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“This morning, I was going to march down to your cousin’s room and ask for your hand.”

Amber froze. For a moment she couldn’t speak then her eyes hardened in a glare. “Truly, Christopher, I never expected you to be so cruel.”

“Excuse me?”

“Was there ever a plan, or were you intending to mock me all along?”

“I’m not mocking you, Amber. I mean every word of it. I wish to marry you.”

“No, you don’t! You have said yourself that you do not wish to marry. How can you stand here and lie to me like this?”

“It isn’t a lie.” He took a step towards her. “Before I met you, I had no desire to ever marry. If I am honest, the idea makes me a bit apprehensive even now.”

“Then why?”

“Because I love you!”

“What?” Amber gasped.

“I can understand if you don’t feel the same way. Even if you don’t, I would still stand by my offer if you would rather take it than bind yourself to that man.”

“Do you mean it?” she asked in disbelief. “Truly?”

“I do. Contrary to your earlier statement, I am not a cruel man. I would never lie about something of this nature. As I said, I understand if you don’t feel?—”

“I love you too,” she cut him off, a wide grin splitting apart her face.

“I don’t have words for how happy it makes me to hear that. May I kiss you?”

She nodded.

Before another word could escape her lips, strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her to press against his chest. She was close enough to see the small gold and blue flecks in his deep hazel eyes.

Her breath caught in her throat. Then he was leaning in.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion until finally, his lips met hers. There was no explosion of passion or fire coursing through her veins, but there was still endless fluttering in her heart.

The kiss was sweet, tentative, almost nervous. As if Christoper was conveying everything he was worried could go wrong. As though Amber was letting out all of the anxiety and misgivings she’d had constantly pounding away at her every moment that led up to this.

The air around them went still until all Amber could focus on were the places where they connected. Everything else seemed to fall away, unimportant compared to what they held between them.

Suddenly the illusion was shattered by a sharp intake of breath.

Amber jerked back to see Mary, Jonathan, and Thomas staring at the pair of them in shock. Simon was there too, but he didn’t look shocked.

The look on his face could only be understood as pure unadulterated rage.

“And what exactly is going on here?” he demanded.

Amber’s heart pounded. Why had she let herself start to hope? “I- I can explain,” she stammered.

“Then by all means.”

Before she could say another word, Christopher stepped forward. “I am pleased to announce that the pair of us are engaged, but do please keep the good news to yourself. We would like to announce it together later tonight.”

“How dare you,” Simon muttered.

But it was hard to hear over Mary’s shocked gasp. “Well, isn’t this a surprise!”