Duncan pressed stop and smiled. “Very politically correct.”
“Out!” Christian snapped, pointing at the door.
Duncan laughed and sauntered out. “Do you mind if I keep the pictures?” he yelled.
“Burn them. And don’t you dare look at them or show them to anyone else.”
Duncan was still laughing as he went down the hall. “Nice moves, by the way.”
Christian threw a shoe, heard Duncan swear, and smiled to himself. At least he had two things to be thankful for before going to bed.
Kessen’s kisses and a large bruise on Duncan’s head.
Chapter Thirteen
Kessen felt like she was being rained on. Why? She had no idea. In fact, she was relatively certain she was merely dreaming of the rain, until her face suddenly felt rather wet. She opened her blurry eyes and froze. Christian was standing over her with a cup of water.
She groaned and turned to her side. “What. Are. You. Doing?”
“Waking you up, sleepy head. It’s practice for when we’re married. I am an early riser, you know, and I think—”
Kessen reached across the bed and clapped her hand over his mouth, forgetting about their no-touch rule. She didn’t have the heart to remove her hand. Instead she kept it there, memorizing the way his skin felt under hers. “Stop talking,” she finally ground out, although it sounded breathless. Perfect. Now he’ll think I’m a wanton woman in the morning.
“I have the shower ready for you,” he said awkwardly.
She was out of bed in a flash, glaring at him.
“Calm down. I’m not joining you. What kind of man do you think I am, anyway?”
“A normal one,” she muttered under her breath.
He was trying hard not to smile. “Kessen, trust me. My concern is only for your desperate need for a shower. Because honestly, you’d want to stab me if you knew I was seeing you like this.”
She gasped, moaned, then sat up on her bed and put her head in her hands. She hadn’t showered last night—her hair. She reached up and touched a knot on the top of her head. Perfect. She sighed before turning her red face to his perfectly shaved one. “Wait here, I’ll be back after I’m done getting the kinks out of my hair, which might take a few hours.”
“I’ll wait.” He pulled out the newspaper and began reading.
****
Kessen tried to hurry through the shower, but her hair was not having it. She finally doused it with leave-in conditioner and ran her fingers through the long locks. It took a ridiculous amount of time to brush her teeth and shave her legs—because, well, you never knew.
She donned her boy shorts and long-sleeve Henley before returning to her room.
“You do have fantastic legs,” Christian said from behind the newspaper.
She felt a blush coming on.
“I do hope you’re blushing right now,” he said, still not putting the newspaper down.
Kessen closed her eyes to regain her composure. “So, you’re here at an ungodly hour, which means you have something to discuss with me. What’s going on?”
Christian put the newspaper down and grimaced. This couldn’t be good. Was he breaking up with her? Did something happen? He put his head in his hands and sighed.
“Christian? What is it? Are you okay?” She knelt in front of him with her hands on his. Again the no-touching rule was getting harder and harder to follow. She jerked her hands back quickly, but not before sharing a smoldering glance with him.
“There are pictures,” he whispered.
“From the ball, you mean?”
He pressed his lips together and shook his head.
“From the other day when we went walking?”
He shook his head again.
“Then from what?”
He closed his eyes and bit his lip. Kessen’s brain was going a hundred miles an hour. What could they have possibly gotten pictures of? The only time they were doing anything remotely scandalous was when they were in the cottage. Oh no!
“Th-the cottage?” she stuttered.
He nodded.
She sank to the floor and hugged her knees. “How bad?”
He joined her on the floor and pulled her to his side before saying, “Bad.”
“How bad is your version of bad? Because my version has us going to the place of no return.”
“It’s not that bad,” he answered, still pulling her to his side. Obviously, the no-touch rule wasn’t in effect anymore.
“Is it in the newspaper?” she asked, reaching for it. He slapped her hand away.
“Kessen, do you trust me to take care of this in the best way possible?”
She nodded numbly.
“The pictures … well, they make both of us look bad. Unfortunately, because you’re so new.”
“They make me look like a sl—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” he growled.
She nodded but knew he was thinking the same thing.
He kissed the top of her head. “We made page six.”
“Please tell me you mean page six in London.”
“Afraid not,” he said.
“Drat.”
Christian laughed and pulled her closer. It felt good to be protected, and it wasn’t as if there were any cameras in her bedroom. It didn’t hurt that the hug made her feel loved and cherished; her mom had given the best hugs.
“I think we should move the wedding forward,” he said, shattering her thoughts.
“What?” Panic rose in her throat. So this was what it felt like to have a nervous breakdown. Swell. Jumping to her feet, she began pacing the room.
“Kessen, Kessen, look at me.” He was steadying her, but she suddenly felt dizzy. “Sit down. It’s fine. Everything will be alright.”
She kissed him.
Call it getting lost in the moment, call it temporary insanity, but in that moment when he was comforting her, and she felt the blackness cave in around her eyes, she knew what she wanted. She should blame it on her more basic instincts taking over. Her mind had already gone when she heard him say wedding and forward; now her body apparently needed confirmation.
Christian’s body, however, needed something entirely different. Before she knew what was happening, she was on her back with Christian pinning her down. He was so warm and inviting. She wrapped her hands around his head and pulled his lips down to hers.
He moaned her name, making her deepen the kiss. She shouldn’t be blamed for her actions. After all, she hadn’t even had breakfast yet, or coffee or anything. So obviously, she wasn’t in her right mind. It wasn’t her fault. At least that’s what she kept telling herself as Christian’s tongue feathered along her lips and jaw until she thought she would go insane.
A knock in the distance jolted both of them from the floor. She’d never seen a man move so fast. It would have been impressive had he not hit her in the process, sending her sailing back to the floor
“Kessen! Oh! I’m terribly sorry!! Are you hurt?” He was kneeling next to her as the door flung open.
“What is this?“
They both outwardly winced as her grandmother held out the newspaper with an incriminating picture of the two of them on the front. Unfortunately, it was one of the pictures that had Kessen looking like the worst type of woman and Christian looking like the new James Bond. Perfect.
Grandmother looked as if she was choking on something.
Kessen suddenly flashed back to the funeral, when she had gotten her heel caught in one of the heating vents in the floor. She took a topple onto the casket and sent all the flowers on top flying. It was mortifying. It had been her first time wearing heels, so nobody could blame her—and Grandmother had that same look on her face now. Kessen didn’t like how it made her stomach clench. If there was one warning her father had given her, it was to never upset her grandmother.
Whoops.
“How dare you skip the honeymoon and go straight to the main course! My own granddaughter! My flesh and blood, sed
ucing the Marquess!”
Kessen’s mouth dropped open; Christian was shaking with laughter next to her.
“It’s not funny,” she snapped, hitting him on the head. He kept laughing. Apparently she wasn’t as strong as she would have liked, or his head was thicker than she had first assumed.
“Grandmother, you’re mistaken. Christian lured me into the cottage and took advantage of me!”
Christian stopped laughing.
Grandmother looked at Christian, absolutely appalled. “You mauled my granddaughter!”
Kessen smiled triumphantly and stuck out her tongue before turning to her grandmother, faking tears the entire time. “It was awful! And I’ve never even kissed a boy until now, Grandmother. And I wanted it to be special, and he, he…” She stuttered and put her head on her grandmother’s shoulder, while Christian mumbled how it had to be the overstatement of the century.
****
“I did nothing of the sort and you know it, Lady Newberry.” He kept his voice calm, which was a shock, considering he frantically searched for sharp objects to throw in Kessen’s direction. “And I highly doubt that was her first kiss.” He added emphasis to the word first, hoping Lady Newberry would get the picture.
She didn’t.
The next thing he knew, she was standing in front of him pointing a tiny finger in his face. “How dare you accuse my granddaughter of being the type to run around kissing strangers? She is nothing of the sort! She’s only dated two men in her entire life. Two men!” Spit came flying out of her mouth on the word two.
Christian was flabbergasted. Two men? Only two? In all her years being alive? She was positively the purest form of woman he would ever come across. He leaned around Lady Newberry and lifted a questioning eyebrow in Kessen’s direction.
She was bright red.
Of course, he would be too if one of his family members had announced to the world he had only dated two women, especially considering he was pushing thirty.
“And that isn’t even the worst of it!” Lady Newberry was still raving.
“Grandmother, he doesn’t need to hear this. Maybe I exaggerated a bit. No, really, Grandmother—”
Kessen was frantically trying to pry Lady Newberry from Christian’s person, but he was finding this whole exchange rather intriguing. “Please continue, Lady Newberry. This is incredibly interesting.”
“We signed her up for this dating website—what is it called? Eharny? No, that can’t be it. Doesn’t matter. Her father and I thought we could help in that department, but you know what she did?”
“Pray, tell me.”
Without blinking, Lady Newberry went on. “She went out and bought another one of those blasted romance novels about your family!”
“My family?” Christian paused. “Why is that so bad?”
“My dear, she needs a real man.”
“I’m up for the challenge.” He grinned wolfishly towards Kessen but only received an eye roll in return.
“You—” Lady Newberry was poking him in the chest, “are too handsome for your own good. If I were your mother, I would send you to bed without supper!”
“Can Kessen come, too?” he asked, knowing he would probably be slapped any minute.
Kessen stormed across the room to his side and lifted her hand to strike him. Her grandmother, whose strength she had seriously underestimated until now, caught the hand mid-air and glared at the two of them.
“You shall marry.”
They both stared blankly at the crazed woman’s face.
“You shall marry,” she said, dropping Kessen’s hand triumphantly. “And because you’ve both caused enough scandal to keep people talking for years, you will marry soon.”
Kessen stiffened next to him; he felt the need to put his arm around her but didn’t want to get punched again.
Lady Newberry walked to the door. “Next week. You shall marry next week.”
The door slammed behind her, leaving them alone again, staring at one another interminably until Kessen broke the silence with a scream which could have awakened the dead.
“Next week!”
“By all means, please scream louder. I don’t think your dad heard you in Colorado!” he shouted.
“Oh my, oh my…” Kessen was repeating herself, over and over again. Frankly it was driving Christian crazy.
“Get hold of yourself!” he pleaded.
She kept repeating.
So he threw a pillow at her face.
Unfortunately for him, his aim was off and it merely skimmed her cheek.
A crazed look materialized on her face. He backed up in what he would later admit to being fear.
She had a pillow in each hand and anger in her eyes. Note to self, he thought as she charged him like a bull. Never upset a Newberry.
Then he was on his back, getting fluffed to death by goose down pillows, which honestly, wasn’t half bad since Kessen was straddling him with her legs.
He was never guilty of having a pure thought in Kessen’s presence. A shame really. He needed to go to church and confess his many sins. All of which he would happily engage in if Kessen were so inclined.
She jumped off of him and stomped toward the door.
“A week! Do you realize how many days are in a week?”
He opened his mouth to answer.
“Seven!” she yelled. “Seven days to plan a wedding and get to know you. I don’t even know you! I’m marrying a man I don’t even know. Never mind that I practically molest you with my eyes every time we’re in the same room—”
Abruptly, she stopped talking and turned beet red.
“Please tell me I didn’t say that last part out loud, because it was meant to be a thought.”
He used every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep his voice from cracking in laughter. “I’ll ignore it, if you want me to.”
She turned toward him and sighed. “It’s fine. I mean, at least you know how I feel. And I think it’s safe to say everyone knows how you feel … seriously, you have issues. You can’t go around just kissing people and pouncing on them and—”
“I’m sorry. Are you complaining?” he asked as he neared her. “Because I don’t recall any complaints at the time.”
“I was busy.”
“Yes, you were.” His gaze burned into hers as he reached out to touch her skin. He regretted it immediately. It was as if he was trying to brand her as his with his touch. It nearly made him fall to his knees, and he wasn’t the type of man to swoon at the touch of a woman. But this woman? She could probably make him do anything.
“I have an idea,” he said, still caressing her cheek.
She looked out the window and exhaled. “What’s your brilliant plan?”
“I’m touched by your assessment of my intelligence,” he said, almost feeling her eyes roll in disgust. “I think we should spend some time getting to know each other. Somewhere away from everyone—and not in that blasted cottage.”
“What a day for language.” She lifted her eyebrows and took a deep breath. “So what do you propose?”
He smiled wickedly. “A little trip.”
“To?”
Christian leaned closer. “A trip to my country home.”
Kessen’s eyes widened, but she said nothing.
“Your obvious interest in my country home forces me to admit it has been the actual setting for every single one of those books you’re so fond of. In fact, rumor has it the author in question used to stay there to write about my family.”
Kessen looked like she was choking on something, so he stopped talking. She regained her composure and continued to stare. What a terrible actress she was. It was impossible for her to hide her excitement. Christian felt a momentary ache of tenderness for this woman. What was wrong with him? Tenderness and lust shouldn’t go together, but here he was, being proved wrong yet again by his own feelings.
She was adorable.
Granted, she fought dirty. But when she wanted to, she could
melt anyone, including him. He needed a cold shower.
“What do you say?” he asked.
Her voice came out in barely a whisper. “Does this mean we will be married there?”
He couldn’t have planned it more perfectly if he tried. In the last book of the series, the author had left an epilogue about a garden wedding which took place between the late duke and the servant girl who turned out to be more than just a servant girl.
It had girls all over London swooning for months.
Duncan even admitted to reading it, and he forced Christian to read it as well, which made him positively ill that women would expect such things from him.
Except in this moment, he wanted to give her that. Why? He didn’t know. All he knew was, if she wanted to live out the events of that storybook, he was going to make it happen. Even if it killed him, which it probably would. This was Kessen he was dealing with, not some servant girl.
“Of course we’ll be married there. It will be perfect, don’t you think? The chapel on our grounds is small, but we can make it work.” He nudged her a little, and she sighed. Yes, she actually sighed. It wasn’t an “I hate you and want to kill you” sigh, either. It was a “I’m a girl and hopelessly in love with a character in a book who doesn’t exist” sigh.
Her face lit up like the sun as she turned to him. “Lets do it!”
“Perfect.” He kissed her hand. “We shall leave as soon as possible.”
Her eyes sparkled. She nodded silently as he left the room. Even one moment longer looking into her vulnerable and perfect eyes and he would not have been responsible for what would happen next, which would have been enough to send her grandmother to an early grave. He was sure of it.
Chapter Fourteen
It was crazy. Kessen was actually living out the story she’d been obsessing over for the past month.
But it wasn’t real. And the future duke truly was as dangerous as people said. One minute he was as sweet as homemade cookies—the next minute she felt the need to guard her virtue with a knife. Men.
It only took her an hour to pack her belongings and explain to Grandmother she was going to spend some time with Christian at his summer home. She called home to explain to her father what was going on, but was met with nothing but pure joy from the other end of the telephone.