Page 20 of The Marquess Match (Love’s a Game #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY

A sh read the note again, the one word pressing into his mind like an imprint.

No.

A wry, humorless laugh escaped him. He was not a man accustomed to refusals. Women never turned him away—at least, not until now.

But Clare had.

Clare, who had melted beneath his touch, whispered his name like a prayer, met his passion with her own. He knew the difference between affection and mere indulgence, and what had passed between them had been real.

So why was she walking away?

His fingers tightened around the note, not in anger, but in frustration. He had never needed to chase anyone before, had never wanted to. But this— she —was different.

If she truly wished to sever whatever was between them, he would respect that. He had to. But he needed to know—was that what she truly wanted? Or was she simply afraid? Of scandal, of gossip, of whatever burden she believed would come from being with him?

He would give her a choice. A moment of honesty, face to face. No demands, no ultimatums. Just a chance to tell him, without hesitation, whether she wished to be free of him.

And if she did?

Then he would walk away.

Because whatever else burned inside him—desire, longing, something perilously close to devotion—one truth mattered above all.

Clare Handleton was not his to claim.

She was only ever his if she wished to be.

But he couldn’t let her go without one more try.