Michael’s smile faded and his eyes widened, the heat still swirling there.
“But it still brings me to my knees all the same,” Charlotte whispered. “And the longing I have felt these past few weeks surpasses anything I ever thought I would feel. Because I’ve found the love I’ve always sought, Michael. And it’s…”
A knock at the door sounded, bringing Michael’s eyes to it, and curling Charlotte’s rising tide of passion into a wave of unfettered temper.
“So help me,” she barked towards the door, “if there is one more interruption of this particular conversation, I will kill the interrupter with my bare hands!”
Silence met her threat, and shuffling steps retreated quickly.
Charlotte wet her lips, and returned her attention to Michael, who was now trying not to laugh and giving her an almost adoring look that made her hope.
“Get up, Charlotte.”
Perhaps not.
“But…” she protested, then stopped herself and looked at the ground, gathering herself, “I need to have this moment.”
“I’ll give you the moment, but please, get up.”
She shook her head firmly. “I need to be submissive. I need to prove my point.”
“For the love of God, woman, you can prove your point standing on your own two feet, submissiveness be damned.”
Charlotte looked up at him, amusement rising, his expression of exasperation utterly perfect for this moment. “You don’t think it suits?”
His smile spread with glorious slowness. “I don’t think it should have any part of you, and I think I know you well enough now to say so.”
She shrugged, pushing to her feet, and sobering as she did so.
There was only one thing left to say, really, and perhaps she should have started with it.
Steeling herself, she met his eyes, willing her trembling fingers to still before her. “I’m in love with you, Michael,” she admitted with a raw honesty that stole her own breath from her. “Only you. Forever you. And I don’t know how to apologize for making you wait all this time.”
Michael’s chest moved on a slow exhale, and he pushed off of his perch on the sofa, coming towards her without any haste. Without a word, he slid his hands on either side of her face and touched his lips to hers, his thumbs gently stroking against her cheeks, his fingers tilting her face just enough to perfect the angle between them. Again and again, his lips took hers, molded with hers, each kiss a slow and thorough waltz between them, one that wrung every ounce of her sanity, sense, and thought from her.
She whimpered against this dismantling, delicious, fervent barrage of his lips, clinging to his waistcoat as though he were the only thing that kept her from drowning in this. She arched against him, reaching for him in the only way the moment allowed.
His kisses gentled, became feather-light and grazing. “I don’t need an apology,” he murmured as his lips brushed against her tender skin. “I don’t want an apology.” He exhaled shortly and kissed her again, this time lingering in a way that made her knees shake. “I want you.”
Charlotte sighed, curling against him and pressing her face into his chest as she trembled. “You have me. I swear on my life, you have me.”
Michael chuckled and pressed his lips against her hair, wrapping his arms around her, running his fingers up and down her back in a soothing, tempting pattern. “Don’t swear, my love. On your life or anyone else’s. It’s not necessary.”
“I feel as though I’ve cheated you,” Charlotte told him, raising her head and sliding her hands up to link behind his neck. “I’ve been dying for love of you for weeks, ever since I thought you went to Diana’s family, and it’s just…”
“When was I supposed to have done that?” he interrupted, looking down at her in surprise.
She gave him a wry look. “Were you not in Derbyshire recently? On private business?”
Realization dawned, and he laughed softly, touching his brow to hers. “Ah, the rumor mill ran along, did it? I was in Derbyshire on private business, yes. Purchasing a horse from a private breeder for Eliza’s birthday.”
“You made a fuss to Emma Partlowe about secretly purchasing a horse?” Charlotte retorted, too blissfully content to be as outraged as she ought to have been. “What is wrong with you? I thought I had broken my heart!”
Michael pulled back and ran his thumb along her lips, wringing a shiver from her. “Are you telling me I nearly lost my kingdom for a horse?”
Charlotte’s ticklish desire abated in the face of the droll remark, and she raised a dubious brow, though her toes still curled at his attentions. “When you are through being quite pleased with yourself, I should like to finish what I was saying.”
Nodding sagely, Michael raised his finger from her lips, held it in the air in a pause, then latched his hands around her again. “All right, I am finished. Please, continue.”
“Idiot,” she whispered fondly, unable to keep from smiling as she ran her fingers through his hair. He seemed to ripple in her hold as she did so, which made her continue the motion. “Haven’t I cheated you, love? You’ve loved me for so long, while I have barely become aware of it.”
He pulled one of her hands from his neck and kissed the palm gently, pressing it against his heart. “Never. Do you hear me? Never think I have been cheated. Never compare our experiences. Just love me.”
“I do.” She raised on her toes and kissed him softly, praying he might know just how much.
“Charlotte,” he moaned, holding her close and touching his lips to her brow, “am I dreaming this?”
She smiled at his sweet question. “Probably.”
He snickered, the sound reverberating through her. “I knew it. Do I have to wake?”
“I don’t think so.” She raised her head and winked at him. “I’m rather enjoying your dream.”
He smiled at her, gently stroking her cheek again. “I always knew if I stayed by you, one day you’d see me.”
Charlotte frowned in surprise. “What are you talking about? I always saw you.”
“No, sweetheart, you didn’t.” He shook his head, then cupped her cheek. “I was there, but you didn’t see me. I knew that, and I was fine with that. You knew I was there, knew I would be there, and that was enough. Until it wasn’t. I thought if I was the last man standing, finally you would see…”
“You wanted to be the last resort?” she asked, her heart breaking at the thought, her hands moving to encircle his wrists
“No. I want to be your only resort.”
She took a breath, rubbing her thumbs along the back of his hands. “I don’t understand.”
He paused, wetting his lips. “I’ve known how I feel about you for years. I always knew that you were the one for me. I just needed you to realize that, as well. I needed you to see that you were in love with me.”
Charlotte cocked her head at that. “But what if I didn’t?”
Michael grinned, as only Michael could. “Then I was going to kidnap you and take you to Gretna Green.”
She barked a laugh. “My family would never have forgiven you for that.”
“It was your father’s suggestion,” he informed her with a smirk. “And your brother offered the carriage.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And my mother?”
“She told me how to get in.”
Charlotte shook her head, grinning at her family’s antics. “When the devil was all this?”
He shrugged as his fingers slid down to toy with hers. “Five years ago, perhaps. They remind me of it annually.”
That long? Her family had known that long? How had she missed it?
“But you didn’t kidnap me,” she pointed out as gently as possible. “You took up with Diana.”
“I tried to,” he corrected, bringing their joint hands up to his heart again. “Could have. Would have. Poor Diana, I would have made her a pitiful husband.”
Charlotte leaned forward until their noses brushed. “You’d have been a marvelous
husband to her.”
He smiled sadly, kissing her once. “No, my love, I would have known every moment of the rest of my life that I had made a mistake and ruined more lives than my own.” Again, very softly, he kissed her, taking great care to do so. “It’s only you for me, Charlotte Geneva Wright, and a moment ago, it sounded like you said it is only me for you.”
She made a derisive face and scoffed. “I didn’t say that. I said I adored you to the core, that I’ve loved you longer than I can comprehend, deeper than I can feel, and more completely than the soul can attest. It’s far more poetic than saying there is only you for me.”
“It’s certainly a longer statement…” he admitted, though his hold on her tightened.
“A good vocabulary is vital to a lady,” she insisted.
“So is concision.”
Charlotte huffed in disappointment. “You have no appreciation for poetry.”
Michael shrugged nonchalantly. “Never have. Simplicity works best for me.”
“Cretin,” she grumbled, folding her arms about his neck and attempting to bring them to a more even level. “Then try this and see if the clarity suits you: I want you. No other. Ever. Better?”
He grinned slowly and leaned closer, his lips hovering just above hers. “Much.”
She closed the distance between them, then kissed the man until both of them were burning and senseless, at which time they returned to the party and made a rather long-awaited announcement that surprised absolutely no one.
About the Author
Rebecca Connolly has been creating stories since she was young, and there are home videos to prove it. She started writing them down in elementary school and has never looked back. She lives in Ohio, spends every spare moment away from her day job absorbed in her writing, and is a hot cocoa junkie.
COMING SOON
Agents of the Convent
Book One
by
REBECCA CONNOLLY
Spinster Ever After Page 27