Page 70 of Miss Devon’s Choice

“Honor.” Rebecca dropped her face into her hands. “He may be honor-bound now, but he didn’t want to marry me. He still might not. But he’s seen the alternative. He heard Father telling me what would happen should I not secure the marriage.”

“Why should that matter?” Harry asked, his voice cracking with frustration.

Rebecca hesitated. What Christian had shared with her about his past had been private, and no matter her situation it wouldn’t be right to divulge his history. “He knows what it is to be threatened and bullied. I do not think he would stand by and watch anyone be treated that way.”

Christine slammed both fists on the table. “Regardless, he mustn’t be all that wonderful if he was willing to abandon you before. It would ruin your reputation. Even if he knew nothing of Father’s horrid plans, he ought to have thought of that.”

“We don’t know the whole story, Christine,” Thomas said, fixing his wife with a look that somehow communicated caution and his agreement with her words.

“Have you spoken to Christian about this, Rebecca?” Julia’s calm words, her gentle tone, quieted the rest of the room. “Have you asked if he wishes to marry you? Or why he might not?”

Rebecca’s chest tightened and she felt the tears threatened to return. “No. I haven’t had a chance.”

Julia leaned across the table, her eyebrows drawn down and her words earnest as she spoke. “You must speak to him, darling. You must tell him how you feel. You love him, don’t you?”

No one breathed, the room remained still, and though Rebecca didn’t look from Julia’s understanding expression, she knew they all watched her and waited.

Did she love him? She’d set out to do so. She’d planned to devote her heart to him, to find the goodness in his character, the admirable traits he possessed, and love him for the sake of those things.

Christian was many good and wonderful things. He was compassionate, determined, and possessed a dry humor she’d found endearing. But he was also impatient, sometimes rude, and he had a temper. He was not a perfect man, but flawed, hurt, and he carried a lifetime’s worth of pain in his heart. He was intimidating. He was handsome. When he entered a room, he brought with him the energy of thunderbolts and the anticipation of a summer storm. He was the most complex person she’d ever met, and she was drawn to him even when he might not be best disposed to be good company.

And his kiss. His beautiful, hopeful, gentle kiss in the lane….

“I do.” Rebecca’s heart thrummed, warming her from the inside out, and she blinked away the tears in her eyes. “I love him.”

Harry’s arm came around her shoulders. She turned to meet his eyes and saw more wisdom than she had ever expected to find in his youthful eyes. When had he grown up so much?

“Then you’d better tell him that.”

Chapter Twenty-six

Christian waited most of the afternoon for Dowding to bring him word when Rebecca returned home. It was nearly time to prepare for dinner when the servant found Christian in the billiard room. He’d actually forced himself to play, in order to pass the time, and listen to the other young gentlemen talk of their shooting that morning.

Lord Sharpeton spent most of the time bemoaning Christian’s absence, claiming Christian’s superior dog would’ve aided them in their work.

“You will let me know if you ever get a litter of pups from him, won’t you?” the marquess’s son asked.

The valet appeared in the doorway, eyes comically wide as he silently communicated to Christian that she had returned. Christian made his excuses and left the room.

Dowding spoke in the hall, once the door shut behind Christian. “She returned, my lord, and will be down shortly, her maid assures me.”

“Excellent.” Christian barely contained his smile. He went to stand at the foot of the stairs, anticipating Rebecca’s descent. His eagerness had built to a near fever-pitch. He wanted to pace, but he forced himself to hold absolutely still. He did not even rap his knuckles against his thigh, as he had when he was a boy, or rock back and forth on his heels.

Though he wanted no thanks for his role in bringing her together with her siblings, he hoped she enjoyed her day, hoped it had lifted her spirits after the meeting with her father had dimmed the light in her eyes. He’d spent the better part of the previous night planning it for her, then rose early to put the scheme into action.

Rebecca appeared at the top of the steps, and his heart thudded against his chest as though it wished to drag him toward her. She saw him as she laid her hand on the rail, and her body stilled for an instant.

She didn’t wear the smile he had anticipated.

“Christian,” she greeted him when she was halfway down the staircase, where she had stood the first time he laid eyes on her. “Good afternoon.”

Brows drawing together, Christian studied her approaching figure carefully. Nothing about her expression indicated any upset or ill feeling. Yet her eyes had dimmed, her lips lay in a flat line, and her tone was cautious.

“Rebecca.” He held his hand out, ungloved, and she took it in her own, pausing on the last step. Their eyes were nearly level with her on the step, and had she been in a better mood, he might’ve stepped forward to steal a kiss.

He ached to taste her lips again.

“Is something the matter?” she asked, her voice hushed in the empty hall.