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“Just try,” she replied gently, allowing herself to rest a comforting hand on his thigh. The feel of him after so long was pleasant, and it grew harder not to give into her love for him completely.
“Over the course of growing up, I slowly realized how empty all of my relationships were. Once it became clear that I would never be giving anyone special favors, many simply left me. Cousins slowly stopped writing, uncles stopped visiting, friends from school no longer invited me on their holidays. I’ll admit it made me quite bitter in my youth. But then, I grew used to it, became a bit more wary of everyone around me as a consequence. Many a young lady attempted to cajole me into a courtship, and it made me quite terrified of falling in love.”
“You were scared because you could never know if a lady you fancied was genuine or not.” She remembered him admitting to wanting a love match, and wondered just how impossible it felt for him to achieve such a feat. It was no wonder he had reacted so violently to her supposed betrayal. He must have been under the assumption that he’d finally fallen victim to someone’s scheme.
He nodded solemnly and, much to her surprise, reached out to lightly grasp her hand. “When I got to know you properly, I thought things might be different. You were so refreshingly honest with me that I couldn’t help but to trust you.” He shook his head with a frustrated frown. “No, thingsweredifferent with you. I just let my idiotic paranoia ruin everything. I really do love you, I’ll have you know.”
She blinked, her mind going blank at his rather abrupt proclamation. “I’m sorry?”
Sebastian had the gall to shrug, infuriating man that he was. “It’s the truth. I realized about halfway through my explanation that prevaricating on the matter will do no one any favors.”
“Dear Lord.” She thought her heart was going to explode.
“Well?” He looked at her expectantly.
“Well, what?”
“Do you return my affections?”
“Of course, you idiot,” she snapped back before she could think better of it. So much for not exposing herself to him too quickly.
He nodded solemnly. “Good. That will help things, I think.”
Kitty resisted the urge to smack a hand to her forehead. Who in the world had she just gotten herself shackled to?
