Page 110 of A Lady’s Guide to Subterfuge and Science

Oliver frowned and cleared his throat before speaking. “Then I suppose—”

“Let me finish,” she said, heart hammering in her chest. “I don’t have to wonder if I could fall in love with you, because I already am. In love with you, that is.”

“Oh?” he whispered, his entire body relaxing.

“I love you, Oliver,” Kalila said, finally choosing to honor the love over the fear she’d carried in her heart for so long. “I had already fallen in love with you the day the lecture series began.”

He chuckled, reaching out to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “Couldn’t resist, could you?”

She responded with, “No. But now I’ve run into another issue.”

“Indeed?” he asked, sounding more than a little distracted. “What is it?”

“I don’t know what to do next. And I usually know what to do next.”

Oliver seemed to snap out of whatever daydream he’d been caught in. “That issue of yours is easily solved, my clever girl.”

“It is?”

“Of course,” he told her, his dazzling smile true and genuine. “What you do next is marry me.”

Kalila’s mouth fell open. “I—that is not what I meant.”

But it’s what you want.

That much was true—but it wasn’t all she wanted.

“I meant I don’t know what to do with all of this,” she said, waving vaguely at the room while very much aware that her entire body had flushed pink. “The science.”

“Also easy,” he said. “You can have the laboratory at Rosewood.”

Kalila sighed. “That’s very kind of you, but I didn’t achieve what I set out to do. And that’s something even Rosewood cannot fix.”

He reached for her then, cupping her cheek in his hand. “I know.”

“And I did get you removed from the Society,” she mumbled. “It’s a lot to process. And I have a lot to apologize for.”

Oliver tilted her face until she was looking at him. “Don’t apologize. You brought me exactly where I need to be.”

“Oliver—”

“If I promise to give you time to work this out,” he said, “will you promise to think about us?”

Kalila nodded. “I will. And Oliver?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you,” she whispered, “for understanding how important this is to me. It isn’t more important than what I feel for you, and it isn’t more important than the two of us being together, but I—”

“But you’ve worked toward it your entire life,” he said, thumb tracing her cheekbone. “I love you for your passion, Kalila. Not in spite of it.”

She nodded again, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. She knew how easily she could be perceived as single-minded, and although she was more in love than she’d ever been, there was still more to her than just being in love.

When she’d chosen Oliver, she’d also been careful to choose herself as well. And that meant minding her work and keeping sight of her dreams.

“It’s late,” she murmured.

“It is,” he agreed. “I should go.”