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He regarded her for a moment before nodding and stepping back. “Agreed.” Then he was gone. Back through the adjoining door.

Rose sagged against the wall, suddenly weak and exhausted from arguing. She staggered over to the chair by the fire and fell into it, her fist in her mouth to stop from screaming her frustration. She closed her eyes and wished her father were still alive. Then none of this would have happened. Rose would happily have been encased at Brookhaven, riding her pony and sketching the view. Reading her books and dreaming of London, but content where she was.

At Brookhaven she had felt useful, respected and loved. Now she was so very alone. Her father dead and her brother hell-bent on destroying her. All within six months, her life had turned into a disaster, and to her dismay she had no idea how to escape it.

*

“Penny for your thoughts.”

Marianne looked up to find Phin studying her. “I am sorry. My mind is preoccupied, I’m afraid.” She should have made some excuse to cancel their time together today. She was not fit company, not even for herself.

“Do you wish to talk about it?”

“No.” This wretchedness had taken over her so completely. Her guilt was all-consuming. Why had she opened her mouth and ruined not only her friendship with Rose but her own wellbeing? She had overreacted to the news that her brother had been shooing away her suitors for years. In truth, she had known it all along.

“If you had a sister, would you ruin any chance she had at happiness by running off all her suitors?”

Dunstan took her hand. “Is that what he did?”

She nodded.

“The way a man thinks is often different to how a woman would think on subjects such as this. I’m not excusing what he did, but it was his duty to make sure that those who wanted to court you were worthy of your hand. If not, he sent them on their way.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I cannot see that it would have been a slight against you. He would have thought he was protecting you. It is an overbearing way to do it, granted, but this is your brother we are talking about. Just about everything he does is a fear response.”

“He fears nothing,” she said, but she acknowledged that some of what he had told her was likely true.

“Of course he does. Think about it, Marianne. Once you are married, he will be here by himself. I doubt anyone will volunteer to come here without you or your mother being here. For so long you have been the glue holding this family together. And he knows this. Yes, your mother may visit from time to time, but without you here she may divide her time between her other children instead of staying here solely.”

“But now he is all right with me being courted by you?”

“I am the lucky one. I can only suspect that he approves of me. Though why is a mystery to me. All I knew is that I was determined to court you, to confirm the feelings I had for you last year, and to make you mine. Perhaps he saw that I was in love with you.”

Marianne bit her lip and searched his eyes. “You love me?”

He grinned. “I do. You make me giddy when I am in your presence and melancholy when I am not.”

“But you have not even kissed me.” She remembered Rose’s question.

His lovely hazel eyes glowed warmly. “Believe me, I have wanted to many, many times.”

He had? “What has stopped you?”

He looked down at their hands for a moment before saying, “Honestly, I have not wanted to scare you away.”

Marianne pressed her lips together. “Scare me away? Surely, you do not think me that fragile.”

“You are a very strong and capable woman. How could you not be with so many brothers? But, do you want me to kiss you?”

“Of course. How else will we really know if we are compatible in all ways?” She sat there then with her hands in her lap and her eyes closed. Wasn’t that what one did when waiting for a kiss? When no kiss came, she opened her eyes again. He was laughing at her. That silent kind of laugh where one’s shoulders went up and down. “What? Is that not how you do it?”

He took her cheeks in the palms of his hands and leaned down. “This is how you kiss someone you love,” he said and pressed his lips to hers.

It was a shock at first, for he did not just give her a peck as she had expected but kissed her lips softly. That made her want more pressure and had her leaning towards him, her eyes closing with a flutter. He coaxed her to open her mouth with a little pressure on her chin, and he angled his head to deepen the kiss. Her mind went blank. A sweet tension built in her limbs, and when he lifted his head, she opened her eyes to look directly into his.

“Oh,” she said. “That was very nice. Kiss me again, please.”

He chuckled. “As you wish, my lady.”

This time she was prepared and wanted to crawl into his lap. She could not seem to get close enough, and it was then that she knew. He was the one. For her, there would be no other, ever. It wasn’t just the kiss; it was everything about him. A man who apologized for his past behavior and then worked to gain her trust. Who waited to kiss her, but then did a thorough job of it. Who listened to her and encouraged her in all things. Who could tell her sense even when she wasn’t totally ready for it. She could learn a lot from this man.