Page 56 of Always the Chaperone

Engagement?He had not asked anything of the sort—at least, only in jest or lust.

Now tell me you’ll marry me, Charlotte. Tell me yes. That’s all I need from you.

She swallowed, her throat dry. “I do not think you have actually…proposed.”

William took a step back. “My God, Charlotte. What did you think last night was? Or was it all a jest to you?”

Was it time to admit to herself, as well as him, that she had fallen in love?

“I know your intentions, but I think you will find, Your Grace,” she said, attempting to keep her wild thoughts under control, “a proper proposal, one from someone of your class and breeding, includes going somewhere public, where it will be most embarrassing if the intended responds in the negative, getting down on bended knee, and professing their love publicly. I cannot recallyouever doing such a thing.”

Her eyes met his gaze. They were dark, staring intensely. Had she gone too far?

“My dear, Lady Charlotte,” he said in a low voice, stepping toward her, “we made love last night.”

Heat seared her cheeks as she leaned away. “That does not equate to a proposal!”

“I thought you loved me when you welcomed me into your bed, and I certainly left it in love with you.”

Will grinned and offered his arm, which Charlotte took with a smile. Playing with fire? She had stepped into the flames, and if she was not careful, she would soon be burned, branded with the force of his feelings. Feelings she barely understood.

“I am not saying that I feel differently,” she managed to say.

“In that case,” he said more seriously as they turned a corner, “tell me, honestly. Is that what it will take?”

“Take?”

“To secure your hand.”

Charlotte stared in amazement.

“Is that what you are waiting for?”

“You ask intimate questions,” she stated.

“Only the questions which truly matter to me.”

She considered him and saw nothing but truth on his face. This man had suffered through battle and watched men die violently. Now blessed with a title, desperate women flung themselves at him. But he wanted something more. Something deeper. Someone like…her.

“I am waiting for a man who I cannot say no to. A man whose presence in my life makes me forget I was ever a chaperone.” Charlotte did not know where the words were coming from. Perhaps a deep place within her, somewhere she had placed her hopes and dreams years ago when she had said goodbye to them forever. “A man who will make me feel like a bride for the rest of my life.”

William stopped dead in his tracks.

She knew it was too much to ask of anyone and should not have been too open. “What are you…oh!”

It had been impossible to continue talking as the heavens opened. Torrential rain poured down, and Charlotte laughed with the suddenness of it all.

“Goodness!” Her bonnet started to droop under the watery onslaught, and William laughed.

“Come on, the Pump Room is just around the corner, we can take cover there!”

He took her hand, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. As they stepped inside the Pump Room, they wrung the water out from their sleeves.

“Ah, darling, I did not see you there!”

The voice rang out across the room as Charlotte shook herself dry.

“It looks like you have already been spotted,” William’s voice was wry. “Am I to share you with the whole of Bath society?”