Marrying her Best-Friend - Fiona Miers Page 0,12

“I am surprised that she has not found you a wife already.”

Lizzie cocked her head as she noticed a slight hint of hesitation in Carson’s manner suddenly. Her brow furrowed.

“While we are on the subject, my lady,” Carson said as he glanced at her, his eyes darkening. “My sister has lost her mind and taken it upon herself to arrange a meeting with Miss Violet Saunders.”

Lizzie searched her memory. That name rang a bell somewhere.

“The chief magistrate’s daughter?” Lizzie inquired with surprise as she raised her glass of water to her lips.

“Indeed.”

“Why?” Of all the people to introduce to Carson, why Violet Saunders?

“Adrienne is under the impression that we will be a delightful couple.”

Cold water spewed from Lizzie’s mouth in an icy spray.

Carson glanced at her in horror, but only for a moment. Then a smile formed on his lips as he reached for her face and wiped the water from her chin.

“That was precisely the reaction I would have given at that moment,” Carson nodded in agreement.

Lizzie reached for her handkerchief that lay in the pocket of her dress. She quickly dabbed at her wet, cold face, still feeling the tinge of Carson’s touch.

“What did you tell her?” she demanded. Adrienne couldn’t possibly be thinking of Violet for Carson’s bride.

“I have never met the young woman, which makes me even more unsettled, but Adrienne is as persistent as she is caring. I had no choice in the matter,” Carson sighed and glanced at Lizzie. “It does not upset you, does it?”

Lizzie scoffed and shook her head as she placed the glass on the table. “Why would that upset me? You know very well that I wish for you to be happy.”

Lizzie could not help but feel utterly disappointed by this turn of events. Perhaps if she had the courage to make her feelings for him known, she would not be sitting there on the terrace, hearing of this meeting he now had with Miss Violet.

A meeting that could potentially lead to a future marriage. Lizzie was aware how insistent and persistent Miss Adrienne was, and Lizzie was quite certain that she would do anything and everything to ensure that Carson married a woman she saw as fitting.

However, Adrienne was wrong. Miss Violet was not a good fit for Carson at all, but it was certainly not her place to tell him that. She’d probably appear jealous and spiteful.

In her heart, she tried to convince herself that she was neither of those things. But the multitude of emotions bubbling up inside her – anger, disappointment, guilt, disbelief, resentment, sadness, loneliness – caused her to pause.

It had become increasingly obvious that Carson meant much more to her than she’d thought.

“Adrienne is an intelligent woman, and she knows you well. Who better to choose a wife for you than her?” Lizzie eventually asked, forcing a smile.

“You overestimate her ability to know me, Lizzie,” Carson said with a shake of his head. “There is only one person in the world who knows me better than I know myself,” Carson said with a tender tone in his baritone voice, and his eyes softened significantly. “And that person is you.”

Lizzie’s heart leapt and she gripped her handkerchief in her lap tightly to stop herself from squealing or something else equally embarrassing.

“But it is not for me to decide whom you must marry. That choice is solely yours, is it not?” Lizzie asked.

“We shall see,” Carson muttered. “I am, however, not optimistic with regards to the outcome of tonight’s meeting. I do not believe that love and marriage can be forced.”

“I agree. Marriage is simply a terrible thing. If one falls in love and finds the one person they wish to spend the rest of their life alongside, then I do not object in the least. But forcing two people who have nothing in common to marry and pretend to be a happy family for the sake of appearances is simply foolish,” Lizzie confessed.

Her brothers had both found love, and she was happy for them. Marriage suited such alliances.

“I agree with you. It is simply the part of this world we find ourselves in,” Carson mumbled.

“Perhaps you and I should escape this world. Clearly there is nothing for us here,” Lizzie suggested.

“Next Spring,” Carson smiled at her, and an enormous swarm of butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

The urge to kiss him came forth once more, but she fought it with every cell in her body.

Now was not the time.

But... when would it ever be the right