Page 44 of The Rakehell's Seduction
“Walk? She doesn’t need to walk. What she needs is to march up to Darby House and catch that young man in a parson’s mousetrap, is what. We can’t let him run back to London, not when Alex could be married before the year is out.”
“Dear,” her father intoned gently, with a great patience he had perfected over nearly three decades of being married to his wife, “she’s not going to rush this. It’s her heart, her life. Marriage is a serious business, and she ought to make sure she’s ready to forgive Worthing and give him a second chance.” He turned back to her. “Take a walk,” he encouraged.
She sensed he was saying more with his words than that. His eyes were serious, and she could almost hear him saying,Stop hiding. Face him and you’ll know where you stand.It was why she loved her father. Because he knew just what to say, even just with his eyes when words weren’t needed.
“Perhaps I will take a walk,” she said.
Her mother made a soft little disgruntled noise and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “As long as the walk takes you to Darby House…”
Alex nibbled her lips and then, still carrying theGazettewith her, went up to her room to change. It would do her some good to walk and clear her head. Then she might write Perdita and invite her to tea to discuss a strategy about Ambrose. And well…perhaps there was still a chance for her and Ambrose.
*****
Ambrose hadn’t moved from his spot along the small country road that led to Alex’s house in two hours. It had become his daily ritual since he arrived at Perdita’s house two days ago. He’d promptly and anxiously answered Perdita’s invitation, an invitation made in London after reading theQuizzing Glass Gazetteand deciding, she’d told him, that she would give him a chance to prove his worthiness, if he so desired it.
The last two days he had left the house early in the morning to come here and wait with Perdita’s words in his ears:Prove to her that you are worthy of her.
He hoped she would come out onto the road and he could run into her.He was too afraid to go up to the door and face her father’s wrath and Alex’s coldness if she didn’t want him. He had this odd feeling that if he could see her alone, he might stand a better chance of winning her back.
He wouldneverbe worthy of Alex, but he wanted to try to be, every day for the rest of their lives. He straightened against the stone wall that lined the road when he saw a woman emerge from a garden gate leading to the Rockford estate. His heart leapt, and he sucked in a breath as he stared hard at the distant figure, and then he couldn’t stop the eager smile that split his face.
It was Alex. He would recognize her lovely figure anywhere.
“Come this way,” he muttered, praying.
For once, Lady Fate took pity on him. Alex walked in his direction, her head down until she was but twenty feet away. She seemed lost in her own thoughts, something he quite adored about her.
When she looked up and saw him, she froze. Her cheeks pinkened and she stood still, like a startled doe in the woods. His heart beat against his ribs, and his hands trembled, so he clenched them into fists. A dozen thoughts raced wildly through his head, but then he realized there was nothing he could say right away that his heart and body could not say better.
He strode up to Alex, and before she could speak or protest, he cupped her face and leaned down, slanting his mouth over hers in an explosive kiss. He wanted her to feel his heartache, his love, his desire, and every complex emotion that had been tearing him up inside for the last fortnight since they’d last seen each other. She melted at first, giving him everything he’d been starving for, but just when the kiss seemed on the verge of being out of control, she pushed his chest. It took every bit of him that was still gentlemanly to let her back away, because the last thing he wanted was distance between them.
Alex’s lips trembled as she gazed up at him, and it made him want to drag her back into his arms and hold her forever. He would fight the entire world to make her smile again.
“Ambrose…” She bit her lip, then continued. “I read the Lady Society column.” Her eyes were shadowed now, and a terrible fear surged inside him. His and Audrey Sheridan’s grand plan hadn’t worked. She didn’t want him. She didn’t trust him, she wasn’t going to—
“I’m terrified,” she blurted out.
It took him a few seconds to process her words, and he nodded, smiling sheepishly. “So am I.”
“You are?” she asked, delicate brows swinging up in surprise.
“Yes.” He was still cupping her face, and the feel of her smooth skin beneath his palms was soothing.
“What are you scared of?” she asked.
Ambrose closed his eyes and blew out a deep breath before he continued. He had to make sure she understood just how much she mattered to him and how much he adored her. If he didn’t get it right, he could lose her all over again.
“I’m afraid that I’ll have to live every day of the rest of my life without you. For a man in love, it’s the most terrifying destiny he can imagine.” There, he’d said it, the words that would either save him or condemn him.
“You—you mean that?” Alex brushed back a lock of her hair that the wind had been playing with.
“Every word. Alex, I’ve never loved any woman before. You came into my life like a shooting star. That night we met at the ball, it changed me. I wasn’t whole, not until I met you. That damned wager turned out to be the best thing that could ever have happened to me. I hope you don’t despise me for saying that.”
She tilted her chin to one side, and he sensed she was thinking deeply over what he’d said.
“You are right. That wager was the worst thing to happen to me, but it was the best thing, too.” As she said this, he glimpsed that vulnerability she often sought to hide from him and the rest of the world. He didn’t want her to hide, not from him.
“I am yours if you want me,” he said. “I would give you everything to make you happy,” he vowed. And he almost smiled as he realized Lady Society was right. Perhaps reformed rakes did make the best husbands.
