Page 41 of Lady Willa's Divinely Wicked Vicar
“There. You’ve said it!” He looked as if he rejoiced.
“So now we know my fault!”
“No fault, Wills.”
“Yes. One most women have. To be forced to marry a man one barely knows for…for…society’s rules!”
“There you go,” he said with wry satisfaction. “Conforming to social order.”
“Isn’t that what we all demand of others?” she needled him. “Even you? Marry, as required. Procreate, at will. Provide and endure, forever.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “How might I argue that point?”
“Must you?” she taunted him.
“I prefer to hope that most couples care for each other with sufficient affection before they marry.”
“You hope. But it is not so. I have no hope to marry any of Papa’s nominees with any affection. It seems each of his candidates becomes more objectionable than the last. And of course, I do not wish to kill them with my lack of affections, as you call it. So I refuse each one.”
“Of course, you do. And justly so.”
“And he presses me the more.” Oppressed, she shot to her feet. “By the new year, I must marry.”
“Or what?”
She hung her head as hot tears stung her eyes.
He took her hand. “What will be your fate if you do not choose?”
“He hasn’t said.”But I know what it is. I have made my choice…too late for us. But a choice nonetheless. Tears spilled over her lashes and down her cheeks.
Charlie pulled her into his lap and dashed her tears away with his thumbs. He hugged her close, cradling her body to his torso, one hand pulling her legs up over his knees. “Don’t cry. Don’t.”
She snuggled against him as if she could burrow inside him and avoid the world.
“You didn’t love them.” He tipped up her face. So close to him, she wanted only to put her mouth on his. To savor him, taste his tongue and his raw need.
“How do you know?” she asked, in a dream of wanting him.
“I have proof, dear Wills.I am still here.”
She had never said she loved him. But he knew. This man of God intuited when one cared for another. How could she have not fallen for his consolation when she revealed how she feared for men she’d been engaged to?
“You cannot be certain.” Her voice was a whisper. “We’ve known each other days.”
“Conversing for hours,” he added with both brows arching high. “Laughing through more. Dancing for one.”
He did not seem to breathe for an eternity. If he had, she could say only that she wished to linger like this in his presence until she died.
He blinked—and the moment of communion vanished. Sadness dulled his beautiful gaze. “Why did you come, sweetheart? Didn’t you realize any meeting would lead to this?”
She swallowed. “I’ve made a decision about my future.”
“I see. Well then. Someone is in your sights. Who is it?”
You. Or no one.She licked her lips.
He watched her tongue trace her flesh. “Tell me.”
