“And…and Gertrude and Lincoln will be an added household expense,” she continued. “And we’ll have to find a place for them in your home in the north. Plus, there’s the issue of—”
Gray cupped her cheeks and dropped his mouth to hers, silencing her ramblings in the sweetest way possible. At first the kiss was gentle, just a brush of lips on lips, but that didn’t last. It never did. The passion that always seemed to flare the moment they touched rose to the surface once more. He angled his head for better access, sweeping his tongue across the crease of her lips.
She opened. Of course she did, for denying him was an exercise in futility. He tasted of mint as he delved inside, stroking and tasting and teasing until she went boneless and needy from her head to her toes.
Only then did he release her. He smiled at her bleary-eyed stare and smoothed the pad of his thumb over her cheek. “I don’t give a damn about money, Rosalinde. I have plenty. I’ll buy you ten new wardrobes just because it pleases me to see you in pretty things. My home in the north is small, yes, but once we arrive we will buy a new one. Or build something on the land I own there. Or both. The arrangements are not a concern, though this conversation is.”
“Is it?” she asked, still shaken by the power of his kiss.
“Yes. Because I don’t believe you decided to come all the way to my room to talk to me about this.” He tilted his head. “So what do you really want to discuss?”
She reached up and closed her hand around his. “How do you know me so well?”
The corner of his lip quirked up. “Come now, Rosalinde, confession time.”
She let her breath exit her mouth slowly, trying to slow her racing heart. Of course it was to no avail. She was sitting next to Gray, her hand in his, her heart was going to race.
“The past day and a half has been such a whirlwind,” she began. “Between the events in Stenfax’s office, to our decision to wed, to Celia’s broken engagement. I’ve hardly had time to breathe.”
He nodded. “It has been quite an experience. I felt like I hardly saw you at all yesterday with all the insanity involving the special license and your fittings and the like.”
“Yes. But though I’ve been caught up, I have still had time to think.”
He had been smiling slightly, and now that expression fell. “Think? Please don’t tell me you want to change your mind, Rosalinde, because I don’t think we could mitigate the damage done if you did that on the day we are to marry.”
“No, I have no desire to stop this wedding,” she reassured him. “But I do think we must go into it honestly. With both of us knowing exactly where we stand.”
His jaw was tightening with every word and he slowly withdrew his hand from hers, like he was expecting an attack. “What is it you’re trying to say, Rosalinde? Just be honest and come out with it.”
She shifted. His withdrawal didn’t make this any easier, but now she had started and she couldn’t go back.
“I love you,” she said, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and repeated it with more strength. “I love you, Gray. And I wanted to tell you that before we married, so that you know where I stand. Now, I don’t expect you to return those sentiments. But I wanted you to understand my heart so that we start out correctly.”
The words were out and there was a part of her that felt free in saying them. But the other part looked at Gray, who was juststaringat her, his expression unreadable, and wished she had kept her feelings to herself.
“Please say something,” she whispered when he was silent for what seemed like an eternity.
“You love me?” he said, and his voice was rough as sandpaper.
She nodded. “I-I do. I have for a little while now. Before everything happened with my grandfather and the broken engagement.”
“You love me,” he said again, this time slower, like he was rolling it around on his tongue to test the veracity of the words.
“Yes,” she said. “But as I said, I have no expectation that you—”
“Oh, please don’t launch into a longwinded speech that excuses me from making a decision regarding this matter,” Gray said with a shake of his head. “Let me respond before you talk me out of what I do or do not feel.”
Rosalinde forced her lips together to keep from rambling.
He cleared his throat. “Emotion has never been easy for me. I never made a connection with a woman, certainly. After watching my brother crushed beneath the weight of what he thought was love and my sister nearly killed by the same, I shunned the emotion. And not just shunned it, I did my level best to shut it off. I even denied myself physical pleasures in the belief they would make me weak.”
Gray had touched on those subjects over the weeks, so they weren’t a surprise to her. She wanted to say something but forced herself to remain quiet and let him continue.
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “And then cameyou.”
There was something accusatory in his tone, and she flinched. “Me.”
He sighed. “Yes. When you walked into that awful inn, snow blowing around you, cheeks pink, you woke me up. I didn’t want to be awake, but I had no choice. I thought I could walk away and pretend that night hadn’t happened. When you arrived here, I realized I had to face what I wanted. What Ineed.”
