“Meghan.” August thundered away the rest of boy’s words. He shouted loud enough for all Mayfair to hear.
Meghan dusted both palms over her cheeks to wipe her tears.
“I was hoping you would say that, as she’s been quite long since…since… you know,” Oleander called down awkwardly, for all the passersby.
Muttering, Meghan pushed him aside.
“August.”
Ah, God.
He had missed her. So damned much.
“Meghan,” he called. “I have come for you—”
“What took you?” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “You are l-late, August.” Shaking. Trembling, she backed away, and then continued retreating from that window.
I’m too late…
“N-No,” he breathed.Please, don’t go. He wanted to call up. To beg her, but then she was gone, and he was left with nothing, once more.
Or even worse—he was left with a window full of McQuoids who weren’t Meghan.
The heavy folder in his hands suddenly felt heavier.
God, he had missed her. He had planned this; every minute of the whole damned meeting had been meticulously planned, and she would not receive him.
And her tears, those tears he would sell his soul to stop, came, and he was powerless. Trapped with a fortress of McQuoids between them.
Wiping a hand over his mouth, he did a small circle on the cobblestones; gravel crunched beneath his feet.
The front doors blew open.
Culross dropped the leather folio and whipped back, prepared for a McQuoid fight.
He threw his arms open just in time.
She launched herself full-force. With her lean legs about his waist and her arms about his neck, Meghan hugged him so hard he nearly strangled.
But then she kissed him, and it was all right, because he figured if he was going to die, this was the way to—
Meghan eased off his neck. He sucked in gasps of air.
Culross decided he would rather live—as long as it was with her.
She ran trembling fingertips over his cheek. “You are here.”
“Of course, I’m here,” he said, clearing his throat. Coughing once more. “Where else would I be?”
“I honestly do not know, August,” Her eyes flashed—the fire. “Because I asked for a jest, and your reply of maybe later led me to believe it would not be…”
They spoke at the same time.
“Twelve days, eleven hours and two minutes.”
“Twelve days, eleven hours, and twenty-two minutes,” he said.
They both stopped abruptly.
