“Good Lord, Hawthorne,” Peregrine said before he could speak.“You look as though you’ve been dragged through White’s backward and then lost a duel with a cravat.”
He glanced down at himself and gave a lopsided grin.“Accurate.Your brothers are brutal when they decide to play inquisitor.”
“I’ve been on the receiving end of that sort of discussion,” she replied teasingly.“However, they would never threaten me with bodily harm, as they did you.”
“No, I imagine the bodily harm would come from your direction,” he flirted.
“Unfair… drat.No, you’re right.Are you going to stand over there all day, or…?”Pere’s impatience spilled out in words.
He sighed and regarded her.“I’m giving myself space, since there’s some information you need to have before I continue.It’s a bit sordid.”
Peregrine arched a brow.“Definesordid.”
He stopped just in front of her, hands clasped behind his back as if he didn’t trust them.“Lord Carver ruined my mother long ago.Thoroughly.There was a child—my half sister, Eliza.She was packed off to cousins and raised as legitimate.She’s descending on London next fortnight for her season, and if the ton starts digging, the whole ugly tale will crawl out of its grave.With the scandal that has rather unfortunately chased your family after Henley’s event and Edwin’s last season, I wanted you aware should it impact your standing within society.”
Peregrine blinked once.“Is that all?”
Gabriel huffed a startled laugh.“You’re supposed to be horrified.”
“I’m mostly horrified it took you this long to tell me,” she said, reaching up to tug his hand loose and lace their fingers.“I recognized Carver’s name but didn’t know all the details.I simply assumed it wasn’t good based on your reaction when you saw him.”
He stared at her.“You assumed I had an illegitimate sister and no idea whatsoever of what a healthy marriage could look like.”
“I assumed…” She poked his chest, bringing back to memory the time she had done that after their first waltz.“That you would tell me when you were ready.I’m very patient when properly motivated.”
The tension in his shoulders unraveled all at once.“So,” he said, voice softer now.He grasped her hands and pulled her a few inches closer.
Anna smacked her embroidery hoop on the chair—rather loudly.“Just reminding you,” she called out.
“As if I could forget,” Pere shot back, then shared a smile with Gabriel.“Do continue.”
“You’re rather bossy.”
“I suppose the question is, does that horrify you?Since we’re trading secrets.”
He chuckled, raised a hand, and cupped her jaw, tracing her lip with his thumb.“That, my dear Peregrine, is not a secret.”
The warmth of his skin on hers, the touch of his thumb to her lip silenced any remark she could have made; rather, she melted into the touch.She was starving for it, and she leaned in, stealing a few more inches until her toes were nearly touching his boots.
“May I request a few seconds of privacy with Lady Peregrine?”Gabriel asked, never once taking his eyes off her.
Anna’s response was immediate.“Yes, I’ll be just outside, and do hurry up—I’m growing as impatient as she is,” she teased and left the room, making a show of leaving the door wide open.
“You were right,” Gabriel started, his other hand reaching down and grasping hers, pulling it to rest on his heart.
Peregrine’s mouth curved.“That’s usually the case.”
He chuckled, warm and dark, full of secrets and love.“I would like to spend the next fifty years proving it,” he said.“Marry me, Pere.Not the title, not the reformed rogue—though I’m happy to keep the rogue parts for private entertainment.Marry me because I love the way you argue with me, force my honesty, and look at me like I’m already the man I want to be.Marry me because I am miserably, irretrievably in love with you, and I would rather like to be your husband.”He murmured the words, coated in honey and sifting over her like soft rain.
She basked in the moment for one second, then nodded, her traitorous eyes filling with tears as she leapt forward and kissed him soundly, unreservedly, and with all the love in her heart.
His hand tightening on hers as he devoured her kiss like a man equally starved.“I’m taking that as a yes, even if you never say it,” he murmured against her lips before taking them again.
Anna’s voice floated in from the corridor: “I can’t see anything, but if that kissing sound continues, I shall be forced to intervene.”
Gabriel broke away just far enough to murmur against Peregrine’s lips, “Rakes do indeed make the best husbands.”
“Told you,” Peregrine whispered back, and pulled him in again.
