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He didn’t say any of those things. Instead, he said, “You wanted me, Miss Beatrice Fowley. Now you got me. You’re mine. And I am not letting you go.”

He pressed his lips to hers, not as a reassurance. It wasn’t a kiss of passion or even anger. He didn’t want to punish her with it.

It was a punctuation. A seal on the letter. A signature on the contract.

He wanted her to know that he was serious. And that there would be no more arguments about the subject.

She was his now.

And that was that.

Chapter 22

Adam was still angry at Beatrice the next day.

Oddly, the thing that broke his heart wasn’t the fact that she’d tried to trick him. He knew what she said to be the truth. He knew she’d wanted him; she couldn’t fake her need. And he understood her desperation in not wanting to marry Lansdowne.

He even understood how daunting it would have been for her to tell him the truth instead of keeping it secret.

No. That wasn’t why he was angry.

It was the other thing. The fact that the penultimate item on her list was left uncrossed.

She wasn’t in love with him. And that was the part that hurt.

It didn’t matter, however. They were bound together forever, and that was that.

Still, Adam needed some reassurance and a place where he could air all his grievances. And so, come afternoon, he ordered the carriage to be prepared and set off to his sister’s house.

Since their parents passed away, Isabel had always been the matriarch of the family. So, Adam was not even surprised to see both Sam and Alan, their other siblings, sitting in her drawing room, partaking in some tea.

Apparently, both brothers-in-law had taken Millie and the dog out for a ride in the park, leaving the Lewis siblings alone in the house. Now, only Gage was absent from the family gathering, and Adam was grateful for that.

He loved his brother, he truly did. But at the moment, he didn’t need judgment, he just needed support and perhaps some words of wisdom. And all those things he could get from his sisters, while Alan would probably just make fun of the entire situation.

“Well, don’t you look rather upbeat?” Isabel said drily with a raised brow.

Adam let out a bitter chuckle. “Yes, well. The past month hasn’t been particularly kind to me.”

“It wasn’t?” Sam seemed genuinely surprised. “It seemed that you were happier than I’ve ever known you.”

Adam frowned. “It did?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Alan confirmed. “Granted, I’ve spent the past few years away from our lovely family, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you as happy as you’ve been lately. Today notwithstanding.”

Isabel put her cup of tea on the table and looked at him with that motherly gaze. “What happened?”

Adam let out a sigh. “A lot of things.”

Isabel looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and shrugged. “Our husbands won’t be back for a couple of hours. So, we have a bit of time to listen to your story.”

Adam chuckled and shifted in his seat. Isabel poured him a cup of tea, and Sam passed it to him.

“Very well.” He let out a deep, long-suffering sigh. “It all started on the night of the masquerade.”

All three siblings moved to the edge of their seats, leaning in closer, intent on Adam’s story.

He told his siblings everything that had been going on for the past month, avoiding many salacious details. But he told them all about the list and how Adam had agreed to help Beatrice finish it. He told them all about the ways he’d tried to get her to drop the idea and how with every item they had scratched off, he’d started enjoying their little escapades no matter how foolish he had thought them at first.