A Chance to Kiss the Marquess (Charmed By Chance #3)

Chapter 16

16

A nn was a miserable dance partner.

She and Albright were meant to be dancing a lively reel, but by Ann’s demeanor one would think she was in mourning.

She could hardly bring herself to smile or laugh along with the other ladies, though Albright didn’t seem to mind.

He’d watched her as she’d watched Kal walk away and all he’d said was, “Are you all right?”

She’d nodded, and while she couldn’t imagine he actually believed her, Albright had let it go at that.

Because of course he did. Albright would always be understanding. Gentle and kind and honorable and loyal. He was all of those things and more. He’d make some woman a wonderful husband some day…

But…it wouldn’t be her.

For some reason, this thought made her want to sob, and she couldn’t say if it was in mourning or relief.

Albright must have seen the shift in her because the moment the music ended, he steered her toward the doors leading to the veranda. “Come, let’s get you some fresh air.”

She followed him outside, relieved when a gust of cool air hit her overheated skin. “Thank you,” she sighed.

Albright’s smile was so knowing, Ann felt like a ninny. “You’ve made your decision, haven’t you?”

“Yes, or…no.” She frowned, sifting through her words. “I cannot marry you, Albright. Though you must know how much I appreciate the offer and?—”

He held up a hand to cut her off. “No need, Ann.”

She nodded. Perhaps there really was no need. That was the sort of friendship they shared.

And that friendship was why he deserved better than a young lady who was madly in love with another. Her breath faltered at the thought.

She loved him. She loved Kal.

It wasn’t even a question. She didn’t have to think it through. She loved him, and she knew it.

“Have you decided to put Kal out of his misery then?” The teasing in Albright’s tone told her more clearly than words that he truly had not been hurt by her rejection. But his question…

That gave her pause.

Albright’s brows hitched, and they both waited for a laughing couple to pass before he continued. “If you don’t care for him that way,” he started slowly.

“I do.” Her cheeks grew warm. It was wrong to be telling Albright how she felt and not Kal. But then again, Albright was a friend just like Felicity, Jane, and Meg.

And perhaps he’d understand more than most. “But are feelings enough?”

His eyes widened slightly. “What’s this about, Ann?”

“He very nearly caused a scene,” she said, nodding to the ballroom.

Albright’s lips twitched with barely concealed amusement. “With Everson, you mean. Yes, that was something, wasn’t it? I never thought I’d see the day Kal showed his hand in such a way.”

She nodded. “Doesn’t that mean…” She sighed. Blasted words. “Doesn’t that mean I am not a good fit? Shouldn’t his wife be…be…”

She let out an unladylike huff as her head fell back. “This is what I mean. I’m terrible at speaking. And the way he feels about me, it’s not…not…”

Albright tilted his head to the side as he studied her. “It’s not proper?”

“Yes.” She sighed with relief that he might understand. Kal needed a wife just as graceful and calm under pressure as him. Not one who had him striding across a ballroom with ill-concealed rage. Or one who provoked him to hold her far too close on the dance floor…

“What we have is not…” She couldn’t bring herself to say it. “It’s not what he needs.”

She was not a good match for him. For so many reasons. “Wouldn’t it be unbearably selfish of me to marry him knowing that I am not…not g-good for him? That I would not be a good marchioness?”

Albright was frowning down at her. “Ann, may I speak plainly?”

She nodded. “Please do.”

“I don’t claim to be the most knowledgeable about marriage, but to my mind a wife is a partner. And the best sort of partner is one who complements the other’s strengths…”

She frowned, her mind trying to figure out what her strengths might be. Surely not hosting, or talking, or?—

“Our dear Kal has enough propriety for both of you. I know few more feared and respected among the ton ?—”

“Exactly, and?—”

He continued over her protests. “What he doesn't have nearly enough of in his life is genuine affection.”

Ann stilled, her lips still parted but unable to breathe as his words hit her like a blow.

Her heart nearly shattered at the thought of Kal lonely or unloved. “He has his family,” she whispered.

Albright nodded. “He does. He has his mother and Carver, and a few men he calls friends, including me. But...very few get past the Marquess to meet Kal, Ann. And those who do are lucky indeed.”

Her lungs finally started working again, but her chest still ached as his meaning hit home. She wanted nothing more than to seek out Kal and go to him, and...

“But what if I disappoint him?” The last lingering fear slipped out before she could stop it.

There was so much sympathy in Albright’s eyes, it made her want to weep. But he surprised her by nodding at something just past her shoulder. “I believe that might be a question for Kal, don’t you?”

She whirled around and gasped at the sight of Kal there in the doorway to the ballroom. He was hovering, his eyes so dark and filled with fire as he watched them.

But despite his anger, Ann wasn’t scared of him. All she wanted to do was race toward him and throw herself into his arms.

“Just making sure you’re all right out here.” Kal’s voice was so stiff and awkward, and his hands were clenched into fists as he watched them.

Albright covered his snicker with a couch, but Ann caught it.

He turned to Ann. “I assume you’ll be alright if I…” He nodded to the far corner. “If I stand just over there?”

She nodded. As Albright walked away, Kal approached, his gaze never leaving hers. She hated how stiff his tone was when he spoke. “I’m sorry to interrupt. You were clearly speaking on a matter of import and?—”

“We were talking about you,” she blurted out.

Wonderful. That didn’t sound terrible at all.

He arched a brow, his gaze wary. “Oh?”

She twisted her hands together, too many words crowding her mouth at once. But this was Kal and he knew by now that she was no eloquent speaker. “I was telling him that I’m afraid…”

He moved closer. “Afraid of what, Ann?”

She gazed up at him, her heart pounding so loudly she was certain he could hear its plea.

His throat worked. “Afraid of me?”

“No, afraid I’ll d-disappoint you.”

There. The words were out, and she was oddly grateful he didn’t rush to reassure her. He waited for her to continue. And she did, eventually. The words spilled out in a torrent, some stammered, some incomplete phrases, but after a few minutes it was out there. All of her insecurities that he’d live to regret falling for her.

To her horror, she even found herself listing her every fault.

Every. One.

Even the fact that she couldn’t hold a tune, which probably didn’t really pertain to this particular conversation…though it did make his lips twitch in that way that she loved.

By the time she finished, she was breathing heavily as if she’d just run up a hill. And then…she waited.

And then she waited some more as he regarded her with those fierce dark eyes. Finally, he arched his brows, shock and understanding glinting in his eyes. “Wait, are you still expecting me to change my mind? Is that why you’re telling me all this?”

“I…” She clamped her mouth shut and shrugged. Yes, perhaps she was. “This is your chance to choose again,” she said. “This is your last chance to change your mind…”

She didn’t finish with that particular threat, and she suspected she didn’t have to. His eyes were starting to gleam with a dangerous light. “My last chance, hmm?”

She nodded quickly. “So you’d better be sure.”

Because what Albright had said was starting to truly register. And it reframed everything. She might end up London’s most scandalously awful hostess…

But she knew how to love.

And she could love Kal with all her might. She could be loyal, and true, and?—

“Ann, if you wish to dissuade me from loving you, you’ll have to do a lot worse than that list you just gave me,” he said. His wry tone made her want to laugh. He moved even closer, far too close for propriety…

But she was beyond caring. Her voice was breathless as she let him back her up a step, and then another until they were in the shadows and out of sight from the others on this veranda. “What would it take then?” she asked.

He feigned thoughtfulness. “Perhaps tell me a story about how you kicked a helpless puppy.”

She burst out in a laugh. “I’ve never done that.”

He held his hands up in a helpless gesture. “Then I’m afraid it’s impossible. You’re stuck with me loving you until the end of time.”

And just as quickly as she’d started laughing, she burst out crying like a ninny.

He closed the distance between them and cupped her face in his hands, swiping away her tears. “Ann, don’t cry,” he murmured.

“I can’t help it, I’m…overcome.”

“Mmm. I’m overcome every time I’m in the same room with you,” he murmured. “So I suppose we’re even.”

She wasn’t sure if the sound she made next was laughter or a sob but it made him groan and he leaned down close. “I’m going to kiss you now, Ann.” His tone turned soft and teasing. “And I swear, if afterward you tell me you’d meant to kiss another man?—”

She went up on tiptoe and kissed him. She couldn’t help it. This man made her feel…desperate. For his touch, for his words, for his dark looks and his wry smiles.

He kissed her hard and fierce, and with no regard to the fact that anyone might happen upon them. And she kissed him right back with the same urgency.

When he pulled back, she had to gasp for air, and she was gratified to see that the unflappable, cool Marquess was nowhere to be found as he too fought to control his breathing. He rested his forehead against hers. “Marry me.”

She nodded. “Yes.”

He pulled back to meet her gaze, and she caught a flicker of wariness along with his triumph. “You’d better mean it, Ann. Because now that I have you, I cannot let you go.”

“You’d better not or I’ll be ruined.” She couldn’t stop a smile as she said it, and then a laugh as he looked around them, blinking in surprise.

He cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. It seems I may have gotten carried away…”

She nodded behind him and he turned to see that Albright was standing there, his back to them as he blocked them from view. Kal dropped his head with a laugh. “Good man.” He turned back to Ann. “There now, see? Your reputation is still intact. So, if you have any doubts?—”

“Not a one,” she said.

He studied her, and she let him. She let him see her certainty. And then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. “I—” I love you.

She couldn’t quite get the words out. It was all happening so quickly and that word, in particular, seemed to be the most daunting of all the words in the English language. So instead, she said, “I want to marry you, Kal.”

His throat worked and his eyes grew so soft it made her heart feel like it might burst. “Good. Because I want that too, Ann. More than anything.”

He kissed her again, and Ann felt herself drowning in the sensations that only Kal brought out in her. She pulled back with a shuddery breath.

He tilted his head to better study her, and his thumb stroked her cheek. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, but her fingers clenched the material of his jacket. “This feeling when I’m with you, when you kiss me…it’s overwhelming and…it’s…

“It’s passion,” he finished. His voice was very nearly a growl, and it made her belly flip.

“It’s terrifying,” she added.

His mouth hitched up on one side in the most adorable, crooked little grin. “You once thought I was terrifying, and now look at you. Forcing me to fall madly in love and marry you before you have a chance to change your mind.”

She started to laugh and he kissed the tip of her nose before adding, “Something tells me you’ll get used to it.”

She pretended to mull it over as he trailed soft, sweet kisses over her cheeks and down her jaw. “Perhaps…” A shiver raced down her spine and her breath caught. “Perhaps with a little more practice…

His chuckle was warm and delicious as it wrapped around her. His palms cupped her cheeks as he lifted her face upward. His gaze caught hers and held, his eyes soft and warm with love and laughter. “Then more practice it is.”

He kissed her again, and this time she sank into his arms with a blissful sigh.

Oh yes. This she could definitely get used to.