Page 43 of A Seaside Scandal (Change of Heart #2)

I stopped halfway down the drive, planting my hands on my hips.

I took a deep breath of the seaside air.

It was my favorite kind of air, but if breathing was truly all Charlotte had sent me outside to do, then I would be quite confused.

I stared out at the iron gate that led to Southcliff Manor, and wondered how different my life might have been in this very moment if I had never crossed through it.

Surely my heart wouldn’t be so confused.

And surely I wouldn’t be standing alone on the drive late at night.

I had just begun to debate whether or not to return to the ballroom when I heard the front door open. I turned at the sound. My heart jumped furiously.

It was Jonathan walking down the steps. He crossed the gravel toward me, and for a moment, I wondered if he had only come outside to scold me for leaving the ball. But as he drew closer, I saw the raw emotion in his eyes. It scalded my heart, leaving me breathless.

“Alice.” He paused a few feet away but seemed to reconsider the distance. In two more strides, he was there—directly in front of me. I tried to take a breath, but I seemed to have forgotten how. Had Charlotte sent him out here?

His dark eyes bored into mine. “I did not respond properly to what you said to me last night on the beach.”

I waited as he gathered his thoughts, my own racing.

“I have thought of nothing else since but of how hateful I have been.” His jaw tightened.

“I have withheld my trust from you, I have assumed the worst of you, and I have clung to my misguided opinion of you—all because I have been afraid—terrified—that you did not love me, and that you never could.”

My heart pounded fast, but I hung on each word that fell from his lips. My hands shook, but he took them in his, holding them steady.

His eyes traced over my face. “I know you said that you wished you hadn’t gone for a swim that day, but I’m glad you did. The truth of the matter is, I have wanted you since the moment you flung that crab at my face on the beach.”

I wanted to laugh, but I was afraid I would miss his next words.

He touched my cheek, a soft caress of his fingertips.

“I don’t wish to withhold anything from you any longer.

I don’t wish to rob you of a single one of your dreams. I adore you, Alice.

I love you. If I had nearly as much bravery as you, I would have told you I loved you long before you felt the need to fight for my affections.

I can assure you that from his point forward, you shall never have to fight for them again.

” He held my face in both his hands now. “Nor shall you have to ask.”

A hoarse laugh escaped my throat, tears welling up in my eyes. His gaze lowered to my mouth, and he traced the edge of my lip with his finger. A shiver followed his touch, spreading all the way down the front of my neck. If he didn’t kiss me soon, then I would ask. Heavens, I would beg.

Thankfully, he kept his promise.

His lips met mine softly at first, and then with a fervor that made my head spin.

He pulled me to him, arms surrounding me, strong and safe and certain.

His lips tasted of spiced punch, and I kissed them until I forgot to breathe.

This was only my second kiss, but this time I knew without a doubt that it wouldn’t be the last. Even so, Jonathan kissed me as if he might never do so again.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and his encircled my waist. I slid my fingers into his hair, then moved them to his jaw, feathering my fingertips across the sharp stubble on his cheeks.

His lips dragged away from mine, trailing a blaze across my neck and collarbones.

He paused near my ear, his breath brushing across my skin. “We may need to revisit our vows.”

I turned to him with a laugh. I felt the weight of each of his fingertips on my waist, his chest rising and falling quickly against mine. We both laughed. He kissed my cheek, and I felt the curve of his smile against it. “Do you still release me of all the obligations?” he asked.

I laughed again, gazing up at his face. “No. I shall expect you to fulfill them all.”

His grip tightened, a fistful of my gown in each of his hands as his mouth found mine. He kissed me thoroughly once again, until I remembered that Margaret’s ball was still underway, and I was being a horribly selfish hostess.

I pulled away, my cheeks aching from smiling. “We cannot stay out here all night. Margaret needs us.”

Jonathan nodded, pressing a kiss to my cheek, then my forehead.

He took my hand as we walked back to the house, and I paused to fix a few strands of my hair in the reflection of the front window.

My heart soared, a joy like I had never known buzzing inside my chest. Inside that house were all the other people I loved—and they were all waiting to see what Charlotte’s scheming had accomplished, no doubt.

“What will everyone say when they learn we are actually in love?” I asked, turning to Jonathan with a smile.

My cheeks flushed at the adoring look in his eyes—the very one I had been longing to see.

He leaned close, resting one hand on the window behind my shoulder.

“Your mother will say that she knew it all along.” He pressed a slow kiss to my lips.

“Charlotte will say all the credit is due to her. Although Edmund might fight her for that honor,” he added.

I grinned as I stared up at his face, a whirlwind of hope crashing against my heart. Jonathan had chosen me after all. I saw it in every line of his face. “And Owen? What will he say?”

Jonathan’s smile took on a flirtatious edge, and I found that I didn’t mind it. Not one bit. He leaned close to my ear. “He will say that you should no longer spent your nights in the north wing.”

I felt a blush creeping over my cheeks as I laughed. And then Jonathan was kissing me again. Music drifted from the parlor, Margaret’s laughter echoing through the halls.

Perhaps I could be selfish a few moments longer.