“I am intrigued.”
She released his arm. “Despite every effort to staunch my growing feelings for you, I find they continue to flourish. You have not allowed them to wither and die as they ought, but have continued to feed them, causing me to form a greater attachment each time I am in your company.”
Tristan’s jaw jumped as though he was clenching and unclenching a muscle. His brown eyes were rich and deep, flickering from the reflection of the fire in the hearth. “What of Dennison?”
She groaned. “He is a good man, if somewhat self-absorbed. If I cared at all about doing my duty for my family, I would spurn you at once and beg him for a proposal.”
“You mean to imply you donotcare for doing your duty?”
Caroline breathed in his familiar bergamot and citrus scent. “I care. But James will persevere, and my mother will never be left wanting—not between James and I. My father has made mistakes, but it is not my responsibility to refill the coffers he emptied. I love my family, but I will not choose a husband based on money. It is too changeable a feature. I would prefer to choose a husband based on how I feel for him.”
“How do you feel for me, Caro?”
Her heart pounded hard in her chest, her breath growing shallow. When she spoke, her voice came out a whisper. “I love you, Tristan.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
It took all of Tristan’s willpower not to pull Caroline into his arms right then and devour her. He held his ground, difficult as it was, and maintained steady breathing as she confessed her feelings for him—the very thing he had been dying to hear.
“Perhaps I am being foolish, but I think we could contrive to live simply,” Caroline said. “I have been practiced in economizing these last few years, and I do not have a great need for expensive entertainment.”
“You needn’t worry about money,” he said.
“Why?”
“As you mentioned, James will be quite all right. Your brother is going to marry an heiress. He will be securely settled, and the estate will flourish. As to our comfort, I have already set something in motion which I hope will prove prosperous. We must be prepared for the economizing you speak of. Only, I hope it will not be necessary.”
Caroline’s shoulders relaxed.
“As for how you feel,” he said, stepping closer, “I have long hoped you would come to this decision.”
“It was not easily done, I assure you.”
“Ah, yes. Dennison’s masterful diatribes on horseflesh put me to the blush.”
Her smile broke free, stretching over her lips. “You are being ridiculous.”
“Or was it his monologues on his other great features? I vow I’ve never had a conversation with the man that did not somehow center around him.”
“Be kind.”
“You are correct.” Tristan ran his fingers over her silky hair, then along her jawline. “He is going to be devastated, and I am going to be yours.”
Caroline sucked in a breath that made Tristan’s blood hum. She leaned toward him, and he did not need further encouragement. He pulled her tightly against him and lowered his lips, brushing them softly against hers. Caroline melted into him, her hands sliding up his chest as she tilted her head. He kissed her deeply, feeling every inch of his body on fire with her touch. He had waited so long for this moment—it was everything he dreamed it could be, and more.
Caroline fit seamlessly against him, and her willing lips left no doubt that her heart answered his own.
Tristan took her head gently in his hands and kissed her with all the pent-up emotion he’d been harboring for weeks. He showed her exactly how he felt, tilting her head and deepening the kiss through volleys of shivers and waves of heat.
“I love you,” he breathed. “Have done so since the first moment you released a cunning remark. Your wit and beauty combined were unmatched, and I was lost to you almost at once.”
Her round blue eyes blinked up at him.
“At once? When we were climbing trees as children, then?”
He smiled, relishing the weight of her leaning against him. “I do not recall whether it was when you told me you would rather marry a toad, or when I heard you inviting your maid’s sister to stay at your house when she had nowhere else to turn. Learning you put me aside for Dennison stung less when I learned it was because your family needed you. Caro, you are forever caring for others. Your heart it so large already, it is a wonder you have room for me in there as well.”
Her eyes shone.
