Three Kisses Before Christmas by Wilde, Tanya (epub e ink reader txt) 📕

“Marry me.”

Chapter 6

There comes a time in a man’s life . . .

Or so Wolfstan’s father had been fond of starting a sentence. How many times had a conversation with the late Earl started with those exact eight words? And presently they were jumping around in his head. Because, honestly, there did come a time in a man’s life when this or that happened or some sort of clarity was to be gained. But did there ever come a time in a man’s life when he blurted out a marriage proposal to a woman after he had kissed her the day before when he had never shown any interest in her before that?

God forbid.

Did there ever happen upon a man a time when the woman he adored above all else dropped her jaw while she gaped at him as though he had grown several sprouts from his temple?

“M-marry you?”

Wolfstan cursed his tongue. What happened to seduction? Kissing, touching, and complimenting.

You have never seduced a woman before, you fool.

Maybe not, but seduction was supposed to be instinctual to his way of thinking. His stumbling over his every word suggested otherwise. If he could not court Rebecca, and he blundered any attempt at seduction, what the hell was he supposed to do?

“Did Mason put you up to this?” she demanded.

“Lonsdale? No.”

She sucked in a breath. Audible. Nerve-grinding. “Then this is a twisted prank.”

“I will never jest about matters of matrimony.”

“Then you have lost your head?”

“I’m perfectly sane.”

“Then you must be foxed.” She narrowed her eyes on him. “Are you foxed?”

“No,” Wolfstan bit out. “I am not inebriated. I have not lost my marbles. I am perfectly clear-minded. I want to marry you, Rebecca Flowerdy. I always have.”

“I do not understand.” She looked perfectly put out.

“That is my fault, I’m afraid. I am going about this all bloody wrong.”

“Going about what?”

“Courting you.” He advanced on her. “I have been content as friends all these years, Rebecca. Not anymore.”

Dammit, could he sound any more rigid? But by Jove, Rebecca held his happiness in her hands. And he had a feeling she was about to crush it.

“You aren’t making any sense. You are like a brother to me.”

“I am not your brother.”

“But you feel like one.”

“You have never felt like a sister to me. Never. And can you honestly say I still feel like a brother to you after yesterday? After—”

“Do not dare say it!” she exclaimed and retreated two steps. “Why now? Why are you doing all this now? Is this because of the sketches in my book? Why show interest in me now when you have never before?”

“You have always been fixated with Langley. I had hoped it would pass.”

“That still does not explain why now. Why . . .” her voice trailed off as understanding seemed to dawn. “Langley. The rumors. You fear I will marry him?”

Wolfstan’s nod came slow. It was deuced hard to admit, but he managed a single jerk of his head.

“This is madness. How long have you wanted to marry me?” she suddenly demanded. “Months? Weeks? Days?”

“Years.”

She shook her head. “I do not believe that. You have never indicated that you wished for more than friendship.”

“Because of—”

“Yes, Langley. My infatuation. I cannot listen to this right now.”

Wolfstan was blundering. Again.

“Rebecca . . .”

She held up her hand. “No, I cannot think straight with you looking at me as though you have lost a billiard game. This makes absolutely no sense. You cannot want to marry me out of the blue!”

Wolfstan clamped his jaw shut before he blurted out he loved her. The words sat on the tip of his tongue. They, he suspected, would be the worst possible thing he could say to her at the moment. They should have been the first. But since they weren’t, he thought it wise to wait until the shock of his first confession passed. Then he would shock her anew with his heart.

“I realize my proposal—”

“That was not a proposal.”

Damnation.

Tiny blotches of red made their way up to her cheeks and reddened with each passing second, a sign she would flee soon. Rebecca loathed being put at the center of attention, even with him, and she’d known him all her life.

Wolfstan dragged a hand over his face.

His wayward tongue had made matters so much harder for him to fix. He had stolen her first kiss and beaten his cousin to announce his wish to marry her, if his cousin considered Rebecca at all. Wolfstan should have asked him outright, but he had been terrified of the answer.

Sweat gathered on his brow and moistened his palms. This was the most important moment of his life. He could not blunder it.

He inhaled deeply.

“I realize my confession has come suddenly but it is sincere, Rebecca. If you can believe nothing else, believe that.”

REBECCA QUICKENED HER pace.

Lord above, she could not face Wicke right now. Why could he not have remained in London as he had wanted? She was beyond the scope of fluster. So many questions bounced around in her head. How many years? How long had he known about her girlish fancy on Langley? Had he never considered her a sister-like figure at all?

She could rationalize all of that. Because contrary to what they may believe, and as much as they were simpler at times, men were creatures of even greater complexity than women.

But marriage?

That was too much. She could not begin to rationalize that.

“Rebecca,” then a curse.

She lifted her skirts to run, but a hand snaked out to stop her progress and she found herself being whirled around.

“You cannot run away from this.”

“Wicke . . .”

“Do you not want to marry? Do you not want what your brother and Caroline have?”

“What do you want me to say, Wicke?” Her words came out harsher than she intended. But how dare he raise such frank questions when he had been hiding behind her infatuation for years?

He too, seemed taken aback by her abruptness, but only momentarily