He still won’t kiss me back.
It seemed to go on endlessly, her kissing him and him responding merely as a stone statue would.
She was about to pull back. She released his lapels, her head jerking back, when suddenly, he moved forward.
His hands took hold of her waist and brought her to him just as he moved their lips together again. This time, he controlled every part of the kiss. It started soft and sensual, lips moving together and exploring. Heat erupted in Margaret’s gut as he kissed her.
How can a man who claims to have a heart of cold stone kiss with such passion?
He angled their heads together, deepening the kiss to something so intimate that Margaret was left completely breathless.
Then it was over. He pulled back sharply, the kiss ending as suddenly as it had begun, though his hands were still on her waist.
She thought she glimpsed the same heat she had felt in his eyes, that need, that passion, then it was gone. The blue eyes which she had spent so long staring at recently returning to something glacial and cold.
“That never happens again,” he hissed.
“You kissed me back,” she said between panting breaths. “You cannot deny that.”
He released her, holding his hands out at his side as if touching her waist had burned him.
“Enough delusions,” he muttered darkly. “This will always be a marriage of convenience. Nothing more.” He turned on his heel, quickly collected his book from the floor and practically ran out of the room.
The moment the door slammed shut behind him, Margaret’s emotions released from her in a flood. She clutched her stomach and stumbled back, falling into a chair for she could no longer stay standing.
The rush and excitement of that kiss was now replaced with utter heartbreak.
I was wrong.
The thought cut through her. When she had spoken that afternoon to her sisters about Theodore potentially caring for her, she had indeed been wrong. That kiss, perhaps any near moments they’d had together, weren’t born of care, and certainly not of heart.
He’s attracted, is he not? And that is all.
It explained why he could kiss her, how he could get lost in that kiss, but it also explained how he could push her away and break her heart.
I matter no more to him than any other woman who might walk past the front door of this house.
Her eyes prickled with tears. Choosing not to retire for the night, in case Theodore heard her cry through their adjoining door, she bundled her legs under her and cried on the settee, burying her face in her hands instead.
“Well, I have greatly enjoyed our stay,” Evelina said as she walked toward the front door.
Margaret’s sisters had been here for a whole week. The snow had begun to clear up outside, meaning the carriage could at last take leave safely.
Ahead of the two of them, Louisa, Alexandra, and Penelope were climbing into the carriage. Alexandra kept glancing back at the house, deep in thought, as Penelope looked rather eager to be in the carriage. In contrast, Louisa fussed with the book she had borrowed from Margaret’s library, checking repeatedly that she still had it in her hand.
“I have loved having you here, too,” Margaret said softly to Evelina, holding her hand tight as she escorted Evelina down the front stoop and toward the carriage.
“Though I am sorry your husband did not join us again. Is all well with him?”
Margaret swallowed around a sudden lump in her throat.
After their argument, Theodore had not made an appearance at breakfast, dinner, or any event with her sisters. Even when they went for walks in the garden through the snow, she caught a glimpse of Theodore at a distance, giving them a wide berth.
“I believe business grew much busier than he had expected.” Margaret lied thickly. Whether Evelina believed her or not, she wasn’t sure, for her sister just smiled sadly. They had now reached the carriage and if she did suspect the truth, she clearly did not intend to say it in front of their other sisters who couldnow hear everything. “You must all come and stay again soon. It makes me so happy to have you here.”
“Yes, we must come again,” Louisa said eagerly. “It is a happy home.”
Is it?
