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Women engaged to a marquess did not look elsewhere.

And yet Gwen was looking at him. And she was smiling. And at some point, she had stepped closer to him and Ernest could not recall when, but he was damned glad about it.

He cleared his throat. “You love me?”

“Do you think I would have kissed you as I did if I did not?” Gwen asked gently, a kind chuckle escaping her as she spoke. “Ernest, I know it is not perhaps what we expected, and I know we have spoken about the needs of your estate, and yet…yet I love you. I must tell you. To continue without telling you would make me burst!”

“But…” Ernest’s mind was still attempting to catch up. “But—But you have been ignoring me!”

“I have been avoiding you,” she corrected softly, “because the moment I realized I had fallen deeply in love with you, I was certain you would see the truth in my eyes. I would be unable to hide it from you, Ernest—you know me too well.”

She had been avoiding him…because she had been avoiding the truth.

“I do love you,” Ernest said, eagerness entering his voice. “Oh, Gwen, I love you more than I have ever—there is a part of me I have never known before and you have unlocked it, you—you have made me more myself than anyone I have ever met.”

She was laughing and had taken his hands in hers. “I know.”

“No, you cannot—I have explained inadequately,” said Ernest fiercely, determined to make sure she had even a snapshot of what he felt for her. “Knowing you is to love you, but I have found a depth of affection for you—”

“You do not have to convince me,” she teased, her cheeks flushing as she stepped closer again, her skirts brushing his trousers. “Ernest—”

But before she could speak, a dreadful thought had entered his mind, and Ernest could not prevent him from saying it—even though he knew it would end this happy moment forever. “But what about Lord Ravenshurst?”

Chapter Fifteen

Gwen swallowed.

‘What about Lord Ravenshurst’?

That was what she wanted to say. What did he matter? He did not love her, and he was by now well aware that she did not love him. She had written for him what Gwen considered to be a most understanding and conscientious letter, and he must have received it by now, even if she had not received his note confirming such. She had been most clear with Mrs. Kinley.

As far as Gwen was concerned, her engagement to the Marquess of Ravenshurst had come to an end.

So what did it matter?

It matters, muttered that little voice in the back of her mind in the echoing expanse of Lady Romeril’s library, because your parents, Ernest, and the rest of the world still think that you are engaged to the Marquess of Ravenshurst.

Ah. Yes. Of course.

Gwen stared up into the trusting and adoring eyes of the man she loved. Saying the words aloud, that the engagement she had for weeks longed for was now broken, and by her doing…it was harder than she had expected.

A dark shadow flickered across Ernest’s face. “I… I have been the recipient of a betrayed engagement, Gwen, and I—I don’t think I can—”

“I’m not engaged.”

There. The words were said.

At least, the very basic words were said. Now that Gwen was seeing the consequences of such a brief statement on Ernest’s face, she was starting to realize that she had perhaps left out a few crucial details.

“You…not…engaged?” Ernest struggled to get each word out, his jaw slack and a throb in his jaw that was most delicious.

Concentrate, Gwen!

“N-No.” Why was it so hard to speak clearly? Perhaps because Ernest’s hands were on her waist and his grip was just slightly tighter than she had expected, as though he thought she would bolt at any moment.

But she didn’t want to.

This… This was exactly where she wanted to be. Here, with Ernest.