you are. And don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you by making scenes or letting my fondness for you become an issue. Once we’ve seen Neil off, we can separate. You can go on with your life as if I don’t exist.”
A muscle jerked in his cheek, and he looked annoyed. Which was odd, because she thought he’d be grateful that she made it so easy for him to ignore his obligations to his bride. “Except you’re my wife.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t change that. I would if I could.”
Skeptical eyebrows rose. “Would you indeed?”
Quentin had stopped looking quite so devastated, she noticed, although she supposed her unwelcome confession meant he now felt sorry for her. This evening slid into a complete debacle.
“For your sake.”
“How very…self-sacrificing.”
He still sounded annoyed. She supposed the revelation that his unwanted wife harbored a penchant for him must come as a nasty surprise.
Not really understanding what he wanted from her, she made a helpless gesture. “I wish I could set you free.”
“Aye?”
Actually he was right to doubt her. Kit wasn’t sure she was quite so noble, although she wished she was. It was absurd to hope, but hope she did. Perhaps Quentin might learn to want her in time. Perhaps he might come to care.
“I’m sorry I blighted your life,” she said in a low miserable voice.
Without moving from the mantel, he studied her the way he’d studied her before he announced that he knew she was a girl. She shifted uncomfortably on the chair. When he stared at her like this, she felt like he saw right to her heart. And she was humiliatingly aware that her heart carried an image of his face.
“Well, this is a surprise,” he said in a neutral voice after a long silence.
She couldn’t help feeling that he was toying with her. Her response emerged with a hint of a snap. “I can’t help what I feel.”
He went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Because I’ve spent the last two days convinced I’ve blighted your life.”
Actually the prospect of a lifetime of unrequited love could fit that description. But she met his eyes as bravely as she could. “I’m proud to be your wife.”
To her relief, his stern expression lightened. “And I’m proud to be your husband.”
“You…you are?”
“Aye, with all my heart.” His eyes warmed, as his lips curved into a smile. “Because you see, I’m very happy to marry you, Christabel Urquhart. I’m even happier now that I know you’re not averse to the idea either.”
She frowned, as she struggled to make sense of how the world had changed in these last few seconds. “Are you saying…”
His smile broadened. “I’m saying that if the stableboy was looking inappropriately lovelorn, so was the laird’s nephew.”
A frail seedling of hope unfurled in her chest. This sounded promising. It did indeed. Perhaps the day wasn’t proving such a disaster after all. Lovelorn mightn’t be love, but it was a good start.
“Are you…are you saying you’re content with how things have turned out?”
“I’m saying that there’s nobody I’d rather spend the rest of my life with. What made me feel as low as a snake’s belly was that I was sure my damned curiosity meant you’d been forced into marrying me, when it was the last thing you wanted.”
The seedling of hope stretched toward the light. “We…we seem to have been mistaken in each other.”
He kept watching her, as if he saw every breath she took. “We do.”
She seized her courage in both hands and met his burning gaze. “So what are we going to do about it?”
Chapter 10
Quentin had spent the last two days racked between lacerating guilt for snaring Kit in this marriage and unworthy happiness that he’d caught the girl he wanted.
Now it turned out his happiness wasn’t so unworthy after all. Because it seemed the girl he wanted wanted him, too.
It was all too huge a change for his mind to encompass. So when his lovely bride asked him what he intended to do, he spoke of his most immediate concern. “What I’d like to do is take my wife to bed.”
Shining blue eyes widened, and he rushed to continue before she could send him to the devil. Or run out of the room, shrieking in terror. “But I’m well aware that you hardly know me and we had no opportunity to court, so if you’d like to wait, I understand.”
When Kit licked her lips, he closed his eyes and reminded himself he was a gentleman. He also reminded himself