Always the Rival (Never the Bride #7) - Emily E K Murdoch Page 0,75
with. Abandoning one woman with twenty thousand to wed another with merely two was madness. But he was of age, and so was she. He chose happiness, not duty.
Not caring a whit precisely where he was going, he pulled her arm into his and started walking down the street. She kept pace with him and mirrored his silence.
After five minutes of fast walking, Charles saw what he was looking for. At the very last moment, when they passed the entrance to the alleyway, he sidestepped and pulled Priscilla in with him.
“Charles, what –”
She had cried out in surprise, but it had not lasted long. Not now, Charles had pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately.
In that first instant, Priscilla resisted him, squirming in his arms and pulling away – but by the next moment, she was melting into his arms and returning his fiery kisses with just as much ardor.
Charles could not care what was happening in the world. Debts? Responsibilities? Mortgages? What did they matter, when Priscilla was in his arms? When she was against his chest, her tongue teasing his own, her fingers wrapped in his hair?
He could have spent hours there, lost in her embrace, feeling, not thinking, but after a few minutes, Priscilla pulled away.
“No.”
Charles smiled. “No?”
“No, Charles,” she said, a little more firmly this time. “No, we cannot just fall into this again, it is not right! You need to find a bride.”
“What if I want to keep kissing you?” he growled. After so much pain, after being separated so long by his own idiocy, he was not going to let go of her now. “What if I want you more than anything in this world?”
“I am not saying that I have no wish to kiss you, Charles, but – come now, we must speak first! You are not engaged to Frances any longer.”
It was more a statement than a question, and Charles was so full of joy he could not help but reply with cheek. “No, I am not. Are you?”
His heart was singing. His soul was free, and the burden of restoring the financial fortunes of his family had disappeared. He had not even noticed how slumped his shoulders had been for the last few months.
Now they were light, and his teasing nature resurfaced. “You love me after all that has happened. I want to kiss you, and you wish to kiss me. I see no problem.”
He leaned closer to capture her lips again, but Priscilla leaned back, laughing. “You are teasing me!”
Her cheeks were pink, but her smile remained. “Yes, but only because I love you. ’Tis a terrible thing, to tease a lady one is not besotted with. Do you love me?”
Priscilla sighed. “Everything I have done has been because I love you, Charles. How can you doubt that?”
“I never doubted it, but I do not believe I allowed my heart to understand it,” he murmured, becoming a little more serious. “Damnit, Priscilla, I cannot even explain to you the surge of emotions and the depths of despair I have experienced these last few days. I never wanted you to think less of me, but…”
“Think less of you?” There was a fierceness to her tone now, though she kept her voice quiet. “I do not believe you could do anything to make me think less of you!”
“Breaking the engagement – or rather, not breaking it,” he said, luxuriating in the feeling of her in his arms. “I was frightened, I admit it, of the negative repercussions of breaking off the agreement I had with Miss Lloyd. I should have trusted my feelings, trusted you. All of this pain and uncertainty could have been avoided.”
Priscilla nodded. “Yes, I suppose so. But you would not have been the caring, conscientious man I knew. That I loved.”
“Nevertheless, I should not have allowed that fear to overcome me,” said Charles heavily. He would never forget how easily he was overwhelmed by it. He would never allow himself to be so easily swayed again. “I had you, and I almost lost you. I am sorry, Priscilla. Can you ever forgive me?”
She replied with a swift kiss, one that simply did not continue long enough. Charles groaned as she pulled away, and she smiled.
“If we are going to take turns to make confessions, then I suppose it is my turn,” she said. “I admit, I became a little swept up into the idea of being Miss Lloyd’s rival. I should have thought more about you.