“Well,” Lady Edith addressed him with a raised brow, “are you here to stake your claim?”
Jasper all but stared into her face, slowly becoming aware of the sly twinkle in her blue eyes as she watched him with equal care. And then the air rushed from his lungs in one long breath when he realized what a fool he had been. “You did it again, didn’t you?” he demanded with a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. “You manipulated me into storming in here!” He moved closer, searching her face. “How? How could you possibly know that I…?” Again, he shook his head, completely overwhelmed and utterly amazed.
A delicate smile tickled the corners of her mouth as Lady Edith shrugged. “I see things others do not. It’s a gift,” she snorted, “or a curse perhaps, but I prefer to look on the bright side.”
Her blue eyes seemed to glow as they looked into his, and Jasper inched closer, drawn to her like a moth to a flame. “Is there nothing that surprises you, my lady?” he whispered, wanting nothing more than to feel her in his arms again.
Her lashes fluttered downward in a surprising show of vulnerability before her eyes found his once more. “I…I did not expect to lose my heart this Christmas.” As formidable as Lady Edith always seemed, Jasper realized he had not been the only one who had feared the outcome of what had developed between them. Did she truly doubt how he felt about her? It seemed impossible!
With his gaze locked upon hers, Jasper moved closer, his hands moving to touch her, brushing along her arms before he pulled her into his embrace. “I thought you were betrothed,” he whispered as her breath quickened in tandem with his own.
“I know,” she breathed, and a smile teased her lips.
Jasper chuckled. “You wanted me to think that?” He could not say that he was surprised!
For a moment, her teeth sank into her lower lip, and he saw that sly twinkle return to her eyes. “You’re here now, are you not?” Lady Edith teased as her hands moved onto his shoulders, giving him a little tug. “Are you truly complaining?”
Smiling, Jasper closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. He breathed in deeply, feeling her warm breath tease his lips. “I love you,” he whispered, then opened his eyes, “and I did not expect that, either.”
A slight crease formed between her brows. “Do you regret it?”
A wide smile claimed Jasper’s face before he dipped his head and kissed her, relishing in the feeling of her yielding lips beneath his own. Her hands snaked around his neck, and she returned his kiss with utter abandon, and his heart soared as she sank into his embrace.
“Marry me,” Jasper gasped as he pulled back, staring into her eyes. “Say that you’ll marry me.”
A teasing chuckle left her lips. “Truly? Have you thought this through? I am who I am, and I will not change.” A touch of sadness came to her eyes. “Not even for you.”
Jasper paused, wondering at the vulnerability he heard in her voice. “I wish to marry you because of who you are. Why, then, would I want you to change?” He shook his head. “Never. You’re precisely the woman I always hoped to find but never thought I would.”
Her smile returned with full force. “Good.” Then she pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed him again.
“Is that ayes, dearest Edie?” Jasper asked, laughing, holding her snug against his chest.
“Yes!”
As his heart swelled with joy, Jasper tightened his hold on her and pulled her off her feet, spinning her in a tight circle as they laughed together. When her feet touched the floor again, he still could not bring himself to release her, his arms still wrapping her in a snug embrace. “When you said to Lord Aberley, he would make a fine husband,” Jasper murmured as he pulled back to look into her eyes, “I thought I’d lost you. I thought you’d agreed to marry him.”
Edith grinned, shaking her head at him. “You’re a bit of a foolish man, are you not? But do not worry, I’ll teach how to tell truth and lie apart.”
Chuckling, Jasper squinted at her. “Are you admitting you lied?”
“Oh, lies aren’t always bad,” she insisted with a compellingly wise look in her blue eyes. “Just as the world is not black and white. Nothing ever is. Everything comes in layers, in shades, in degrees. Nothing is simply good or bad.”
Mesmerized, Jasper sighed. “I’m only sorry that Lady Adele will not get her own happily ever after.”
“What makes you say that?”
Jasper frowned. “Is she not to marry Lord Aberley?”
Grinning, Edith shook her head.
Jasper gave a short laugh. “Then whom is the man supposed to make a fine husband? That is what you said, is it not?”
His fiancée’s grin widened. “Your sister.”
Utter surprise froze every muscle in Jasper’s body as he stared down at his future wife. “My…My s-sister?” He felt his mouth open and then close, trying to remember if he had ever seen Mary with Lord Aberley. Had he truly missed an attachment between them?
Of course, they had spoken earlier this evening during the cutting of the yule log. In fact, they had seemed quite engrossed in…what topic had they discussed? Jasper could not recall, for he had only had eyes for Edith. Of course, she had been the one to introduce the topic between them, had she not? How had she known? How—?