Page 28 of To Steal a Lyon’s Heart (The Lyon’s Den Connected World #85)

D aisy’s heart pounded so loudly she feared they might hear it.

Alston was betrothed. To whom?

It seemed they’d both been hiding something, trying to chase a dream they could not catch. The longer she stood there listening to Mr. Chase make his threats, the more her heart shriveled in despair. Why couldn’t she just have one thing for herself? Make one choice and keep it?

Mr. Chase stalked out of the room and immediately spotted her. He strode right for her, and Daisy had the urge to scream but couldn’t find her voice. He took her elbow, not painfully, and led her into the back stairwell, then he stopped and faced her.

“Well, I’m assuming you heard everything.”

“I did.”

“Then you know I didn’t tell him about your intended, and it seems clear you haven’t told him either.”

She sucked in a breath. “I just wanted...”

“Hm, yes. We all want things, Miss Blakewood, but that doesn’t mean we get to have them. That is life. Both of you have been deceiving each other. Either you can walk away and pretend nothing ever happened or confront him. I don’t blame you if you want to simply walk away. You’re young—”

“Why does everyone focus on my youth? I’m old enough to marry. In fact, I’ve been betrothed since infancy. I’m not a child. I’m not nitwitted. I made choices, and I stand by them.”

He folded one arm and stroked his chin as he considered her. “Then you’ll have no issue resolving it with him, will you?”

“No. I’m not afraid of honesty. If he hid something from me, he had reasons, just as I do.”

He shook his head and turned away. “The girl with two earls. Good luck, Miss Blakewood, but know there is only one you can keep. The other is already owned. Remember that.”

Daisy’s mouth dropped open, and he disappeared around the corner.

Owned? No one owned Alston. He’d fought to live, and it was not fair that he must be chained to someone not of his choosing.

Just like her. Was that the thread that had drawn them together, even without them realizing?

She wasn’t going to wait to find out. She’d waited long enough for her life to begin, but it hadn’t until she’d met Alston.

Only then had she realized what she’d been missing all along and discovered what she wanted.

She may be inexperienced when it came to men, but she knew Alston’s heart was genuine, no matter what Mr. Chase had said to him.

Daisy marched back into the master suite. Alston sat in the chair, slumped, a hand to his brow and more desolate than she’d ever seen him. Daisy shut the door and locked it.

He sat up in surprise. “Daisy?”

“We have to talk,” Daisy began. She strode toward him and stopped right in front of him. “I know.”

He tried to stand, but she pushed him down.

“You know?” he asked.

“I heard everything Mr. Chase said. I know you’re betrothed.”

The way his features blanked and then etched with pain made her heart ache for him. She wanted to help him, to heal him.

“I didn’t have a choice. Amelia signed as my proxy. She agreed that in exchange for the services of the doctor provided by Mrs. Dove-Lyon, I would marry a woman of her choosing.” He shook his head. “I don’t know who that person is. She is a stranger to me.”

So Amelia had forced his hand. For good reason, but still. Daisy had had most of her life to come to terms with marrying Cliffton. She knew who he was and who his family were, but Alston had woken up from the worst ordeal of his life to the news.

“It’s all right, Alston.”

“It’s not all right. I should have said something long before I kissed you. I’m despicable and selfish.”

“Then so am I.”

“You couldn’t be. I took advantage of you and your—”

“If you mention my age and inexperience, I will scream.”

He clamped his mouth shut.

“Good. Now listen.” Her stomach roiled, but she was going to blurt it out and let the cards fall where they may.

He’d understand. She was sure of that. They’d both withheld information to protect each other and themselves from hurt.

To pretend, for at least a little while, that they could have what they wanted.

Live the life they’d chosen. Maybe even fall in love.

She swallowed. “I’m engaged to Lord Cliffton. I have been since infancy.”

He frowned angrily. “That sweaty-faced blackguard? No, Blakewood would have said something to me at some point.”

“It wasn’t public knowledge. Not until the marriage contract was signed last month.”

“I’m not the public.”

“I asked him not to speak of it. It’s humiliating to have a fiancé who avoids you. Fewer people knowing meant I received fewer questions about it. Which became even more important to me lately since the assumption was that we would marry last year when I turned eighteen.”

Alston stood again, and she stumbled back, but he did not stop and she fell back into the other chair. He braced his hands on the armrests and leaned over her.

“Tell me everything.”

“That’s all there is. Our mothers came to an arrangement, and I’ve not come out because it was deemed irrelevant. I wait for his return to England. Though apparently he is already in England. I haven’t seen him in months.”

Alston wiped a hand over his face. “So, this fiancé of yours could have you, and yet here you are, nineteen and unwed, and he is where?”

“He’s on his way home. That is what Lady Claystone said at the park.” The way he was looking at her, like he wanted to devour her, made her stomach flutter and her thighs clench.

“Does he write to you?”

“No.”

“He can’t even bother to write to his own fiancé. At all? When is the last time you’ve spoken in person?”

Daisy bit her lip and thought back. “We had dinner together at Summer Creek last spring.”

“That long? He does you great disservice, letting his mother fill his boots for him.”

“She’s educating me on how to be the next Lady Claystone.”

His gaze washed over her, her skin prickling in its path.

“You deserve better than him. You deserve to be worshiped. Wooed and appreciated for your sweetness, intelligence, humor, and eyes. How starved you’ve been.”

Exactly. Starved, that was how she felt. Until Alston had fed her with laughter and talk of books, plays, and cards. Longing looks, the barest of touches, and now that kiss.

“Daisy, before we were interrupted, I asked you if you wanted me.” He lowered himself down until he kneeled before her.

Daisy sucked in a breath. Her heart was racing now, her breaths clipped and quick. “I remember.”

“We both are bound to others.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“We must both decide if this is something we want to risk. Because it will be a very big risk.”

“What do you mean?”

“I will take you from him. I have no qualms about that. When he returns, he will find there is no bride waiting for him.”

Daisy blinked in surprise. Elation filled her but she tamped it down. Life was never that easy. Cliffton might not care at all, but the countess would not let her go. Her parents would not support her casting Cliffton aside and breaking a long-standing friendship.

“And I will break my contract,” he said with determination.

“How?” Daisy asked. “How can you do that?”

“I don’t know. But I’ll find a way. It’s the reason I wanted to improve my strength in secret and pretend to be weak. The more I heal, the sooner I wed.”

“Alston, I don’t want you to get hurt after all you’ve been through.” They way he talked about Mrs. Dove-Lyon, and now that she’d met the woman, Daisy knew she was too powerful.

He slid his hands down her thighs, over her knees and under the hem of her skirts.

Daisy held her breath as his hands wrapped around her ankles.

Her thoughts scattered but she tried to hold on to them.

Wanting did not mean having, that’s what Mr. Chase had said.

Alston might feel confident about altering his fate, but Daisy was not.

She didn’t know how to begin to fight for him.

“Daisy, since the moment I woke in my bed, weak, angry, I didn’t know how to justify to myself, or anyone else, why I felt such a loss.

Everyone assured me it would all be all right.

I’d lived—what more could I want? Well, it turns out, so much more.

Living wasn’t enough. I want to love. The moment you walked into my room, all I wanted was you.

I looked at you, and at the time, I didn’t understand the surge of heat and greed that consumed me.

I just knew I wanted you. I couldn’t have you, but that would never stop me from wanting you. But now I understand why.”

Daisy drew in a small breath to utter one word. “Why?”

“Because I knew you were mine, and I was yours.”

His hands slid up her calves to the backs of her knees. He pulled her to the edge of the chair and wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Daisy, I have a very important question to ask you.”

Yes. Yes. Yes, whatever it was, her answer would be yes, but the words lodged in her throat as her brain tried to process that her legs were wrapped around him, her skirts up to her thighs, and his hands were on her—touching her—holding her hips. His eyes locked her in.

“Do you want to be mine?”

Her mind exploded with euphoria. “Yes. Always. I’ve never wanted anything more.”

“Then you’re mine.”

He leaned in to kiss her, but Daisy tucked her head back.

“Wait.”

He raised a brow in silent question. The action did not alleviate any of the burning intensity in his eyes. “Aren’t you done waiting? Waiting to live is worse than dying.”

“What about the things Mr. Chase said? What about our families? I want to be yours, but what does that mean?”

“It means that I’m in love with you and we will marry as soon as possible.”

Daisy couldn’t believe what he’d just said. He loved her. When had he decided he loved her? How did she know if it was real?

His gaze searched hers. “Are you doubting me?”

Was she? Daisy didn’t know what to think. Once again, she was so woefully inept when it came to relationships and men that she didn’t know what love felt or looked like. Or what her own feelings meant.

“I don’t know what I feel,” she said.

He pulled his hands out from under her skirts and cupped her face. “Tell me what you feel.” Daisy tried to shake her head, but he held her still. “These last few days, why have you come to see me? Why have we spent so much time enjoying each other’s company?”

“Is that love? Enjoying each other’s company?”

He chuckled. “No. Not this kind of love.”

“Then explain it. Because I don’t know if I trust myself to know, and I hate that.”

This time when he bent his head close, she didn’t dodge the kiss. She wasn’t strong enough to resist him twice. He brushed his lips across hers and stopped. Her stomach dropped in disappointment. She huffed in annoyance when he moved back.

“I know I love you, because looking at you feeds my soul. I could sustain myself on just looking at you.”

Very well, she understood that. Watching him was her favorite pastime.

“When I hear your voice, my pulse races,” he said. “Even when you’re not in the room. If I hear you speaking in the hall, I’m immediately anticipating the moment you walk through the door.”

Agreed. But . . .

“That sounds like infatuation.” She was well acquainted with infatuation by now.

“One of the many things you make me feel and likely how my love began. I know this is new. This is uncharted territory for me as well, but I know when to trust my instincts, and they all say that what I feel for you is love. My instincts never lead me astray. That is what makes me the astute card player. I don’t fall prey to doubt.

I trust my mind and heart. I know my strengths, and I know my faults.

I’ve known many women, Daisy, but none of them have made me feel the way you do. I’ve never been in love. Until now.”

She wanted to believe him, like this was a fairytale and he could sweep her off to a castle in the clouds, all her fears and worries disappearing. But that wasn’t real, and she wanted this, and his love, to be real.

“You don’t have to say it back,” he said, his thumbs brushing her cheeks. “I know you’re turning those cogs in your mind and dissecting my words. I can see it in your eyes.”

“You can?”

He nodded. “Ordinarily, it would pain me to see your doubt, but I’m overconfident, so doubt away. I know in the end I’ll win you over. I always win.”

Lud, this man had no humility. She bit back a smile.

He was absurd, but she loved his exaggerated confidence.

She loved his naughty jests and the way his eyes consumed her, stripping her of her bashfulness, baring her, and letting her stand on her own.

He was so patient, even now when she admitted to doubting his feelings.

How could she resist a man like this, and how could she not love him? Any woman would. Likely, many women did. But she was the one he was confessing his love to, and she wanted to claim it for herself.

“I understand now.”

He ticked his head to the side, eyeing her with a sly smile. “Are you sure? Maybe you need some convincing.”

She was sure. She did love him. In her na?ve, inexperienced way, which felt young and impulsive, because that’s the way she’d always been treated. But not here. Not with him.

“I’m convinced.”

“I think I can make a stronger argument.” He leaned forward, his fingers sliding into her hair.

“If you must,” Daisy said with a blissful sigh.

“I simply must.”