Page 82 of West End Earl
He grasped one of her hands and urged Phee to turn, needing to see her face. While he’d hoped to see forgiveness softening the hard line of her jaw, her eyes still sparked with anger.
“And the decision to marry Miss Cuthbert anyway? We received your letter today.”
Cal winced. If he’d been one day earlier, he could have spared her the hurt of reading what he’d written while in the throes of a hopeless depression. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t in a good place. After word of the losses with theWilhelmina, my last hope for Eastly’s finances died. I pored over the estate books, and the only way he can pay this debt is to sell everything unentailed, then live on a budget for a few years.”
She snorted, then covered the sound with her hand.
He shot her a knowing look. “Exactly. We both know that’s unlikely. You were gone and hated me. So I thought I’d be useful if not happy.”
Phee tugged her hand free, then walked to a narrow path at the cliff edge. “What changed?”
The question was nearly lost to the wind as she descended a rocky trail toward what Cal assumed would be a beach below. She hadn’t shoved him over the edge yet, so a legitimate trail was a good sign.
“Lottie barged in and called me a damsel in distress.” He caught the lilting song of her laugh on the breeze, and it made him smile. “Sometimes I think when someone is in a pit, they forget there’s a world beyond their view. They stop trying to get out of that hole and tell themselves the dark is normal.” Cal clambered down the path to join her at the bottom. “I was deep in the pit, Phee. Stopped sleeping. Moped about, barking at people like some misanthrope. Lottie did everything short of throwing a bucket of water on me to snap me out of it.”
“What happens the next time Eastly has a problem? Because you know therewillbe a next time.” She tightened the heavy wrap around her shoulders and crossed her arms. Offering one hand, Cal held his breath until she reached her hand out. Their fingers intertwined, knowing exactly where to fall to knit together, as he closed the distance between them.
“We both know I’m undoing years of habit. My first instinct will probably be to rescue him again. But I can’t do that. I have offered to take over the finances, but I doubt he will cede control. I should warn you, I come with potential scandal. I threatened to declare Eastly incompetent if he made the tenants do without. I hope it won’t come to that.”
Phee’s gaze searched his face. What she looked for, he didn’t know, but he drank in the sight of her, the feel of her under his fingers. “So Eastly’s options are to liquidate assets, give you the purse strings, or face a massive scandal in court?”
“It’s about time, don’t you think? I hope he makes the right choice, but I won’t hold his hand through it. I have other priorities now. My allegiance to Eastly overrode my honesty with you, and I promise upon my soul that will never happen again. Can you forgive me, Phee? Will you love me? Because I love you. I choose you. And I’ll keep choosing you every day.” He cradled her cheek, brushing his thumb over her lower lip.
She said nothing, but after an eternity of heartbeats, Phee leaned into his touch, turning to kiss his palm. The hope inside him transformed into budding desire. When she closed her eyes, the thick fall of her lashes brushed his fingers.
Gently, giving her time to protest, Cal brought her face closer, until the pillowy softness of her lips opened beneath his mouth.
A promise, a declaration, a vow of a kiss.
“I love you too,” she murmured against his lips.
“Way to make me wait for it, Phee,” he teased. She nipped his bottom lip in reply. What began as a sweet gesture of love and teasing transformed in an instant into something far more carnal.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he managed before diving in for another taste.
She stilled under his hands, then pulled back. For one awful moment, he feared she’d step away. Instead, a sly smile crept across her face, lighting her eyes and curving those phenomenal lips, gone raspberry pink and shiny from his kiss.
“How do you feel about sex outdoors?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
He laughed, and there it was. That spark that made Cal truly special. It wasn’t merely his good looks that made her heart stutter. It washim. The quick mind, the jokes waiting on the tip of his tongue, the deep well of kindness Cal guarded with humor lest everyone take advantage of his soft heart.
“My feelings fall firmly in the pro column. Especially with water nearby, Madame Siren. But first…” He released her to pat beneath his cloak and removed his pocket watch. Carefully unhooking the clasp, Cal removed the watch from his waistcoat, then shook something into his palm that had been threaded on the chain.
Sparkling, gold, and blinding in the sunlight. “Is that…”
“Will you marry me, Phee? Be my friend and my lover, and wake up every day beside me for the rest of our lives. Here, London, peaceful, messy—I don’t care as long as you’re beside me. There’s no one for me but you, and I hope you feel the same way.” His eyes were hopeful, full of love for her.
Phee could only nod through the surprise. The sapphire-and-diamond ring slipped past her knuckle to nest right where it would stay for the rest of her days. Words finally formed. “I have to ask. Why wasn’t this gorgeous ring protected in a box?”
“And ruin the line of my coat?” he asked with a dramatically appalled gasp.
Her laughter disappeared under his kiss. Within seconds, Phee’s body went soft and needy. They backed together toward the cliff face, until she was pinned between the unmoving hardness of Cal and the rocks.
The full press of his body against her made her sigh. Lordy, he felt amazing. One of Cal’s hands skimmed from her waist to grip her thigh, then wrapped her leg around his hip. Impatient, she slid a hand between them and sent a long stroke down the rigid length of his erection, then set to work opening the placket of his breeches.
The hand at her thigh slipped under her skirt, finding the skin above her garter, and then the swollen ache at her core.
