“It’s the life I’ve always wanted.”
“Perhaps what we’ve always wanted isn’t what we want now.”
His lungs expressed no will to move as he watched her mind race behind her eyes. At last, she said, “You’re right.”
Agreement had come too easily. He couldn’t trust it. “I am?”
“Perhaps that isn’t the future I want.”
A petal of hope peeled back inside him. “Isn’t it?”
“Perhaps I don’t want to marry at all.”
The hopeful momentum of the moment came to a screeching halt.
How in the blazes had they arrivedherefrom where they’d started?
A realization crashed down on him.
He’d missed his moment.
At some point during this evening, he should’ve fallen to his knees and begged her to marry him.
Or…it had already been too late then.
He should’ve done it the moment they’d met in Hyde Park.
“Tonight,” she said, “at the dance, we’ll break it off as we began.”
“What does that mean?” He was having difficulty keeping up with the inner workings of her mind.
“Publicly.”
As we began.
He could groan.
He could shout.
Of course, that was the inevitable end to their arrangement.
But…was that the end ofthem?
Was it, too, inevitable?
He did know this: now wasn’t the time to ask. He would only make it worse.
He needed time…time to think.
Which left him with but one more thing to say… “You should leave now.”
She blinked. She’d expected him to keep arguing.
Good.
He’d defied her expectations.
It was a start, anyway.
