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Marie fought off her response for as long as she could, but it was to no avail. “I have. I do.”

“And do you regret the moment we shared?”

She raised her chin, an invisible force pulling her toward him. “I do not. Do you?”

“How could I? It is all I have thought of since. I have never experienced a kiss like that one.”

“Due to my anger?”

He quirked a smile. “Due to what awakened within me.”

“And what was that?”

She should not be encouraging him. They had made the promise to keep away from each other. But then, what if he no longer wished to pursue the annulment? What if...what if he was falling in love with her?

Her head began to spin as he leaned toward her.

“What awakened within me was the desire to see what a true kiss might feel like between us. One where both of us give it freely.”

Oh, how she wanted to experience the very same.

But one of them had to be the voice of reason. “What of the annulment? If we continue on this path, we may end up with a life neither of us has chosen.”

He stared down at her. “What if it is a life we both choose?”

What was he saying—that he wanted to give their marriage a chance? She already knew that was what she wanted. They’d experienced more in their mere week of knowing one another than most couples did in a lifetime—quarrels and kisses. Tears and apologies. Friendship and forgiveness. Dare she hope he might want to pursue a relationship with her where joy and love might be discovered in the end?

With a deep breath, she nodded. “What if it is,” she stated without question.

That was all Charles needed, for in the next moment, he leaned toward her, and Marie closed her eyes, waiting for his kiss to once again be hers.

Chapter Nineteen

Charles’s breathing grew labored at the feel of Marie’s breath on his lips—one final whisper of air before this remarkable woman and her affection would be his.

But when the door latch clicked beside them, the heavy wood swinging open with a creak, he and Marie took a deliberate step away from each other to face the culprit who had ended their kiss before it had even begun.

Charles stared at the interloper, ready to rage, but instead, he fell into stunned silence. There, within the doorway of the cottage, stood his brother.

“Well, well, well,” Tristan said with a broad smile, “what do we have here?”

“Tristan?” Charles finally forced out. “What the devil...”

Tristan laughed, reaching forward to clasp Charles’s shoulders in an embrace. Charles returned it, though he pulled back with more confusion than ever.

“What are you doing here?” he asked as the three of them shuffled into the small entryway, leaving the rain—and his abandoned kiss with Marie—behind.

“Surprised?” Tristan asked. “Not as greatly as I am, I can assure you.”

His eyes fell on Marie with a studious gaze, though his smile remained bright.

Charles fell silent as the situation settled upon him. Mother and Father had requested that the details of the arrangement remain secret so they might not frighten Tristan from coming home.

But how could Charles lie to his own brother? And yet, if he did share with Tristan how upsetting this whole arrangement had been, would that not injure Marie? Not necessarily her reputation, but her heart?

He could not put her through that again.

With squared shoulders, he made his decision.