A Most Unladylike Proposition - Chapter 15
I will not laugh, Diana swore to herself. But her twitching lips somewhat undermined her promise. ‘You are trying to use humour to eradicate my anger.’
‘Is it working?’ he asked hopefully.
‘Yes,’ she begrudgingly conceded. And more than the fact that he had revealed himself to her before things had gone too far, Diana was admittedly quite relieved. It was an entirely different thing, she realized, to be ruined by one’s fiancé than by a random stranger she’d picked out of a ballroom. That was if he still intended on marrying her…
Terrified anew by the thought, she asked, ‘Are you still going to marry me?’
‘As soon as humanely possible.’
‘Why?’
He was quiet for a long moment as he thought through his reply. ‘While I admit that I chose you for your family name and reputation, I want to marry you because you are kind and funny and, though I am not so very shallow, anyone can see that you are beautiful. I have spent an hour in your company, and instead of being bored or frustrated as I usually am when faced with having to make small talk with an eligible woman, I am desperate for us to be married so that I can have more. Of you. I am greedy for you, Diana. In a way that I have never been for anything else before.’
That heaviness was back, coiling within her like some overwound Jack-in-the-box, waiting to explode out of her. ‘Would you like to forget this ever happened and meet me officially? Tomorrow?’ she asked hopefully.
‘No. I would like to kiss you again. Properly this time. As your fiancé.’