Chapter Twenty-Three #2
He continued, “I sincerely appreciate your assistance this morning and the opportunity you honor me with presently.” His words were formal, as a suitor would appeal to a father rather than a friend addressing another.
Henley shifted his feet. “Well, I don’t have much of an option.” A wicked grin baited his lips as he nodded to Pere. “She’s quite a hoyden when she wants to be, and I’ve been threatened by her before…”
“Are you quite finished?” Pere spoke finally, spearing her brother with an impatient glare.
Gabriel’s chuckle warmed her heart, and she turned her attention to him. “You’re no better, my lord.”
“I never claimed to be.” He shrugged, his smile warming her to her toes.
“I’ll allow you a few moments.” Henley smacked Hawthorne’s shoulder and took his leave.
Gabriel simply looked at her, his expression full of words yet unsaid. But rather than begin, he gave a small chuckle and ran his fingers through his hair. At that, Pere studied him, really evaluating his person.
“Good Lord, Hawthorne,” Peregrine said before he could speak. “You look as though you’ve been dragged through White’s backward and then lost a duel with a cravat.”
He glanced down at himself and gave a lopsided grin. “Accurate. Your brothers are brutal when they decide to play inquisitor.”
“I’ve been on the receiving end of that sort of discussion,” she replied teasingly. “However, they would never threaten me with bodily harm, as they did you.”
“No, I imagine the bodily harm would come from your direction,” he flirted.
“Unfair … drat. No, you’re right. Are you going to stand over there all day, or…?” Pere’s impatience spilled out in words.
He sighed and regarded her. “I’m giving myself space, since there’s some information you need to have before I continue. It’s a bit sordid.”
Peregrine arched a brow. “Define sordid.”
He stopped just in front of her, hands clasped behind his back as if he didn’t trust them.
“Lord Carver ruined my mother long ago. Thoroughly. There was a child—my half sister, Eliza. She was packed off to cousins and raised as legitimate. She’s descending on London next fortnight for her season, and if the ton starts digging, the whole ugly tale will crawl out of its grave.
With the scandal that has rather unfortunately chased your family after Henley’s event and Edwin’s last season, I wanted you aware should it impact your standing within society. ”
Peregrine blinked once. “Is that all?”
Gabriel huffed a startled laugh. “You’re supposed to be horrified.”
“I’m mostly horrified it took you this long to tell me,” she said, reaching up to tug his hand loose and lace their fingers. “I recognized Carver’s name but didn’t know all the details. I simply assumed it wasn’t good based on your reaction when you saw him.”
He stared at her. “You assumed I had an illegitimate sister and no idea whatsoever of what a healthy marriage could look like.”
“I assumed…” She poked his chest, bringing back to memory the time she had done that after their first waltz. “That you would tell me when you were ready. I’m very patient when properly motivated.”
The tension in his shoulders unraveled all at once. “So,” he said, voice softer now. He grasped her hands and pulled her a few inches closer.
Anna smacked her embroidery hoop on the chair—rather loudly. “Just reminding you,” she called out.
“As if I could forget,” Pere shot back, then shared a smile with Gabriel. “Do continue.”
“You’re rather bossy.”
“I suppose the question is, does that horrify you? Since we’re trading secrets.”
He chuckled, raised a hand, and cupped her jaw, tracing her lip with his thumb. “That, my dear Peregrine, is not a secret.”
The warmth of his skin on hers, the touch of his thumb to her lip silenced any remark she could have made; rather, she melted into the touch. She was starving for it, and she leaned in, stealing a few more inches until her toes were nearly touching his boots.
“May I request a few seconds of privacy with Lady Peregrine?” Gabriel asked, never once taking his eyes off her.
Anna’s response was immediate. “Yes, I’ll be just outside, and do hurry up—I’m growing as impatient as she is,” she teased and left the room, making a show of leaving the door wide open.
“You were right,” Gabriel started, his other hand reaching down and grasping hers, pulling it to rest on his heart.
Peregrine’s mouth curved. “That’s usually the case.”
He chuckled, warm and dark, full of secrets and love.
“I would like to spend the next fifty years proving it,” he said.
“Marry me, Pere. Not the title, not the reformed rogue—though I’m happy to keep the rogue parts for private entertainment.
Marry me because I love the way you argue with me, force my honesty, and look at me like I’m already the man I want to be.
Marry me because I am miserably, irretrievably in love with you, and I would rather like to be your husband.
” He murmured the words, coated in honey and sifting over her like soft rain.
She basked in the moment for one second, then nodded, her traitorous eyes filling with tears as she leapt forward and kissed him soundly, unreservedly, and with all the love in her heart.
His hand tightening on hers as he devoured her kiss like a man equally starved. “I’m taking that as a yes, even if you never say it,” he murmured against her lips before taking them again.
Anna’s voice floated in from the corridor: “I can’t see anything, but if that kissing sound continues, I shall be forced to intervene.”
Gabriel broke away just far enough to murmur against Peregrine’s lips, “Rakes do indeed make the best husbands.”
“Told you,” Peregrine whispered back, and pulled him in again.
As he ended the kiss, lingering as he rested his forehead against hers, he gave a soft laugh. “I still can’t believe it.”
“I guess I’ll just need to spend the next fifty or so years proving it,” Pere whispered, reaching up and caressing the back of his neck with her hand, then murmured, “Kiss me one more time before Anna barges back in here and I have to be on my best behavior.”
There was no hesitation; Gabriel’s kiss silenced the words before they even ended, and it was only when Anna smacked the door frame with the embroidery hoop in her hand that he ended the kiss.
“I assume it’s settled, then?” Anna’s question filtered through the seductive haze that surrounded Pere.
“As much as it can be without a priest present.”
“I rather suspected you’d bring one,” Anna replied, a smile in her tone.
“Yes, why did you not?” Pere teased, stepping back to a less scandalous distance but still far closer than was proper as she studied the depth of his eyes, the delicious curve of his lips.
“Because I rather thought I’d tested your family’s patience enough for today. But…” He drew out the word and studied Pere, his eyes slightly hesitant. “I did run a rather important errand while your brothers spoke with your mother.”
“Oh? And what was that errand?” Pere asked, her fingers tracing up his chest to his already destroyed cravat.
“Yes, what was that errand, Lord Hawthorne?” Anna asked, sounding as though she already knew.
Pere glanced to her, curious, then turned her attention back to Gabriel, raising an eyebrow in query.
“A special license.”
And Pere decided in that moment that, even though she thought she loved someone with her whole heart, there was always a way to love them even more.