It ought to have been a dream. But it wasn’t.
His arms drew her closer, but with a groan, Lord Standish loosened his hold and suspended the kiss.
“I didn’t… I’m sorry.” He bent his head forward, resting his forehead on hers. “I didn’t mean to do that.” He sounded almost as surprised as she felt.
Not that a kiss wasn’t the perfect accompaniment to a marriage proposal, but they had moved from being casual acquaintances to a courting couple over the course of two minutes.
It could not be real.
This… could not be real.
“You kissed me.” Goldie stared at the backs of her gloved hands, which rested on the wool of his coat. This close, she could practically count the whiskers on his chin and jaw. She could study the pink of his lips, dewy wet from kissing her.
His chuckle rumbled through her entire body.
“Yes, I suppose I did,” he said.
And then he tipped her chin back and stared into her eyes. “Will you? Will you marry me?”
Goldie rolled her lips together. She wanted this to be real. She wanted to believe he’d suddenly been overwhelmed with his attraction for her, but…
Something was off.
She shook her head. “I’ll think about it.”
An expression flashed across his face—disappointment?
But he dropped his hands from her waist, and when he took a step back, Goldie’s hands slid off his chest.
Cold chased away the warmth from a moment earlier.
“I need an answer right away.” He stared over her shoulder as though lost in thought. “I realize the timeline is unprecedented…”
“How soon?” Goldie asked and then swallowed hard. “How soon do you need to know?”
Most of her yearned to accept—particularly her heart, her mouth, her arms—good heavens, even the aching in her breasts and between her legs!
This was an opportunity to marry the object of her most heartfelt affection, for heaven’s sake! But it was her head that kept her from accepting him outright—a decision-making part of her that was solid and familiar.
“I’ll need your answer by tomorrow afternoon.”
“You cannot be serious.” Why was he in such a hurry? Gone was the man who’d held her so tenderly moments before. This man…
Was quite determined.
He dipped his chin.
“But I hardly know you,” she protested. Yes, she’d put herself in his path whenever possible last summer. But the man she’d mooned over had been fifth in line to an earldom—he’d been a steward of the earl’s properties. And now.
Now he was the earl.
Surely, taking on such a responsibility could change a person. Had they changed him?
Furthermore, as Standish now, he could have his pick of the debutantes this season.
Although the rumors were rather alarming. Goldie narrowed her eyes. Her own father had ordered her to keep away from him. Were the rumors bad enough so as to make him unmarriageable?
Surely not!
