Compromising Kessen (Vandenbrook #1)(29)

“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, seducing 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.