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“Firstly, I need to have a word with your father and warn him that he is going to have a fight on his hands if he thinks you are going to marry Cedrick.”
Sian began to smile. She wondered if Ryan was prepared to fight for her hand. It was a wonderful possibility.
“You need to stand your ground with him because if you father does intend to marry you off to Cedrick, he is going to be determined to push it through faster given you have kissed me. He will do it to thwart any association between us,” Ryan warned.
Sian heaved a heavy sigh as she felt all her hopes burst like a bubble in the wind.
“I am not going to marry Cedrick,” she whispered fiercely.
“If your father persists, you must come and find me,” he said.
“There isn’t anything you can do,” she replied sadly.
“Oh, I beg to differ. For now, I think we need to get you home,” Ryan whispered.
Sian looked up only to find herself staring at Ryan’s back. At first, she stayed where she was, until the gentle yet insistent tugging of his hand encompassing hers compelled her to follow him around the boulder strewn path leading out of the church. He didn’t say anything else until they made their way through the woods and the path evened out so they could walk side-by-side.
“Look. What happened back there has to stay between us,” Ryan began. “I want you to remember that it isn’t wise for you to go about kissing men in an act of defiance, especially in front of your father. If he begins to think that your morals are questionable, or you are prepared to ruin yourself to thwart him, he might be inclined to marry you off sooner rather than later.”
“I have already apologised. It isn’t something I usually do,” Sian persisted.
“Why me? Was it because I was there?”
“What did you expect me to do, kiss Cedrick?” she snorted.
Ryan huffed. “Cedrick wouldn’t have objected.”
“Yet, you do.” It wasn’t a question. The answer was written on his face. “So, what was the kiss about just now?”
Her heart bled. She felt a wave of hurt that was so strong it threatened to suffocate her. It created a heavy weight in her heart that she struggled to know how to move.
“I was proving to you that your attempt to thwart your father was brash, childish, and apt to make your situation worse not better.”
Sian pursed her lips and gave him a mock salute. “Well, sir, message received loud and clear.”
She felt an utter fool for having contemplated that there might have been something more to his kiss. Now that she knew he had kissed her to make a point, Sian wished she hadn’t gone to the church, or even stopped to talk to him, but it was too late to go back and change things. It was too late to try to forget the kisses they had shared. It was too late to forget what it felt like to be held by him and have him look at her with something akin to adoration in his eyes.
It was too late to forget.
Right there and then, Sian almost hated him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sian was aware of someone sitting on the side of the bed but didn’t look up. She didn’t remove her face from the pillow because she didn’t want her sister to see her tears and demand to know what they were about.
“Father was shocked, but didn’t get annoyed,” Martha assured her quietly.
“I don’t give a damn what father thinks,” Sian mumbled.
Martha sighed. “What did he say?”
“Who?”
“Ryan.”
“He told me it was something I shouldn’t do because it will make my situation worse not better.” Sian flopped over in bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. She didn’t move when Martha lay beside her.
“He didn’t seem angry.”
