Waltzing with the Wallflower(20)

“My lord. You aren’t dead.” Was it him, or did she sound disappointed?

“Are you terribly upset that I still live and breathe?”

Cordelia looked away, her lower lip quivering. “That’s a horrid thing to say, and you know it.”

“It seems I’ve been saying lots of horrid things lately.”

She swallowed, still looking away. Her silence hung on him like a millstone around his neck, and he struggled to continue. “I came to speak with you about something of great importance.”

“Oh?” Cordelia looked at him. “And what is that, Ambrose?”

He sighed. “There is the matter of my heart.”

Cordelia looked away again. “Well?”

Apparently she wanted him to get on with it. “You see. My heart, it seems, is lost.”

“I’m sure you can locate it if you search hard enough, my lord.”

Ouch.

“Therein lies the problem, Cordelia. One cannot go in search of something one never truly had in the first place.” He knelt in front of her and took a delicate hand into his possession. “I believe you can help me. You were the first to hold it, as well as the last. However, I am not here to retrieve it, but to offer you a humble apology for being so careless with yours.”

“Mine?” her voice shook. Her gaze captured his.

“Yes. You see, I practically threw my heart at you, asking—nay, begging for yours in return, and when you gave me your most precious possession, I spurned it at the first opportunity. And for that I will always be sorry. So I ask you keep my heart for the pain I’ve caused yours. I love you, Cordelia. I wish that were enough to keep you, but I see you for the woman you are. A woman who deserves a man who will nurture and provide for her, who will protect her when people slander her, a man who will—”

“Oh, stop already!” Cordelia pulled Ambrose to his feet and before he could protest, kissed him full on the mouth. “I love you… I love you.” She kissed his lips and neck, and Ambrose found he wasn’t quite in the mood to control himself either. And considering he had such a close brush with death earlier in the day, it wasn’t quite fair to point fingers. Frankly, his sluggish mind conjured up the idea that he was still somewhat foxed.

Never one to turn down an opportunity, he picked her up in his arms and laid her across the couch, covering her body with his own. Drinking in the taste of the woman he didn’t think would ever forgive him for his stupidity.

“We will be discovered,” Cordelia said between kisses and sighs.

“Oh, I hope so.” He bit her lower lip and opened her mouth, tangling his tongue with hers.

“Heavens!” Lady Trowbridge gasped at the spectacle in front of her. Ambrose could only smile smugly as Cordelia blushed to the roots of her hair.

“Yes,” Ambrose helped himself off the girl he was accosting and nodded. “We shall be married immediately.”

Lady Trowbridge opened her mouth to speak, but before anything was uttered, her eyes rolled back, and she hit the floor. Ambrose did have half a mind to catch her but was too stunned and amused, and as he realized earlier, still somewhat drunk.

“Will you?” he whispered, kissing Cordelia’s cheek.

“It appears I have no choice.” She giggled.

Ambrose grinned. “Yes, well, compromising you was plan B, just so you know. I’m not as heroic as I seem.”

“And plan C?” she asked.

“Kidnap you, of course, and if that didn’t work, I had half a mind to paint my body green in hopes that you’d think me a potted plant and stand next to me at the upcoming ball this night.”

“Ambrose!” She laughed. “Then I would have been your wallflower!”

“You still are…my wallflower. Nobody else’s.” His hungry gaze fell to her lips again. Both of them forgetting that someone lay unconscious on the floor.

“I do love foliage.” She breathed against his neck.

“Care to show me what else you love, Cordelia?” He led her back into the room and shut the door, this time locking it against intruders.





Epilogue





History Repeats Itself





“Dance with her!” Cordelia ordered her brother-in-law, poking him square in the chest with her gloved hand.

“Cordelia, you’re making a scene!” Anthony cursed and then blushed a beautiful shade of red all the way down his neck.

“I swore I would revere the day I saw my brother blush!” Ambrose applauded his wife. “Well done, my dear. Anthony looks quite put out.”

“I assure you, I am fine.” Anthony cleared his throat.

Just then Wilde approached the group. “Has he gotten the nerve yet, or are we still pressuring him to approach her?”

“Still pressuring,” Ambrose and Cordelia answered in unison. Ambrose gave his wife a wink and pulled her as close as he could without causing scandal.

As he watched Anthony look towards the girl again, a plan formed in his mind. “Say, Anthony?”

“What?” His eyes still trained on the girl by the plants.

“Would you agree that every Season, you are approached by several women for little dalliances?”

“Yes.”