Page 17 of A Rogues & Gentlemen Christmas

He muttered a curse as he realised he was all soapy, and Odette dissolved into giggles.

“Oh, Charlie, you are so funny!”

“Just you wait there. Don’t move,” he commanded, so sternly that she only laughed all the harder.

He returned to the job at hand, making swift work of shaving himself and somehow not cutting himself to ribbons. He flung the razor onto the table, wiped his face over with his sleeve to rid himself of the last bits of soap, and turned back to her. She watched as he reached out and took her hands in his.

“Say it again, darling,” he said.

“Oui, Charlie,” she said. “I will marry you.”

Guilt flared in his eyes for a moment. “Odette, my name—”

“I know.” She smiled at him. “Tell me later.”

He nodded with relief and leaned in for a kiss. It was a chaste kiss, a gentle press of his lips, yet when he pulled back Odette was aflame and giddy with astonishment. He had asked her to marry him. He had no idea who she was and must believe she had nothing. Fate had brought her here, to this place, to Charlie, she would trust in that. She would trust in anything over her uncle.

“Charlie, would you go away now, please?”

His eyebrows went up, and he looked a little hurt, so she put her hand on his sleeve.

“A girl does not like to be such a mess when a fellow proposes to her,” she said, blushing a little. “Let me borrow your soap and tooth powder, and then I shall feel more like your fiancée and less like a chimney sweep.”

“You’d send me out into the snow when I want to kiss you?” he said sadly. “Ah, I see how this marriage will be. A cruel wife I have chosen for myself.”

“Oh, no,” she said at once, mortified even though she knew he was teasing, but he only laughed and leaned in, kissing her nose.

“Silly goose,” he said affectionately. “I’ll go and tell Ransom the good news. Call me when you’re done.”