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“Oh.” Jarvis stepped closer to her and caressed her cheek. “Well—”
“So you don’t have to marry me now,” she continued.
“That is good,” Jarvis said. “Marvelous.”
Olivia frowned. “It is?”
“Yes, I would hate for you to think that I am only marrying you because of that.”
“As you well know, there is no one else who would marry me other than you. So it is not like I have a choice.” Olivia lowered her face. “Men do not find me desirable.”
“I find you extremely desirable,” Jarvis replied. “Are you upset because of what Bradshaw said?”
“Well, yes. I have tried so hard to make myself be… normal. I do not fit the standards of beauty and grace.”
“Do you want to fit their standards?”
Olivia shrugged. “I am tired of being an odd duck.”
There was a pause. “What if you’re my odd duck?”
She looked at him queerly.
“What if I told you that I love you just the way you are and I am counting the minutes until I can make you mine? Permanently. Forever.”
Olivia smiled. “Then I suppose it will be all right.”
Jarvis stepped closer, so he stood mere inches away from her and took her hands in his. “So will you marry me?”
Olivia tilted her head up to look into his eyes. “I shall.”
Jarvis narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you only marrying me because you have no other choice?”
Olivia giggled. “One of the reasons.”
Jarvis scowled. “And what are some other reasons?”
“Well, I like the way you smell.”
Jarvis let out a bark of laughter.
“I do! I like that I can talk to you about anything. And I like the way you make me feel when you kiss me.”
“All good things, anything else?”
Olivia chuckled. “What else do you want?”
Jarvis let out an exasperated sigh. “Will you finally tell me you love me?”
Olivia giggled and leaned into him. “Of course, I love you, you foolish man. I have loved you my entire life.”
Jarvis grinned, then lowered his head and kissed her deeply. He pulled her into his arms and held her close to his heart, crushing her to his body.
“It better be a quick wedding,” Viscount Landen said from the threshold.
Olivia wriggled out of Jarvis’s hold, her face heated in embarrassment.
“The quickest,” Jarvis said and hugged Olivia close once more.
