He raked a hand through his hair. “Not particularly.”
She smiled. “I thought not, so what would you rather do instead?”
His gaze darted to her lips and lingered there until Elma hustled up to join them.
“This is your moment, boy. Time for you to get around to see iffen the two of you are compatible once and for all.”
Owen’s brow furrowed. “Not to be rude, Aunt Elma, but this is hardly the moment for another interruption.”
“And to that I say hogwash. You’ve already lost this little lady once—not that it was your fault, mind you—but ’afore some other disaster strikes, you gotta get down to some serious business.”
“I’m intending to.”
Elma sent him a nod. “Well then, git on with it, but that gittin’ on with it better not be havin’ you doin’ any proposin’ just yet because you got another matter to attend to before that step.”
“I bet that step has something to do with kissing again,” Charles said, walking into the room with Luella by his side, Luella nodding even as she grinned.
“I bet you’re right, Charles, so...” Luella turned her grin on Owen. “If you want to get on with matters, I think you’re going to have to convince Aunt Elma that you adhered to her advice and stole a few kisses from Camilla, and that both of you are in accord that your kissing has made you realize you’re incredibly compatible.”
Owen narrowed his eyes on his sister. “I thought I told you to stay behind.”
Luella batted her lashes at him. “Did you? I must have missed that as everyone got ready for the big rescue attempt, which clearly has been a rousing success. However, returning to the kissing situation, I have it on good authority, or rather, Lottie’s authority, that the two of you almost kissed, until Lottie and Edward interrupted you.”
“Why would they have gone and done somethin’ like that?” Elma demanded.
Luella gave a breezy wave of her hand. “I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, Aunt Elma, just as I’m sure Owen and Camilla got back to the whole kissing business at some point since Lottie mentioned it appeared to her as if they both seemed rather keen to kiss each other before they were interrupted.” She turned and arched a brow Owen’s way. “Am I right?”
“Ah...”
“I’ll take that to mean there’s been no kissing as of yet,” Beulah said, stepping forward and sending a nod Owen’s way. “That means you best get on with it now because you know Elma isn’t going to let you get on with proposing until she’s sure you and Camilla are compatible in the kissing department.”
“This is really not how I thought any of this was going to unfold,” Owen grumbled.
“It would’ve been unfoldin’ a whole lot differently if you’d done kissed her already,” Elma shot back.
Owen rubbed his jaw. “Undoubtedly, but in my defense, I didn’t know if Camilla would be receptive to me trying to kiss her again until right before she got abducted.”
Camilla frowned. “Why didn’t you think I wanted you to kiss me?”
Owen frowned right back at her. “Because after that time I attempted to kiss you and we were interrupted, you gave me no indication you wanted me to try again.” He took a step closer to her. “I figured, since you’re the expert in matters of romance, that you’d give me some sort of sign that you wouldn’t be opposed to some kissing—and with me, of course.”
“I arranged for us to be alone together numerous times,” she pointed out.
He blinked. “Those times were on purpose?”
“They were, but evidently you didn’t realize that.”
A hint of a smile curved his lips. “Further proof that I truly don’t understand women.”
She gave his arm a pat. “You’re actually more astute about us than you realize and—”
“While I hate to interrupt this ridiculous conversation, I cannot remain silent another second,” George said, striding over to join them from where he’d taken to hiding behind a large chair when gunshots had begun ringing out, proving himself to be, not only a cad, but an outright coward. He scowled at Camilla. “You cannotseriously be considering marrying this fool. Why, he looks like a farmhand, which means he’s not good enough to even speak to you, let alone marry you.”
Camilla’s jaw took to clenching. “Owen’s not the fool here, George.”
“Surely you’re not suggesting I am,” George scoffed. “But again, you can’t marry him, even if he might have impressed you by using all that brute strength of his to take out Victor. You’re much too refined for someone like him, and you know you belong with me. You’re simply being ridiculous, a trait of yours I realize I’ll need to learn to live with, but...”
Camilla’s temper took that moment to reach a boiling point, which resulted in her hand balling into a fist right before she took a step closer to George, drew back her arm, then punched the man directly in the nose.
