Page 77

Letitia scowled. “Are you here to lecture me on manners and etiquette, Lord Egerton?”

“I am really curious, Lady Letitia. Is this behavior typical of you, or are you intentionally trying to drive me away?”

Letitia scoffed, unapologetic in her bluntness, and turned the tables on Ewan. “My behavior? What’s wrong with it? How am I doing?”

Ewan, caught off guard, stammered for a response.

Letitia, unimpressed, dismissed him. “I don’t wish to marry you. Lord Egerton, please don’t talk to me.”

Ewan, unable to contain his frustration, retorted, “You, Lady Letitia, are the most uncouth lady I have ever encountered.” He took a step forward. “I’m afraid no man would want to marry you with a behavior like this.”

“What makes you think no one would want to marry Letitia?”

Letitia’s head snapped to the side to find Stephen by their side, his arms folded over his chest as he glared at Ewan.

Ewan, red-faced and indignant, explained, “The lady is very rude and unladylike, so uncouth, and has such a big mouth—nothing desirable in sight.”

“Well,Iwant to marry her.”

Ewan, stunned by the unexpected revelation, found himself at a loss for words as Stephen stood his ground, asserting his genuine interest in Letitia, despite her apparent lack of conformity to societal expectations.

Letitia just watched Stephen with wide eyes that threatened to pop. Did she hear him, or was she imagining what he said?

Letitia was so lost in her head that she didn’t even realize when Ewan walked away with a vile glance at her.

“Are you just going to stand there and gape, Lady Letitia?” Stephen asked, and she gasped.

“M-me?”

Stephen looked around in amusement. “Yes, you.”

Letitia walked up to him. “Did I hear you right some minutes ago? You want to marry me?”

Stephen looked serious. “Yes.”

“That sounds like a joke.”

“I would never joke about such a thing.”

Frustrated and not knowing what to do, she threw up her hands in frustration. “How?”

Stephen took her hands “I’ve always desired you, Letitia, but I felt it was not right—an abomination.”

“But now?”

“I finally had the courage to ask for your hand in marriage from your brother, and he said yes.”

Letitia threw herself in his arms, tears falling down her cheeks. She never realized how Stephen felt for her. She had always thought her love for him was one sided.

But it wasn’t.

She loved him so much, and slowly, she would let him know that. They had a lot of time.

The End?