in0 by An Indecent Proposal

Author:An Indecent Proposal
Language: eng
Format: epub

But he could. God help her, he could.

“I love you,” he repeated softly. “It’s all I think about and quite frankly, it is driving me mad. It took me a year and your damned engagement to realize the depths of it, but I swear to you it is true.”

Blindly she groped her way toward her dressing table and sat down. Inhaling a deep shuddering breath, she asked, “Is that why you placed a wager in front of all of fashionable society that you were the most talented lover in England? That sort of boast does not come from a man who would ever be faithful to only one woman.”

“On the contrary, it is exactly the sort of idiotic behavior produced by the infamous emotion I just declared for you, my dear.” His smile was rueful. “In this case, it was inspired by the announcement of your engagement in the paper. For a long time I’d been trying to come to grips with not only my feelings but the idea I’d alienated you so completely, and there in print was proof I’d never have the chance to do anything about either problem. Throw a good deal of claret into the situation, and a man might just do something quite stupid.”

He couldn’t be serious. Please don’t let any part of me believe he is serious. “It was stupid,” she muttered.

He took a step forward. “Rather like clambering up a wall in the dark and climbing through a window like a character in a romantic novel.”

Even as she rejected the idea he might touch her, a traitorous part of her wanted it. Three more steps… maybe four, and he could take her in his arms again and…

Her spine stiffened. She reminded herself of that terrible betrayal a year before and the resulting misery. “Don’t come any closer. Please, just… leave.”

He went still, his arms at his sides. The angles of his face were etched in the uncertain light. “Annie.”

Ignoring the husky plea in his voice was the single most difficult thing she’d done in her life. “Please.”

If he touched her once, just once, she might fall apart.

To her utter horror, a tear slid down her cheek in a slow, hot glide and dripped on her hands, which were clasped so tightly in her lap the knuckles ached.

And to think she’d vowed to never shed another tear over him. How dare he make a liar of her after all the rest of his myriad offenses.

For a moment he just stood there, and then to her surprise he nodded and did as she asked without saying another word, slipping out the window and disappearing from sight.

She was alone.

If he’d fallen and broken his neck, he would at least be out of his state of current frustrated misery, Derek decided as he walked the two blocks to his own town house, but he hadn’t. Besides that, his brilliant plan had failed all because of one teardrop.

He couldn’t bear to make her cry.

He had many faults—too many to count probably—but he wasn’t cruel.

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