“Going about what?”
“Courting you.” He advanced on her. “I have been content as friends all these years, Rebecca. Not anymore.”
Dammit, could he sound any more rigid? But by Jove, Rebecca held his happiness in her hands. And he had a feeling she was about to crush it.
“You aren’t making any sense. You are like a brother to me.”
“I am not your brother.”
“But youfeellike one.”
“You have never felt like a sister to me. Never. And can you honestly say I still feel like a brother to you after yesterday? After—”
“Do not dare say it!” she exclaimed and retreated two steps. “Why now? Why are you doing all this now? Is this because of the sketches in my book? Why show interest in me now when you have never before?”
“You have always been fixated with Langley. I had hoped it would pass.”
“That still does not explain why now. Why . . .” her voice trailed off as understanding seemed to dawn. “Langley. The rumors. You fear I will marry him?”
Wolfstan’s nod came slow. It was deuced hard to admit, but he managed a single jerk of his head.
“This is madness. How long have you wanted to marry me?” she suddenly demanded. “Months? Weeks? Days?”
“Years.”
She shook her head. “I do not believe that. You have never indicated that you wished for more than friendship.”
“Because of—”
“Yes, Langley. My infatuation. I cannot listen to this right now.”
Wolfstan was blundering. Again.
“Rebecca . . .”
She held up her hand. “No, I cannot think straight with you looking at me as though you have lost a billiard game. This makes absolutely no sense. You cannot want to marry me out of the blue!”
Wolfstan clamped his jaw shut before he blurted out he loved her. The words sat on the tip of his tongue. They, he suspected, would be the worst possible thing he could say to her at the moment. They should have been the first. But since they weren’t, he thought it wise to wait until the shock of his first confession passed. Then he would shock her anew with his heart.
“I realize my proposal—”
“That wasnota proposal.”
Damnation.
Tiny blotches of red made their way up to her cheeks and reddened with each passing second, a sign she would flee soon. Rebecca loathed being put at the center of attention, even with him, and she’d known him all her life.
Wolfstan dragged a hand over his face.
His wayward tongue had made matters so much harder for him to fix. He had stolen her first kiss and beaten his cousin to announce his wish to marry her, if his cousin considered Rebecca at all. Wolfstan should have asked him outright, but he had been terrified of the answer.
Sweat gathered on his brow and moistened his palms. This was the most important moment of his life. He could not blunder it.
He inhaled deeply.
“I realize my confession has come suddenly but it is sincere, Rebecca. If you can believe nothing else, believe that.”
***
