She had merely sighed and given him up as a lost cause. But now, by some miracle, he had overcome the first hurdle and convinced Evelyn to become his wife.
All he had to do now was to convince her to do that today.
“I have no bride clothes,” she said in some horror, still in that snow-laden garden. She attempted to pull her hand from his; he held on. “And—what will my father say?”
“I imagine he will congratulate me, and tell me I should have done this fifteen years ago.”
“Charles! Be serious.”
“I am. You do nothaveto marry me today.” He slid a hand along her nape, but although she shivered at the contact, she made no attempt to escape. “If you would rather we waited the three weeks to read the banns,then of course we can. And if you would prefer to be married somewhere other than Havercroft, then—”
“It is not the church I object to.”
“Then what?”
“I—” Her brows creased. “Is it not ill-mannered of us to marry so soon after your engagement with Lady Rosamund ended?”
“Ah. That.” He smoothed a thumb along the line of her jaw. “You’re right, of course, and for that reason, I thought we might delay the announcements. Just by a month. It will be news, you know, that London’s greatest bachelor has at last taken a wife.”
“You are perfectly ridiculous. A fool.”
“But a charming one.” He bent and kissed her again, and her hand tensed around his arm, pulling him closer before she broke free with a gasp.
“You are distracting me,” she told him, the severity of the statement spoilt by her flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. “Why the urgency to marry me now?”
“There are two reasons.” He ghosted his nose in the delicate space behind her ear. “The first is that I have waited long enough. Largely as a result of my own foolhardiness, but even so.”
“And the second?”
For this, he leant back so he could see her eyes, deep and blue and lovely. “I want you,” he said simply. “And call me old-fashioned, but it would better suit my honour if we waited to be husband and wife.”
Confusion swam across her gaze. “Now it matters to you?”
“It always mattered to me, Pidge. Before, I thought there might be no other way to have you, and I was willing to risk everything to know how you tasted. But now,” he continued, ignoring her blush, “I get to have everything, and thus I would rather wait. But I would rathernotwait very long. So I met with the Archbishop of Canterbury and expressed my imminent desire to marry you, and he granted permission.” At the slight shiver that ran through her, he tucked her hand back in his arm and led her back to the house. Even if he lost the battle over their marriage, she had at least agreed to marry him—that was enough. And even if he had towait, he could learn patience. “The choice is yours. So long as you marry me, the details are incidental.”
“And you don’t mind if I’m not wearing a bridal gown?”
As to that, he had a solution, but no intention of pressuring her into it. “Darling,” he said tenderly, kissing her knuckles, “I don’t mind what you wear to wed me in, so long as I have the honour of removing it from you shortly thereafter.”
To his everlasting delight, she threw back her head and laughed, her breath crystallising into the frozen air.
The next few minutes passed in a blur. The moment they stepped back inside the house, the entire household converged on them, it seemed, to wish them happy. Evelyn understood then why Charles had removed them both from the building so they might speak alone. He knew how much her privacy meant to her.
He knew so many things about her.
“I prevailed,” he announced as they crossed the threshold, and his mother gave a gasp of such genuine joy, Evelyn thought for a moment she had fainted. Instead, she merely pulled Evelyn in for a hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered in her ear. “For loving him the way you do.”
Evelyn pulled back, and an understanding passed between the two women. The duchess patted her cheek before Evelyn turned to the duke. He was an older version of Charles, and his eyes twinkled as he brought her hand to his lips.
“It seems congratulations are in order,” he said. “Though rather more so to my son, I think. It is an honour to welcome you into our family. I hope you will always encourage Charles to be his better self. Of all thepotential brides I considered for him, I think you have the best chance of success.”
“Thank you,” Evelyn said, overwhelmed.
Her father, leaning heavily on a stick, hobbled towards her, his hand outstretched. “My darling Evelyn,” he said, kissing her cheek with papery lips. “I am so happy for you. As for you, you rogue.” He shook Charles’s hand with surprising vigour. “I had given up hope.”
“As had I, sir,” Charles said with a grin.
