Page 45 of Cinderella's Charade With the Duke
She released a nervous laugh. ‘We had not set one as we were so newly engaged.’
That wasn’t entirely untrue now, was it?
‘Perhaps that is something we can do together that I will remember,’ he teased. He swung little Millie’s arm which resounded through his body and into hers.
She slowed to a stop. The guilt of pretending all was well in front of Millie also cut her to the quick.
‘Are you sure you still wish to?’ she asked, unable to hold his gaze. ‘You do not remember proposing to me. You do not reallyknowme. You should know the woman you marry.’
He released her hand and stooped to be eye level with Millie. ‘Run inside and get washed before we eat. Penelope and I will be in shortly.’ He kissed Millie’s cheek and she skipped along the meadow to go inside. He watched her enter the Manor and rose to face Hattie. The intensity of his gaze made her take a step back.
He clutched both of her hands and closed the gap between them, his leg pressing in against the fold of her skirts. ‘I know…’ He paused. ‘Actually, I cannot know how hard it has been for you. The position you have been put in. And I cannot pretend it is not a risk to move forward. I do not remember the first blush of love I felt for you or the first kiss we shared, or even the moment I met you…’
Hattie held her breath.
‘But, since I have awoken, I have felt the awakenings of something that feels like love. A tenderness and longing…and when I kissed you this morning, it felt as though we had something magical. As though wedohave something akin to atrue romance. Can you try to trust that even time cannot thrust what we have asunder?’
She swallowed hard. The passion in his gaze, and the vulnerability in his features, made her unable to move. Would all he said fade away if she blinked? Did she imagine his words? Tears bloomed in her eyes and she was unable to stop them. He gripped her face, wiping away a tear with his thumb.
‘I’ve upset you, which was the last thing I wanted. I am sorry, I…’
And rather than splutter out an answer, she leaned into him and kissed him. She threaded her hand through his hair and along his neck, unable to contain the feelings she had for him any longer. He answered her kiss, pressing into her gently and then with more urgency until their bodies were crushed together, although it didn’t feel close enough. She shoved aside her worries and savoured being held, wanted and kissed by a man. By him. By the man she was beginning to love.
He pulled back and chuckled. ‘Perhaps you are ready to move forward with setting a date after all,’ he mused, his voice husky and his gaze hooded.
‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘I am…but let us wait until you are more recovered. I do not wish to add to your responsibilities at present.’
He nodded and smiled. ‘Wise indeed, my lady.’
As he gripped her hand in his and they walked back to the Manor, she rejected all worries. She would savour every moment of their time together for as long as it lasted. And if she was lucky, he might just love her for who she was, Hattie Potts, who’d become a lady while he was sleeping.
Chapter Eighteen
As the days and weeks clipped by, William’s disappointment over not regaining his memory diminished. His life with his daughter, Penelope, his cousin and the comfort of his home at Blithe Manor was enough. The unknown past mattered less and less to him as he forged his way through to the future. The date for the nuptials had been selected and they had drafted a list of guests. He frowned when he saw Penelope had not added to the list yet.
He rose from his study, walked upstairs to the library where Penelope was prone to be while Millie napped, and sneaked in behind her. She had curled her legs under her as she read and the sunlight streamed in, catching the auburn strands of her loose tresses and turning them into a soft garnet. She paused and looked up, no doubt feeling the weight of his stare and smiled.
‘What a nice surprise,’ she said, setting her book aside. ‘I’d thought you buried in correspondence. It is rather teetering in that salver of yours.’
‘Perhaps, but I noticed you had not written down the names of your guests for the wedding. Would you like to add some now?’ He lifted the guest list.
She paled and his stomach dropped out. Had she changed her mind and not told him? He steeled himself. Best to know now. ‘Have you changed your mind?’ he asked. His heart pounded in his chest as the silence stretched out between them. He came to her and settled into the cushion next to her.
‘Penelope,’ he said, ‘you can tell me. I would understand. Not every woman wants to marry a man who can’t remember ninety-nine per cent of their life.’ He laughed despite the knot of emotion tightening under the cravat neatly tied about his throat. He fought the urge to rip it off.
‘I want to marry you more than anything,’ she said, taking his hand in hers and holding it in the curve of her lap. ‘But you do not remember my past and you should decide whether it makes a difference to you.’
‘I don’t understand,’ he replied. ‘What do I not know?’
‘That I have few people to place on that guest list. I have no close family left…other than two friends who grew up like me…an orphan.’
Relief made him almost laugh. ‘You believed I would not want to marry you because of that?’
‘That and the situation of my birth.’ She paused and frowned; a struggle waged inside her.
‘You can tell me,’ he encouraged. ‘How did you become Lady Penelope? With no title or family and being raised as an orphan?’
‘I did not know who my father was until after he died. My mother was his mistress.’
