“I told you I kissed her,” said Rhys.
Deri rolled his eyes. “Yes, and?”
“Well, I stopped the kiss. I told her that she deserved to be treated better. I didn’t want her feeling like I was just using her, that I was abusing my position. Wister has suffered at the hands of one manipulative male—she doesn’t need me holding sway over her.”
Deri picked up his wine glass, took a sip, then set it back down. Rhys hated the vast silence. He was going to have to tell his cousin the rest of what had happened, what he had done this morning. And how, despite his best intentions, he had managed to make a mess of things once again with Wister.
“This morning I gave her the money she was owed, and I asked if she wanted to stay here. For us to come to an arrangement. I meant it as an offer to further our romantic relationship, but instead I think I might have somehow managed to upset her again. To be honest, I’m not sure what I did wrong.”
The words had no sooner left his lips than Deri stood, marched over to where Rhys sat, and gave him a solid slap to the back of his head. “Why didn’t you just propose that she become your mistress and make your insult of the poor girl complete?”
“I would never do…what?”
Blast. I really have messed this up, haven’t I?
He raked his fingers through his hair, angry and frustrated with himself. He just couldn’t find the right words when it came to be dealing with the female sex. The whirling emotions inside him only compounded the situation. “What am I going to do, Deri? I really like her. I don’t want her to leave.”
Deri started back to his chair, then stopped. “Like? Would you like to consider using another word to describe your feelings for the delightful Miss York, or shall I give you another smack over the head? It’s entirely your choice.”
Rhys got to his feet. He didn’t need any more sense knocked into him. It was time to screw his courage to the sticking place and go tell Wister he wanted her. “I’m going down to the kitchen right this minute to talk to her, which means you may not get any of the apple pie,” said Rhys.
Deri picked up Rhys’s wine glass and downed its contents. “Then I shall have plenty of room for wedding cake. The question being, whose will I be eating first, yours or mine?”
He went back to his chair, finished the rest of his own drink, then followed Rhys out of the room. “I am off to the Royal Oak. It will give the two of you some privacy. But just try and do things properly this time, Rhys. Girls like Wister only come along once in a lifetime.”
Deri was right. Rhys was in love with Wister. He wanted a life with her, a future as husband and wife. At the bottom of the stairs, on the ground floor, he stopped. Any possible offer of marriage would come with some hard decisions, ones which were hers to make.
Wister hadn’t seen his crumbling ruin of a home. Nor had she spent time in Wales during the bitter depths of winter. At the moment, he had little to offer other than his name and two cash-strapped estates.
If I push the romance side of things and she agrees to marry me, what happens if she decides that she cannot live that life?
If he took Wister to be his wife and she hated living in Wales, she would have simply swapped her miserable life at Kington House for another damp, cold prison.
And you would lose her forever.
Chapter Seventeen
Wister rose from her chair near the stove as the door to the kitchen opened. “I was just waiting a few more minutes for the top of the pastry to brown,” she said.
He crossed the floor in an instant. He hauled her into his arms. A breathy ‘oh’ escaped her lips.
“I am so sorry, Wister. I made a pickle of things last night and again this morning,” he said.
She wrapped her arms around him, holding on with all her might. When Rhys brushed a wayward curl back from her face, Wister closed her eyes and softly sighed.
Please. Please kiss me.
“I am going to kiss you, Miss York, but I am warning you, I am not going to apologize afterwards. In fact, I intend to kiss you for quite some time, and you are simply going to have to suffer my attentions,” he said.
She opened her eyes and grinned up at him. “I am ready to suffer all and any kisses you feel necessary, Baron Carno.”
As his lips met hers, Wister’s heart melted. He did want her. Rhys speared his fingers through her hair and cupped her head gently in his hands. His tongue slipped into her mouth, where it settled to play and tease against hers. It had only been a day since he had first kissed her, but it felt like an eternity.
She gasped as he slipped a hand over her ass and pulled her roughly against him. His hard erection leaving her in no doubt as to how this moment was affecting him. Heat pooled between her legs—Rhys was not alone in being aroused. The thought of him touching her, of being naked in his arms, set Wister’s heart racing.
The tiny voice of reason whispered in the back of her mind. Is this what you want? Are you prepared to settle for being his mistress? You will never have a life of your own if you do.
No. She couldn’t do it. But before she could pull away, Rhys broke the kiss and drew back. Her gaze immediately dropped to the floor and she steeled herself for the hard words she would have to say. To tell him that despite all that she felt for him, her self-respect would never allow her to become a kept woman.
A finger touched under her chin, lifting her head. A green-eyed Welsh god stared back at her. “I’ve reconsidered the offer I made to you this morning.”
Her heart stopped beating. “Yes.”
“I don’t need an estate manager—well I do but that’s not what I have in mind for you. I want you to be something else.”
She slowly shook her head. Rhys really did struggle with his words at times. But she sensed that his heart was in the right place. He screwed up his face, as if still searching for the right words.
“I know this sounds all rather strange, but before we settle on your future, I need you to understand a little more about me. About my life. That’s why I want you to come to Wales. Stay at Carno Castle, learn more about my family’s heritage, then we can talk,” he said.
Wales. She had never thought to actually venture across the border. Her travels thus far had only got her as far as London and now Kington House.
Things were still not clear and settled between them, but her heart told her she had to take this chance and go with him. If she didn’t, she may spend the rest of her life wondering and regretting. Forever asking herself…what if?
He leaned in and kissed her once more. Rhys appeared to have a plan set in his mind. As she opened her lips and let him deepen the kiss, Wister let go of her worries. She would have to trust whatever he was thinking. Her heart had already proclaimed it wanted a future with him.
She just had to get him to put the right words in the right order at some point. This journey to Wales would settle things once and for all. She had to believe that Rhys’s heart was pure and that he would offer her a life standing beside him as his wife. As a full partner in everything.
If not, she would take her pride and leave.
Chapter Eighteen
Rhys paced back and forth across the front door of Kington House. He was still huffing when Wister finally made her way downstairs. At the sight of her travel bag, he stopped and quickly came to her side. “Here, let me take that. Have you finished packing?”