Page 57 of A Match Made On Duchess Square

But her heart was not ready for more just yet.

Too bad—yet he would never push her to do anything she wasn’t ready for yet. This was a step too far. A step too soon.

“Open your eyes,” he whispered.

“I dare not.”

“Be brave and look at what is before you.”

Her lids flickered open. “You are before me.”

“As I am meant to be.” He took a deep breath. “As I wish to be.” Having made his declaration, he took another deep breath and let it out slowly. “We are right for each other, Gwen.”

He dared not say more.

Perhaps he had already said too much. She appeared as skittish as a filly.

“Right for each other?” she repeated.

She sounded so uncertain. Over the years, she had woven a dream in her mind of marrying her first love. The threads of that dream still held her tightly bound to the past.

“Yes, Gwen. Not just for one night. Not merely in passing. As your husband, if you will have me.”

Gad.

Arse.

How could he have let that slip out?

“Husband?” She gasped. “But…but…that isn’t how these matchmaking plans are supposed to work.”

Well, he’s said it, and there was no taking it back. “Where does it say that I am not permitted to choose the matchmaker as my bride?”

Her eyes were wide as saucers as she stared at him. “That is not the way it works.”

“It? What is it?”

“Our arrangement. It was supposed to be business only.”

“Is this what you want, Gwen? Arm’s length? Formal? Sharing a few steamy kisses but no hearts engaged?”

“Isn’t it for the best?” She took off his jacket and tried to hand it back to him.

He placed it back around her shoulders. “Keep it. You’re still shivering.”

Right, she wasn’t ready. She was preparing to bolt. He had pushed it and now had to deal with the damage he had created.

“Gwen, just hear me out. What have you got to lose? I was never trying to be difficult. I wanted to make a match for myself. The problem was, I realized early on that you were the one I wanted.”

“From the very start?”

“No, not at first. Well, maybe I realized it unconsciously, but I was in too much of a fog to understand what I was feeling. Once that fog lifted, there you were. However, your heart was taken, and I was not going to accept a wife who considered me second best.”

“You are an excellent man and second to no one.”

“Says the woman who holds me second in her heart. Unfortunately, the more I saw of you, the more deeply I fell in love with you.”

Gad. Had he just said he loved her?