offer no promises.”
Rus heaved a sigh of frustration. I couldn’t see him with my back to him as I walked toward Edward, but I could imagine him shaking his head and rolling his eyes. He muttered under his breath. “Sisters.”
Edward met me halfway, reaching his hands out to take mine.
“How are you?” he asked, his thumbs gliding back and forth over the top of my hands.
“Much better now. I’ve been dying to see you for days.”
A boyish smile tipped his lips. “Dying to see me? I never expected to hear you say such a thing.”
“We have come a long way.”
“No,” he said, his grin growing. “You have come a long way. I have always wanted to be near you. Even in Town, I found myself wishing for your company more often than not.”
“So you could vex me?”
Edward laughed. “Partially so, but also because I missed your smile, your laugh.” He tweaked my nose. “The way this would scrunch when I teased you. I fell in love with you then, Annette. I was simply too much of a fool to realize it.”
“And you realize it now?” I whispered. “Or did I, in sending you away, ruin any affection you might have for me?”
Rus scoffed from where he sat on the sofa. “Ruin? The man has been absolutely and obnoxiously beside himself for days.”
Edward shot him a look, then cleared his throat.
“Yes, well, I was worried—about your health and…and about whether you could ever forgive me. I deserved your ire, Annette. Instead, you handed me disappointment. I never imagined that could be worse than your fury, but it was. I hated myself for what I did, for not realizing sooner how I felt. Perhaps if I had, I would not have required your father’s offer to motivate me to pursue you in earnest. Can you forgive me and allow me to prove my loyalty?
Prove that when I say I love you, I mean it. ”
He loved me. It was the confirmation I had thought I needed this morning, but also one I now realized I had been given long before learning of Father’s offer. Long before Edward had rejected the money and long before he said those words.
Because with Edward, I felt his love. In the moments when he held me—kissed me—I felt it.
But it was there, too, when he shared his deepest desires and goals.
When he listened to my struggles and fears.
It was always there, and I knew—I knew—that life with him would never feel like a prison.
I would never be constrained or forced to abandon my hopes and dreams. Instead, I would share them with Edward. He would encourage me, and I him.
We would face the future together.
“Annette.” His hand glided over my skin to cup my cheek. The warmth in his eyes pierced me in such a way that tears pricked at my own. They fell before I could compose myself.
His expression shifted with worry as he swiped them away. “If you cannot forgive—”
“I forgive you. How could I not?”
He shook his head. “If this is because of the ruins, because I found you, then you must know I expect nothing. You owe me nothing.”
“Well, I disagree with you. I owe you something, but my brother will have a fit of apoplexy if I act on that impulse.”
Rus grumbled incoherently across the room.
“Regardless,” I continued, “my love is certainly not a result of your heroic rescue.”
Edward stilled, his gaze unblinking. “Your love?”
“Heaven give me patience,” Rus mumbled. “Can the two of you proclaim your love a bit faster? I have ledgers to review, letters to write. Let us move on. He loves you, and you love him. There. Was that not simple enough?”
This time, Edward and I both glared at him.
“You can leave at any time,” I said.
Rus raised his hands placatingly and stood. “Fine, but only because I cannot stand another moment of this. It is sickening. I’ll wait outside. You have ten minutes.” He crossed the room and, pulling the door, gave us one last, knowing look through the crack. “Ten minutes. Best hurry up.”
“It is fortunate that a number of kisses can be exchanged in ten minutes,” said Edward before Rus could close the door.
Rus narrowed his eyes. “Maybe less. Maybe much, much less. If I open this door and find you kissing her, I will drag you out of this house.”
“Go,” I said through gritted teeth. I appreciated my brother’s protectiveness, but now was not the time for it.
“Fine.” He paused. “Five minutes.”
Then he finally disappeared, the door clicking softly into place.
I stared at it for several long seconds, half expecting it to open again.
Father had worried Rus would not take the lead of our family once he was gone.
I had often wondered, too, if he would take his future duties as a viscount seriously.
But based on the last few weeks, Father had little reason to worry.
Rus would make a fine viscount, and he would take care of his family.
Perhaps a little too well.
Edward brushed a loose piece of hair away from my face, drawing my attention to him. “What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking how I pity Bridget’s future suitors. I never believed Rus would be such a stick in the mud about propriety.”
Edward chuckled, wrapping an arm about my waist and pulling me against him.
I melded into his chest with a sigh, sliding my hands up and over his shoulders.
Edward smiled, the fast beat of his heart evidence of how my touch affected him as much as his affected me.
“I pity them, too, but that is not what I had hoped you were contemplating.”
“Ah. What were you hoping for then?”
“That you might be considering a proposal from me. And I do not mean one of the fake variety. A real, genuine”—his arm tightened around me, pressing me impossibly closer—“life-altering proposal.”
“How can I contemplate something you’ve yet to offer?” I teased.
“Then allow me to ask. Miss Annette Apsley, will you consider becoming my wife?”
“No.”
His brows furrowed. “No?”
“No, I do not need to consider it. I’ve done nothing but consider it for a week now. I am absolutely sick of considering, and fully intend to marry you, Edward Pa—”
His lips cut me off, stealing my breath with a kiss.
And then another. I lost myself to him. The world around us muted.
We had kissed before, but this time was different.
It was more than passionate. Each kiss was a promise of the future to come, an assurance of love and happiness. A vow of support.
And in Edward’s kisses, I felt nothing would ever threaten my independence, because I would have that support from him, just as he would have mine.
Edward pulled away, but his arms remained tightly around me.
“You once mentioned the ruins were a place where you felt at peace. At home. You asked if I had such a place. At the time, I couldn’t give you an answer, but now?
” Edward tenderly kissed my forehead. “You are that place for me, Annette. With you is where I feel most at peace. You are my sure place of comfort. Thank you for being everything I needed.”
“Everything?” I put on a fake pout, though the tears in my eyes were far from it. “Are you saying I do not vex you even a little?”
“You do, but I welcome it.” He smiled, wide and bright.
“I need you, Annette. There is so much uncertainty in my future, so many obstacles. The possibility of failure terrifies me, but when I’m with you, every goal feels less out of my reach.
When I thought I had ruined any chance of owning your heart…
” He shook his head. “I have never experienced such heaviness. Not aboard ship. Not in chasing Hollinsby. None of it compared to my regret in losing you.”
“Oh, Edward. Can you forgive me? I was so upset but only because it hurt to think you may not care for me as deeply as I do you. It scared me to lose my heart, because I feared I had once again failed to see things properly. But I was right about you all along. My admiration was well placed. I love you. I love you so very much.”
“Thank goodness for that.” He kissed my lips again, and despite my desire to thread my fingers through his hair and lose myself once more, the full weight of his words prevented it.
“Hollinsby!” I gasped, pulling away from him enough to look up into his eyes. Rus had informed me that he had found Edward at an inn. Hollinsby had left Willowbrook Manor, and Edward had pursued him. Once he learned I was missing, Edward returned. He had given up his chase.
My eyes swelled with tears. “Adda. Have you lost her because of me?”
To my surprise, Edward smiled slightly. “I haven’t given up. Hollinsby has escaped for now, but all is not lost. I’ve reached out to my contacts and your father’s. We are creating an extensive web of support.”
“But if it were not for me, you might have caught him,” I said. “You might have already saved her.”
“Perhaps, but there is no guarantee. Regardless, I would not trade your life for anything. Adda is important to me, but so are you. She is in danger, but she is still an asset to Hollinsby, and that affords her some protection. I could have lost you in that storm. Returning to find you was the only course I would consider.”
“You’ve been searching for so long, though,” I whispered. “Adda saved your life. She matters, too.”
“Of course, she does. Choosing you does not mean I gave up on her. If I’ve learned anything these past weeks, it is that my focus need not be so tunneled into one thing. Into one person or pursuit. We will find Adda, together, but in the meantime, I want to build a future with you.”
“And take Hollinsby down,” I added. “Together.”
“That too, and thanks to young Lucas, I now have the evidence to do it.” He continued when my eyes widened. “A written agreement between Hollinsby and another man about purchasing Adda. It will be difficult for him to refute it.”
“That is excellent news!”
“I’ve been doing more than wooing you during my stay at Kenwick, you know.”
“You mean more than wooing and vexing?”
“Scheming. Wooing. Vexing.” He leaned forward, the tip of his nose touching mine, his lips just out of reach.
Desire to remove the gap between us pulsed through me, and I failed to resist it.
Edward teased my lips, keeping just enough distance to torture me as he whispered. “Taunting. Teasing. Kissing.”
Drat him. He was fortunate I loved him and was willing to put up with this nonsense.
He chuckled when I grabbed his coat and pulled him down. Finally, he allowed me to capture his lips, returning my kiss with equal passion before whispering, “But my most important activity of all was falling in love with you.”