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Which was exactly how Sebastian felt.

“I love you,” he repeated softly. Bent to kiss her lips again. “When we return to London tomorrow, I will write a letter to your grandmother, requesting an audience with her.”

“Oh…” Mei’s hands dropped away from his chest to cover her face. Almost as though she was hiding, though he did not think she was the person he was hiding from. It was from her grandmother, despite the fact that the older woman was all the way back in London. “She is going to be unbearable.”

“Because you are to marry a duke?” He raised an eyebrow at her. From what he’d seen of her grandmother, she was not a social climber any more than Mei was.

“Because I am to marry at all.” Mei heaved a sigh, then uncovered her eyes, her hands dropping to either side of her head, fingers curling inward. “She has been after me to marry for a while now, and I always rejected the notion.”

Chuckling, Sebastian shifted atop her, making her gasp and shudder as his groin pressed against her sensitive folds. His cock slipped out of her, but that did not matter. He did not want to move away from her, as long as he was not crushing her. Propping his head up on one hand, elbow planted beside her, he curled one silky lock of hair around his finger as they talked.

“Ah. So, she wanted you to marry, you said no, and now that you are engaged, you are not looking forward to her rubbing it in your face?”

“That is an accurate summation of the situation,” Mei admitted, sounding incredibly resigned, although that did not wipe away the smile on her lips.

“My apologies for disrupting your plans of spinsterhood… though I must say, I am not feeling particularly sincere.”

“Perhaps you can make it up to me,” Mei murmured, sliding her hands over his chest and up around his neck. Sebastian felt his cock twitch despite his recent completion.

He lowered his mouth to hers.

“I will happily spend the rest of my life making it up to you,” he whispered against her lips before claiming them in a kiss.

43

Mei

Riding back to London with Astrid was not at all the quiet ride Mei had expected when she’d requested a spot in Astrid’s carriage before the trip. Astrid wanted to know everything that she had clearly missed, and Mei’s point that Astrid had missed what was going on between Sebastian and Mei because she was too busy antagonizing Drake did not garner her any sympathy.

In truth, it was more enjoyable to be able to speak about everything than Mei would have thought. She was used to being the listener more than the speaker, especially when it came to matters of the heart. Astrid was a surprisingly good listener when she wanted to be.

More than that, she nodded along thoughtfully to Mei’s fears and doubts, rather than dismissing them out of hand. Then she said something that stunned Mei completely.

“Of course, you felt that way; you have never seen yourself very clearly.”

“I… what?” Mei stared at her friend as the carriage rocked along. There were more and more houses outside the window now, the sun much farther along in the sky, and the breeze more fragrant, indicating they were coming much closer to London.

“You think that what you do makes you valuable to the ton, and it does, but it is who you are that makes you valuable to your friends.” Astrid shot her a look. “I certainly had no need to befriend you when we met.”

“Other than needing someone to help you change quickly enough that you were not caught in breeches, pretending to be a man, you mean,” Mei retorted.

Astrid waved her hand, as if she could wave away the memory of those frantic, fearful moments in a back alley where Mei had come across her purely by chance. She had not known what to think of the young woman, quickly trying to get dressed, while someone yelled for ‘Lady Astrid’ from inside the shop she was behind. She’d helped the young woman pull her skirts down over the paint-spattered pants covering her legs rather than stockings and do up the laces on her dress, giving her enough time to burst back into the shop from the back door, leaving Mei standing there speechless and bemused.

It was only several days later that Lady Astrid Blackstone, a revered member of the haunt ton, had sought Mei and her grandmother out at a minor event. Mei’s grandmother still did not know why the marquess’ daughter, betrothed to a duke, had reached out her hand in friendship to Mei. That friendship had catapulted them into much loftier circles and given them introductions to homes and nobles they could have never hoped to meet before.

“That is exactly what I mean,” Astrid said, pointing at her. “You had no idea who I was or what I was about, but you helped me, and you kept my secret. And have kept it all this while. I do not think you even considered blackmailing me, did you?”

“No, of course not!” Appalled at the very suggestion, Mei stared at her friend.

But Astrid just appeared smug. She brushed her hand over her coppery skirt and arched an eyebrow.

“See? There are many within the ton who would not have hesitated. Or at least asked for some sort of favor.”

“I would never.”

“I know. Which is why you became my friend, not just someone I needed to repay.” Astrid’s expression turned more serious. “You truly do not understand, Mei, how valuable someone like you is—not in terms of money or power, but in what you offer a person—because you do not care about those things.”

“I…” Mei floundered, not sure what to say.