Melissa raced down the hall, directly for the staircase, wanting nothing more than to be alone in her guestroom until she could return to Oxfordshire in the morning. But no sooner had she placed her hand on the bannister and her foot upon the first step than she felt someone grab her wrist.
Immediately, she was spun back around and found herself trapped in Lord Spurnrose’s arms.
“Release me!” Melissa snapped at him, pulling away. Yet, he would not let her go.
“Not until you finally talk to me!”
“I have been all evening!” Melissa protested. She had entered into enough small talk to make her jaw ache.
“No, Lady Belmont, I want you totalkto me,” he stated, “I demand to know why you have been avoiding me ever since your final day in Oxfordshire.”
Melissa cocked an eyebrow at him. As if he could not guess. She opened her mouth to say so, but he beat her to it, adding, “If anyone should be avoiding anybody, it is me who should be avoiding you. After all, it is you who brokemyheart.”
Shock overwhelmed Melissa.No, he couldn’t be!
How could this handsome, wonderful, infuriating man standing before her possibly be heart-broken because of her?
She opened her mouth to suggest he was being a fool, but he seemed determined to jump upon her shock, and with a firm grip on the small of her back, he pulled her closer. “Lady Belmont, you have no idea the way I truly feel for you. You may believe that this has something to do with your curing my ailment, and though it does have some bearing, it has always been more than that. From the moment I first saw you …”
Melissa opened her mouth and then shut it again.
“You are the most confident, intelligent, and truly stunning woman I have ever met in my life,” Lord Spurnrose continued. “From the moment I laid eyes on you, I was taken by you, and then when I came to know your character, your determination to be yourself even when others demand you not, your love of what you do and your desire to help others. All of it has caused me to realise that I was a fool to believe I would never marry or have children, or even any life at all because when I look at you, I can see it all.”
“My Lord, I …”
“I also see the opposite,” Lord Spurnrose continued as though the words were tumbling from his lips without any thought of the consequences that might follow, “I see the nightmare my life will become if I cannot have you by my side. Tell me you do not feel the same?”
The question stung Melissa into reacting. The pain in the nobleman’s eyes suggested he did not like how she immediately pulled herself from his arms. She hesitated with her hands still holding onto his forearms before she released him upon struggling to say, “No.”
She wanted to flee, but her heart would not let her, and the way his gaze hardened was enough to tell her what he thought. “I do not believe you!”
Pain lanced through Melissa’s heart, and she lowered her gaze. “I cannot. I cannot feel that way. I cannot marry you. I cannot lose another husband.”
Tears pricking her eyes, she lifted her gaze and looked at him again, adding, “Especially not another one who keeps secrets from me. Thomas … he … he had consumption. Only I did not know it until he was on his deathbed, and by then … it was too late.”
Horror and understanding flitted through Lord Spurnrose’s gaze. Melissa wasn’t sure which was worse. It didn’t matter, not when he reached up and cupped her face. “I understand.”
Melissa fought the urge to pull away, her heart aching with longing.
“I understand, but I shall not give up until I finally convince you to marry me,” Lord Spurnrose announced firmly, meeting her gaze in a way that left her unable to blink.
Even when his forest-green eyes started to draw closer, Melissa couldn’t blink. Nor could she pull away, and soon his lips were upon hers.
He kissed her with such passion that she felt as though she might allow him to take her right then and there. The way his hands clutched, one on her cheek and one firmly at the small of her back, made her feel wanted as she had never felt before.
No, I can’t do this!Melissa thought, and just as she was about to pull away, Lord Spurnrose did so, leaning his forehead wantonly against hers with a deep sigh.
They rested there for several moments, both breathless, and Melissa had to fight the deep urge to kiss him again. Fearful at what might happen if she allowed herself to remain there, she whispered, “You ought to go.”
Before he protested, she pulled away further, stepping right out of his arms. He looked as though he would grab her all over again, but instead, he took a strained step backwards. “I’ll go, but I vow not to give up. Iwillreturn.”
Bile rose in the back of Melissa’s throat as she snapped, “Do not bother, for I shall not be here.”
The pain on the nobleman’s face stung her own heart. A resigned yet hopeful look struck his face as he bowed his head and stated, “Good evening, Lady Belmont. I shall see you again soon.”
Biting her lip, she could just stop herself from yelling at him to remove any thought of her from his mind. She couldn’t open her heart to him after all she had already been through. Yet as she watched him turn and leave, returning to the dining room, she couldn’t help thinking of her best friend’s words. Could she really stop pushing people away and finally find her own happiness?
Chapter 28
