“I hope you don’t mind walking the whole way home,” he said once the world around them was quiet and dark.
Ellen shook her head, but she didn’t say anything.
They were let through the front door of Mercer’s house by a tired maid who looked like she’d drawn the short straw and was designated to stay up to let her master and mistress in once they returned home. The rest of the house had clearly gone to bed, though.
“Do you wish me to call tomorrow to see how you are?” Joseph asked as he and Ellen paused at the bottom of the stairs.
Ellen was very still for a moment, then she glanced up at him and shook her head. “Thank you, Joseph, but no. I think it’s best if we make a clean break.”
Joseph’s eyes went wide. “I beg your pardon?”
Ellen’s face flushed even redder than it already was from the chill of the night and their walk. “I’ve decided to go back to Wyoming. I don’t fit in here and I never will. Thank you for being so kind to me, but I cannot do this anymore.”
She turned and started up the stairs.
“Ellen, no,” he called after her. When that wasn’t enough, he marched up the stairs after her. “One unfortunate evening should not be the end of things,” he insisted.
“It hasn’t just been one evening and you know it,” she said, glancing sideways at him as they reached the top of the stairs. “It has been months of misfortune, of being laughed at and whispered about. I cannot take it anymore.”
“It has been months that have brought us together,” Joseph insisted as they paused in front of a door halfway down the hall. “I do not care what the fickle misses of London society think. I love you, Ellen, and I am not willing to let you go.”
Ellen sent him a pained look, as if she might cry again, then reached for the handle of the door they’d stopped in front of. “You are wonderful, Joseph, and I will never forget you.”
She opened the door and stepped inside what appeared to be a tastefully-furnished bedroom. Fueled by frustration on Ellen’s behalf and love on his own, he stepped right into the room with her, surprising her, and shut the door behind him.
“I love you, Ellen Garrett,” he declared in a forceful voice. “I wish to marry you. You’ve already said yes, and I do not believe for a moment that you care so little for me that you would run away to the other side of the ocean because a group of people who do not understand you and are not worthy of you have snubbed you. Not when you know how desperately I love you.”
Her eyes blinked wide, sparkling with the life that he’d missed from her through the entire evening.
“Joseph, I—”
He couldn’t allow her to give him another excuse, so he threw caution to the wind, stepped into her, clasped one arm behind her back, and drew her to him for a searing kiss. He placed his free hand on the side of her hot face and caressed her lips with his own before parting them so that he could taste her.
Ellen groaned and softened in his arms, gripping the sides of his jacket. She swayed into him as their kiss continued, welcoming him into her with enthusiasm. Her acceptance was intoxicating, and it made him want her even more instead of satisfying the flame within him.
“I love you,” he repeated. “You aren’t going anywhere, not when we have an entire life waiting ahead of us here.”
She sighed and leaned back slightly, her eyes hazy with affection and lust. “I love you too, Joseph. I’m sorry if I ever caused you to doubt that.”
Those words were like gold to him. He surged into her again, kissing her with every bit of the passion he felt and sliding his hands over the back of her ballgown, looking for its fastenings. When he was unable to find them, he grasped handfuls of the fabric at the top of her back and pulled hard as if to rip it.
The fabric hardly budged, though there was a tiny ripping sound. Ellen squealed, then jerked away from him with a short laugh.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her eyes glittering.
Joseph let out a breath, deflating a bit. “I was attempting to be bold and dramatic and to rip this unflattering ballgown from your body.”
Ellen laughed out loud and stepped back enough to reach for the fastenings at the back of her waist. “It is a terrible gown and I don’t like it much. If you could rip it, I would be more than happy for the dramatic moment. But gowns are sturdily constructed, and ripping them is just a fantasy, I’m afraid.”
“Alright,” Joseph laughed, feeling unaccountably giddy. “So how do we proceed, then?”
“Like normal, sensible adults, I’m afraid,” Ellen said.
She turned her back to him, gesturing toward the row of buttons—which Joseph could see now. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and waistcoat and quicky threw them off before taking over from Ellen, who had started to undo her bodice.
“This is horrifically uninspired,” Joseph said with a sigh as he helped her through dozens of buttons and layers of clothing.
Ellen hummed in frustrated agreement. “It isn’t nearly as exciting as tumbling on a sofa while wearing pajamas, is it?”