“You have nothing to apologize for.” She stared at him as if in amazement, then set the glass aside. “I came in here, intent on proving my love, and instead I trapped you in the exact situation you told me you wished to avoid. It was stupidly impulsive of me and not at all how I wanted things to turn out. I just thought if you understood how deep my feelings for you truly are, you would know there is nothing you could tell me to make me walk away. But I was a fool. I didn’t see Mr. Hallibrand when I arrived and I didn’t pause long enough to give you a chance to explain. And now you have sacrificed your own freedom for me. Blayne, listen, we can find a way out of this, surely.”
“Not without making things worse.”
“But—”
“Mr. Hallibrand will write about what he saw here today. All I can do without issuing threats, which I am nae prepared to attempt when the man is simply doing his job, is to ensure his honesty – that there’s nae disparaging language or wording deliberately meant to encourage outrage or create a scandal.”
“A scandal will be unavoidable if he mentions me being here, the fact that I came unchaperoned, and that I kissed you as if we’d been married for years and you’d just returned from war.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “There has to be a way out of this mess.”
Blayne studied her for a moment. The anguish in her features was so palpable it made his heart hurt. “I dinnae believe there is, lass. At least not one in which ye and yer family willnae suffer ramifications.”
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “You do not want to marry me.”
“Have I ever told ye that?”
She blinked with confusion. “You certainly implied it when you said we could have no future – when you told me you don’t want marriage.”
“Ye told me the same thing, I believe.” Reaching up, he cupped her cheek with his hand and gently brushed his thumb across her soft skin. “There’s a big difference between not wanting something and choosing to walk away from it because the person ye care about deserves better. The fact is, I’ve nae been honest with ye about how I feel.”
“So then?”
He was the worst sort of scoundrel – a murderous villain who would one day burn in hell for the crime he’d committed, but until then, he would pledge himself to her, to serve and protect, to love and adore. It was what she wanted, for some unfathomable reason he couldn’t quite grasp. And he would make damn sure she would never regret choosing him as her husband.
“I love ye, Charlotte, and nothing would please me more than to wake up beside ye every day for the rest of my life.” If he was lucky, the demons he’d feared for so long would quit hounding him so he could be happy as well.
“Are you sure?”
“Aye. I’m sorry I gave ye reason to doubt, luv. I only wanted what was best for ye.” He brushed aside her tears, smoothing them lovingly over her cheeks. Leaning in, he kissed her before she could overthink what he’d said, before she insisted he tell her what he might have done that was so very awful. Now that the future had been decided, it was best if she never knew. He’d carry that burden himself, until the day he died.
To his relief, she simply sighed and accepted the kiss he offered. It was sweet, less tempestuous than the previous ones they’d shared – a declaration of the bond they intended to foster.
He brushed his lips over each of her cheeks, then placed a kiss on the tip of her nose before resting his forehead against hers. “I will escort ye home now, Charlotte. It’s time for us to speak with yer father.”
“Do we have to?”
He chuckled in response to her reluctance. “Aye. We most certainly do. Dinnae lose yer courage now, lass. Ye’ve faced much greater dangers than Lord Elkins, and ye mustnae forget that I’ll be there by yer side.”
A little over half an hour later, Blayne and Charlotte entered Lord Elkins’s study after being granted entrance. The viscount stood, back straight, chin up, and hands clasped behind him as if prepared to inspect a regiment. All hints of pleasure were so far removed from his features, Blayne would not have thought the man capable of smiling if it weren’t for the fact that he’d seen him do so before.
“I believe I made it perfectly clear,” Lord Elkins said with a scowl directed at Charlotte. “That man is not welcome here anymore.”
“Then neither am I,” Charlotte said with such fierce determination Blayne had to bite his cheek in order to stop from grinning. “You see, Mr. MacNeil and I will be getting married.”
“The devil you will,” Lord Elkins barked. “If you think for one moment I’ll let a criminal drag my daughter down into the slum he crawled out of then—”
“You will not speak of him like that in my presence,” Charlotte said. She grasped Blayne’s hand and held on so tightly he could feel her nails digging into his skin. “Now, if you would please cease being a pompous prig for one moment so I may explain, I think you’ll agree there’s no longer a choice. Not that I would want it any other way, I should add.”
Her father gave Blayne a quick glare, then gestured toward the two chairs facing his from the opposite side of his desk. “Go ahead.”
Charlotte expelled a hard breath and accepted the invitation to sit. She waited for Blayne and her father to do the same before saying, “Something has come about. You won’t like it but—”
“I already hate it,” Lord Elkins grumbled with marked discontentment.
“And that is your prerogative,” Charlotte informed him in a manner that made Blayne incredibly proud. “However, the thing is that Mr. MacNeil and I were caught in a rather compromising situation this afternoon by a Mayfair Chronicle journalist at The Black Swan.”
Her father blanched. “Good God.”
“Precisely,” Charlotte murmured. “So you see—”
“What was his name?” Lord Elkins asked.
“I beg your pardon?” Charlotte said.
“The journalist’s name,” Lord Elkins clarified. “Tell me who he is and I’ll meet with him straight away so I can get ahead of this catastrophe. I’m sure he and I can agree on a sum that can—”
“Papa.” Charlotte clasped Blayne’s hand tighter. “Mr. MacNeil has already done what he could in order to make sure the event this man witnessed will not be related in sordid detail. Now, imagine how much worse it will be if my father attempts to bribe him. Do you honestly believe for one moment he will not print that?”
“Mr. MacNeil has nothing to offer, you daft girl!”
Blayne hadn’t meant to speak up until Charlotte was done convincing her father, but he certainly wasn’t about to sit there while the man insulted them both. Without bothering to hide his brogue this time, he said, “Yer daughter is the most brilliant woman I know, Lord Elkins. She is courageous, smart, practical, kind, and forgiving, so I’ll not let ye call her daft. And as for yer other point about me having nothing to offer, it is true that I dinnae have much, but I’ve enough to make sure she’ll not suffer any hardship. I shall love her with all that I am, sir. Ye have my word on that.”
Lord Elkins snorted. “And where do you see yourselves living? In a room above that tavern of yours in one of this city’s filthiest and most crime-infested neighborhoods?”