When Charlotte glanced around, it was to see Aaron standing at the side of the room, notably neglecting his hosting duties in favor of watching her and Lord Routley dance. Their eyes met, and with what she interpreted to be a snort, he pushed away from the wall and left the room.
She should not follow him. To engage with him when he was clearly so angry at the way she had used him to spite Marcella would be foolish in the extreme. And yet, when the music ended, she freed her hand from Lord Routley’s and curtsied.
“I must find my mama,” she said. “Thank you for your company. It was much appreciated.”
“I hope we can do this again.”
“I’m certain we will,” she said with a smile that felt more like gritted teeth. With his gaze following her, she crossed the ballroom until she was certain she was out of sight and slipped through the door and into the hallway.
They had done this so many times before. She should leave and go back before someone found her—or worse, he found her, and he destroyed her heart beyond all repair. There were so many things sheshoulddo, but she had consignedshouldto the devil when she had come out here in search of him.
He was not in the library nor in the billiard room. She had just about given up hope of finding him at all when she saw him on the landing, staring through the banister at the open floor of the hallway where she stood.
“A vision in pink,” he said mockingly, moving to the stairs and walking down toward her. “In other words, a delight to the senses. To all senses, it seems, except mine.”
Charlotte’s heart caught in her throat. “Have you been drinking?”
He stopped before her. “Would you fear me if I had?”
“I do not fear you.”
“Then you may know I havenotbeen drinking though the temptation raised its head tonight. Why have you left the ball and the delights of your partner?”
Concealment seemed futile now, so she merely said, “To find you.”
Something sparked in his eyes as he stepped still closer. “A dangerous decision in this mood,” he murmured, reaching up to stroke her face. “Can you not see I’m in the devil’s own temper?”
“I know coming here was foolish.” Her voice was steady at last as she looked up at him. He had claimed to be angry, but there was little enough of anger in his eyes—there was only grief mixed with heat that made her toes want to curl at its promise. “But when you left, I could not—I had to see if you were well.”
“If I were well?” He raised his eyebrows. “Very well, then, you shall hear it. No, I am not well. How did you find Lord Routley?”
“I—he is agreeable.”
“I chose well for you, did I not?” His gaze searched hers, and he whispered a curse. “No, I cannot do it. I thought I could, but I could not.”
“Aaron—”
He caught her face in his hands and kissed her once, twice, three times, his mouth almost desperate. “I cannot see you marry another man,” he said against her lips. “So, help me, I cannot—I will not. I shall not.”
Charlotte placed her hands on Aaron’s chest, but rather than push him away, she found herself taking hold of his waistcoat and pulling him closer. “What are you saying?”
“Marry me.” He blinked as though astonished he had even said the words and barked a laugh. “Lord, I’ve gone and said it now, haven’t I? But I mean it, confound it. Marry me, Charlotte. Not as part of a deal, not because it’s convenient—trust me, dealing with your cousin all my life isn’t convenient—but because youwantto. Marry me because I don’t think I could bear it if you married another.”
Longing, terror, disbelief threatened to overcome Charlotte in turn. “I thought you didn’t care for me in that way.”
“And so I tried to pretend to myself as well, but you have provoked such strength of feeling from me, I hardly know how to articulate it.”
“Try,” Charlotte said, breathless. All she was certain of was that she needed to hear the words. Not just his plea for her to marry him, but for something more—an assurance that he loved her.
With Aaron, she could settle for nothing less.
ChapterNineteen
Aaron gazed down at her with such unfamiliar softness on his face she hardly knew how she was still breathing. “You are impossible,” he told her. “From the first moment I saw you, I knew you would drive me wild. Of course, I didn’t know what form that would take.” He lowered his voice until it was a growl. “Or how much you would drive me insane from wanting you.”
“That is hardly reason enough to marry,” Charlotte said.
“Is it not? When no other woman has made me feel this way?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Very well. Let me expand on it further. If it were just attraction, I could live with it. Attraction will not be a staple of my life forever—I could learn to relinquish you to another if all you did to me was bewitch my senses.”
