“You’ll regret this!” her mother spat. “When the news of the duke jilting you has reached theton, we shan’t take you in! You’ll see that we were right. Your sisters will not suffer for your sins.”
With one last glare at her and Thomas, her parents huffed out of the room.
Maria’s pulse thudded in her ears, and her empty stomach threatened to heave. She’d done it, then. She had severed whatever affable ties there had been with her parents.
A weight that had settled around her heart for years began to lift, and hope began to replace it.
Her hand reflexively squeezed Thomas’, and he returned it with one of his own. The loss of her parents wouldn’t prove difficult when she was on the side of love.
Fists and jaw clenched, Jasper resumed his seat at her bedside. “Are you both well?”
“No,” Maria whispered, turning to smile up at Thomas. “But I daresay we will be.”
“I can’t believe you did that, Maria,” Thomas breathed, his eyes welling. “You’ve just d-d—click—defied them for me—again.”
“And I would do so again.” In fact, it didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would.
He nodded, sitting on the bed’s edge and adjusting his grip on her hand. “If you—grunt—require it, I should be glad to remake—click, grunt—your wardrobe. The payment from the latest batch of c-c-c—click—costumes is due to come in, and with your new—grunt—book set to print, I’m certain we shall have enough—grunt, grunt—funds for a strong beginning.” He shuffled closer, his eyes hopeful. “Perhaps I could pick up your assignments—grunt—fromThe Morning Heraldand you could write them at home.”
“That’s very thoughtful, Thomas. I?—”
“Iwill pay for the fabric,” Jasper offered. “According to my steward, soon the dukedom will no longer be in arrears. I would be pleased to provide you with whatever you desire.”
A delightful fluttering filled her chest and abdomen, but fear quashed it.
She cleared her throat. “Thomas, would you please give us a moment?”
“I daresay you’ve—click, click—had more than enough moments alone. But very well.” He bussed Maria on the forehead, gave Jasper a long glance, and hastily left the room.
This moment was inevitable, Maria knew; it had been planned from the beginning. Though, now that it was here, she detested it far more than she’d thought possible. The happy nerves that had, just moments ago, thrilled her insides, turned to stones that plummeted in her abdomen.
“We have Francis and his accomplice, at last,” she began. “Our task is complete. And…my parents’ hold on me appears to have been severed.” Her hands twisted in the counterpane of their own accord. “I no longer require an engagement to satisfy my parents’ demands or to allow me the freedom to continue my work.”
* * *
“I beg your pardon?”Jasper asked, tingles of unease racing up the backs of his legs.
Maria’s eyes watered, and she took a quavering breath that gave Jasper the slightest bit of hope.
“I am not an ordinary woman,” she whispered. “And while, in the throes of passion, you’ve stated that you enjoy the more masculine part of me, I am fearful that you would come to regret that.”
His chest squeezed. “No, Maria. You?—”
“I have no wish to bore you, Jasper.”
“Bore me! I can safely guarantee that with you I shall never be bored.” Shifting closer, he clasped her hand in his and took a deep breath. Now was his moment to put voice to what was in his heart. “I confess, when I proposed marriage, we both were taken by surprise.” He rubbed the pad of his thumb over the smooth skin on the back of her hand. Even after her ordeal, she still smelled like parchment, ink, and soap. “And yet, the moment I uttered the words, I knew in my heart—my very soul—just how greatly I desired it.”
As he spoke, Maria’s grey eyes grew wider, and Jasper’s stomach began a tumbling act.
“I’ve no desire for a fashionable marriage,” she blurted. “If we marry, I would require faithfulness.”
“That, I can provide.” His heart leapt and he moved to sit next to her on the bed, careful not to jostle or bump her arm. “While I cannot say that I haveenjoyedFrancis’ machinations, I must admit that it has taught me more about you,Mr. Mystery.” He let his assumption hang there between them, waiting for her to refute it. She remained silent, so he continued. “And the more I’ve come to learn, the more I cannot deny my feelings. I love you, Maria.”
Tears spilled over the edge of her eyelids and, with a sniff, she wiped them away with her free hand. “I love you, too, Jasper.”
The tightness in his chest abruptly released, and his heart soared. Christ, but those words on her tongue! He beamed, and swept forward to press his lips hard against hers. She gasped into his mouth and touched her tongue to his, and his cock twitched. He was utterly enraptured by this woman, but now was certainly not the time to show herjusthow much.
“Will you marry me, Mr. Mystery, Mr. Duncan Robertson, née Miss Maria Roberts?”
