“Why are you so kind? Why are you so protective and encouraging when you made it plain this is a marriage of convenience?” At her words, he stood still, suddenly understanding what he had not been able to see before. “You married me to save my reputation and your own. You said as much when you proposed. Why be so kind now?”
Her breath hitched, but if she was tempted to cry, she stopped it and pushed on, “Why confuse me and buy me such gifts as this?”
More than anything, Allan wanted to show her what she truly meant to him, that all this dancing around one another had simply made him want her more. He didn’t just want her as a wife in name; far from it, for he wanted them to truly be man and wife.
She has said not to kiss her again.
“And what would be wrong if this was more than a marriage of convenience, Freddie?” he asked softly.
She raised a hand across her chest, perhaps trying to soothe the wild beating of her heart, for his was certainly off the scale in its mad beating. He could hear it drumming in his ears.
“Would it be so bad if I did want more than that?” he asked, pressing the point a little more.
She stood her ground, still not answering him.
I have to break through her walls.
When he realized she hadn’t run away from him, he saw his chance and moved toward her. She took a step back in alarm at his sudden movement, but she still didn’t run from him.
He caught her hand first, kissing the back, then turned it over and kissed the inside of her wrist too, listening as she gasped at the touch, then he moved toward her, not kissing her on the lips but on the forehead.
Her hand came up between them, her fingers latching around the top of his waistcoat. That touch was enough to make his stomach flutter with hope.
She is not pushing me away. She’s keeping me close.
He moved his lips down to her cheek, kissed her there. Then, as she angled her head up an inch, he saw an opportunity and offered the softest of kisses to the base of her throat. That same gasping sound escaped her again.
“Wh-what are you doing?” she whispered, her voice stammering.
He offered another kiss to her forehead before halting and turning his face down a little to look her in the eye.
“You told me not to kiss you on the lips again, and I will not break my promise to you,” he whispered, “but I had to find a way to show you what you mean to me. If words are not enough, then maybe this is.”
He lifted his hand between them, turned it over, and placed his lips gently to her palm. He watched her the whole time, seeing the way her chest moved up and down with her quickened breathing.
She was not pulling away from him. Her eyelids even closed as she indulged in the feeling of his lips.
She feels it too.
“Don’t pull away from me now,” he begged, his lips still against her skin.
“I don’t want to.” Her words were in a rush. He pressed his lips just that bit firmer to her palm, hearing her gasp. He couldn’t help smiling as her eyes opened, and she looked up at him.
“You’re impossible,” she whispered though there was no heat in her words.
“Me? I’m the impossible one?” he jested, chuckling lightly. “Maybe we both are a little.”
She smiled too.
He felt utter elation, it was all consuming, then she raised herself on her toes. Allan couldn’t believe it. After all that had passed, all that she had asked him not to do, here Frederica was being the one to kiss him.
Their lips brushed softly together. It was a temptation, the promise of something that was nearly there but not quite yet fully indulged. Allan didn’t want to push his luck, but he held the kiss for as long as possible, basking in the delight of her passion.
It was the briefest of things. He went from elation to sadness as she stepped back, her smile faded away, and she retracted her hand from him.
“You are pulling away,” he surmised, noting every way in which she moved.
“There’s… there’s something I have to do.” With a sudden and determined movement, she walked away from him. She didn’t head back toward the house but strode through the garden, walking around the building.
