Page 35 of A Countess Never Tells

“Oh.” She gazed up at him, unable to fully take in what he’d just said. “You’re saying…”

“I love you, Kitty.” Grasping her hands, he kissed first one then the other, his lips soft on her skin. “I am perhaps as surprised as you, because I’ve never allowed myself to feel such a thing before. But ever since I saw you at the theatre, so many weeks ago, something has drawn me to you. I simply had to meet you, become better acquainted with you. I needed to understand Kitty Tate as no one else does.”

Tears pricked her eyes. He truly meant that. No one else had ever professed a desire to know her in such an intimate way and with such a depth of feeling. “Ash, oh, Ash.” She squeezed his hands. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I’ve been hoping for a ‘yes’ for the past week.” He squeezed her hands. “That will do for now.”

“Oh, yes, yes. Of course, yes.” Kitty flung her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. Could there ever have been a more eloquent or romantic declaration?

“Thank God.” His arms went round her, pulling her against him as though he never wished to let her go. Which would be just fine with her.

“And thank you, Kitty,” he whispered in her ear, “for making me the happiest man alive.”

They stayed that way for a little while, Kitty happy simply to be held close, to feel cherished by this wonderful man. But at last, he released her, and they looked at one another, in awkward silence, wondering what to do now.

At last Kitty’s head cleared enough to form a sort of plan. “We must go back in and tell John and Judith immediately. I’m not sure how much he will object, but it won’t matter in the end. You’ve made an offer and I’ve accepted you. We will make him come around.”

Shaking his head, Ash crossed his arms over his chest and looked out over the balcony’s railing. “I fear that will be a task too daunting for even Hercules to accomplish, my dear. Your brother is adamantly opposed to my having anything to do with you.”

“But you never made your honorable intentions clear to him, Ash. And I never told him you proposed. He sees you only as a rake out to ruin his sister.”

Even in the faint light, she could see his face darken with anger. “How much has Lord Haxby told you about our conversation last Saturday?”

“Only that you cancelled our carriage ride and that Lord Baltimore had accepted a wager to seduce me by the end of this week.” She shrugged. “That is why I have been locked behind the doors of Haxby House these last seven days, waiting for the time to run out.” She cocked her head. “Since that has now happened, and he didn’t accomplish his…task, he then forfeits the wager, doesn’t he?”

Ash stared at her, as if lost in thought, then spoke. “Yes, in the matter of wagers, if there is a time element involved, and that limit is exceeded, the wager is lost in its entirety, unless other stipulations are made at the time the wager is agreed upon.”

Grinning widely, Kitty could’ve kissed him again. “Thank goodness! So I have avoided Lord Baltimore quite handily, and now we will have time to persuade John your intentions toward me are nothing but honorable.”

“My dear.” Ash took her hand, his face suffused with a tenderness that delighted her even as it filled her with dread. “If a man like Baltimore doesn’t succeed at the wager, it may very well spur him on to make the conquest anyway—just to appease his honor.”

“What?” The words froze Kitty’s heart. She wouldn’t be safe from Lord Baltimore then, even though the wager was over? What kind of “honor” was that? “Then I can never be safe from the man.” She glanced up at Ash. “Unless I am wed.” It still didn’t make any sense to her. “But why would my married state be a deterrent to Lord Baltimore?”

Ash’s cheeks might’ve deepened in color, although the shadows could’ve been playing tricks on her. “I suspect it is your maidenhead that he actually wishes to take. Once you marry, there will be no conquest for him.”

Wicked, wicked man. As though she would lie with him under any circumstances. The only one she wished to do that with was Ash. “So our betrothal should, or rather our marriage should, eliminate all the danger from Lord Baltimore. Surely that in itself will be enough to persuade John to allow it.”

He gripped her hands then released them. “I fear it will not.”

Kitty stared at him, not comprehending what she was hearing. “What do you mean?”

“I have already told Lord Haxby I wished to marry you.”

“You’ve already asked him? But when?” This made no sense at all. John had said nothing of this to her.

“On the Saturday when I told him of Baltimore’s scheme. I told him then if you married me, Baltimore would lose interest in the wager, and I could keep you safe from him.” Ash shook his head slowly, bitterness filling his face. “It was a bona fide offer, Kitty. I assured him of that. I told him I was more than prepared to rescind my rakish behavior and be faithful to you. And he said no.”

Blinking back the angry tears that sprang to her eyes, Kitty could scarcely believe it true. How could John have kept that from her? How could he have urged her to marry Lord Quatford when he’d received a perfectly valid offer and knew she preferred Ash? How could he?

Then she was in Ash’s arms, the comfort of his body wrapping around her. This was the man she wanted above all others, to hold her, to care for her, to love her for the rest of her life. Whatever it took to make that happen, she would do it, if she had to make a pact with the devil himself. “Did he say why he rejected your suit?”

“My reputation as a rake, of course. He is convinced I would not make a good and faithful husband, despite my protests to the contrary.” Ash tightened his arms around her. “I suspect he wishes you to marry Lord Quatford instead.”

“If he did, he knows now it will never happen.”

Ash stepped back to gaze into her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Lord Quatford proposed to me last Saturday, not long after John told me of Lord Baltimore’s scheme. I came very close to accepting him, but in the end, I turned him down.” Kitty kept her gaze on Ash.