Something inside her melted and it felt right, oh, so right.
It wasn’t enough. She wanted to get closer. He took her in his arms and deepened the kiss. His hands dug into her hair and held her nape.
This,Arabella thought.This.
This was so much better than the wet peck Mr Gabriel had given her, or the misaimed kiss that Lord Finlay had tried to steal.
She sighed against his lips.
Philip kissed her once, twice, three times. Then held her in his embrace, her head against his heart, which thudded comfortingly.
Suspended in time, Arabella fell into a dreamy, content state. She could’ve stayed like that forever.
I’m so in love with you.
He let her go and stared at her as if he saw her for the first time.
Dear sweet heaven. She must’ve said it out loud. She coloured fiercely.
The silence between them became unbearable.
“Philip?” To her dismay, her voice broke slightly.
“I’m — I’m—” He took a step back. He pulled both hands through his hair and held them clasped behind his neck. “What completely inappropriate behaviour on my part.”
She swallowed hard, trying to manage a feeble answer. “Inappropriate? Or inevitable?”
He took a step back. “Jenny.”
Arabella flinched. “Jenny?”
“My wife.”
She took a sharp intake of breath as his words pierced her heart.
He hesitated, measuring her for a moment. Then he stood straight and pulled down his waistcoat. “I — I am — I — I didn’t think. Pray accept my apologies. It will not happen again.” He gave a stiff bow and left the room.
Arabella remained alone in the room, her blood pounding with humiliation. What on earth had just happened? She buried her face with her hands. Did she really just declare her love for Philip Merivale — and been rejected?
Arabella passedthe next day in a daze. Throughout the entire morning, she heard him hammering like a wild man in the forge. It disturbed their lessons. In the end, she dismissed the children with an assignment and returned to her room. She dropped onto her bed, exhausted. It was barely noontime.
She’d tossed and turned the entire night. Her entire body alternately burning with humiliation, then shivering with chills when she recalled his rejection.
There’d been an undeniable attraction from the very first. She hadn’t been wrong about that. She’d enjoyed every minute of his company, and she thought it had been mutual. The way his eyes lit up every time they landed on her. The way he liked to tease her. How easily they talked. How comfortable they felt in each other’s company.
She’d never admired a man more. She’d never loved a man more. Arabella swallowed, as she acknowledged her feelings. It was true. She loved him. She’d known it for a while. She refused to be ashamed of her feelings.
And he?
He’d been married. To this Jenny. The mother of his three children.
Arabella groaned. Of course. How could she have forgotten? The children still loved and missed their mother dearly. Evidently, so did he. He will deny his attraction to her because of Jenny. How dare she think she could live up to her memory?
A heavy sadness weighed itself around Arabella’s heart.
Their kiss had been a mistake.
Her confession of love, a disaster. What would happen now? Could she ever face him again?
