Page 15 of Ordered Home for the Holidays
She stared back at him in shocked silence. He couldn’t have meant what he just said. Anthony had tried to marry her sister. “No. I don’t need you to do the honorable thing. It was only a kiss.”
“That is not why I’m doing this.”
She stared at him, still in disbelief. “You were in love with my sister.”
He frowned and shook his head. “No, that was just foolishness. It wasn’t love.”
“And what is this?”
She wasn’t trying to be mean, but it was a question she truly had. He kissed her once, and now he wanted to wed her.
Anthony seemed to understand where her thoughts were coming from. He shook his head. “They aren’t the same thing. I’m not some young foolish man who is chasing after what everyone else wants. I want you.”
Hope flared in her, but still, she wasn’t sure she believed him. “You want to court a hellion?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “I want to court you. Since I’ve returned, you are all I think of. You are meant to be my other half, Harriet. I know it.”
“I would never tell anyone about the kiss. You don’t have to worry about a scandal. You are not honor-bound to wed me. If you feel that way, I release you from any misguided moral obligation you have assumed.”
Anthony clenched his jaw and his eyes flared with anger and desire. He stepped towards her. “Honor or doing the right thing has nothing to do with why I’m standing before you. I want to make love to you, have a family with you, and grow old with you.”
She flushed, heat and longing coursing through her body at his words. They stared at one another, neither saying anything. Eventually, she said, “Think about it more.”
He gently grasped her chin and tilted her face upwards. Before she could say anything else, he brushed his lips against hers and said, “I don’t need to.”
Harriet swayed towards Anthony, wanting him to kiss her the way he did last night.
“We could marry in London after the holidays.”
His words broke through the fog of desire and longing she was feeling. Harriet stepped back. “Think about it.”
Frustration flickered across his face, and Harriet added, “Marriage is permanent.”
Her words seemed to calm him, and he nodded. She walked towards the lawn, and he called out, “Harriet.”
She turned back, and his eyes blazed with intensity. “I won’t change my mind.”
Harriet said nothing and rushed from the area, his words reverberating through her mind.
Chapter Eight
Anthony stomped back to the hall, frustrated with how things went with Harriet. She told him to think on it as if he would somehow change his mind. The notion was absurd. He didn’t see Jon or Philip anywhere on the grounds and suspected they’d snuck away. He knew where they’d be.
He made his way inside and went straight to Philip’s study. Anthony opened the door to find his brother and friend seated in the sitting area, enjoying brandy. He plopped down in the wingback chair next to his brother and across from Jon. His friend smirked. “What has you in a foul mood. Did Harriet refuse your request to fetch her more cider?”
His brother snickered, and Anthony glared at him. Philip shrugged. “Lillian told me you are going to court Harriet.”
Anthony sighed. “Harriet told me to think about it more. She seemed skeptical that I wanted to court her as if I didn’t know my own mind.”
Both his brother and Jon burst into loud laughter at that. He sighed, not amused. Finally, Philip said, “Did you expect her to just fall into your arms?”
“Cry for joy that a man had finally picked her,” Jon added.
Philip shook his head. “Harriet may be what some would consider a spinster, but it is by choice. Plenty of men have courted her.”
He sighed. Did he think she would immediately agree? He wasn’t sure, but he’d expected something more than her request that he think about it.
Jon added, “If you aren’t willing to pursue her, maybe you don’t care for her as much as you thought. I could—”
