Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Right, that’s it,” Granny said. “I’m telling your father.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you don’t talk to, and I quote, ‘that lying, cheating, snivelly little bastard,’ unless you absolutely have to, and you spoke to him earlier. There’s no way you’ll do it again.” I smiled smugly at her. “And there’s nothing to tell him. Why torture him when I’ve given you the perfect method to torture his wife with?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
Katie eyed me. “Yes, what method?”
I pointed at William. “As far as Carmen knows, I’m dating a future duke. That’ll piss her off.”
Granny’s eyes lit up. “I’m telling her you’re getting married.”
“No,” I said, right as William said, “Go ahead.”
I glared at him. “No, not ‘go ahead.’ What do you mean, ‘go ahead?’ I’m not marrying you. I’d kill you within weeks. We’ve been over this.”
“And like I said before, it’d be worth it.” He laughed.
“Young love,” Granny drawled. “Isn’t it disgusting?”
Katie coughed into her hand, hiding a laugh. “As enjoyable as this is, I do have things to do. William, are you being a help or a hindrance, seeing as you’ve given up tying bows?”
“She’s banned me,” he said morosely. “Apparently they look like shoelaces.”
“Grace,” Katie said, turning to me. “Is he being a help or a hindrance? I can find something else for him to do.”
“It’s fine.” I waved my hand. “Leave him here. He’ll only hinder someone else’s progress. At least he’s being useful, following me around with the bows.”
“Look at that. He’s learnt his place in the relationship already,” Granny quipped. “Right, I’m off to draft my speech to your stepmother about how you’ll one day be a duchess.”
I watched the two women leave and looked at William. “Where in any of that did I agree to marry you?”
“Nowhere.”
“Thank you.”
“But it’s not out of the question.”
“What on Earth does that mean?”
He grinned. “It wasn’t that long ago you were begging me to kiss you. One day, you’ll be begging me to marry you.”
“Okay, first, it wasn’t begging, so watch your mouth,” I replied. “And I don’t plan on proposing to anyone, least of all you.”
“Ooft, you wound me.” He clutched his chest dramatically, almost dropping the ribbons. “I convinced you to kiss me, didn’t I?”
“No, you dillydallied like a prat until I got frustrated and yelled at you. There’s a big difference. Move over,” I said, nudging his legs. “You’re in the way.”
He put the ribbons on the chair next to him and stood up, hooking his arms around me and lifting me to my feet with him.
“William. Put me down. I have eighty-three more chairs to tie ribbons on because you have the coordination of a—”
He silenced me with another kiss, laying to rest whatever rudimentary insult was about to come out of my mouth. I leant into him, wrapping one arm around his neck slowly, and then the other, as his circled my waist and he held me tightly to him.
“I didn’t agree to this,” I murmured against his lips.
“I told you you’d made a huge mistake,” he whispered right back. “Now I know you wanted me to kiss you, I’m going to take full advantage of that knowledge.”
“That’s rude.”
“No, it’s exploitative.” He grinned, pulling back just long enough for me to see the teasing in his eyes.
“At least you can admit it.”
“I don’t see you trying to stop me.”
I pouted, and he obviously took that as a sign to kiss me again, because that’s what he did. Sadly, he was right. I wasn’t trying to stop him. I had no inclination to do so, because I wanted to kiss him.
I didn’t want to stop kissing him, actually.
It was a bit of a problem.
“Yeah, all right.”
We jerked away from each other and turned to the door where Freya was standing with a coy smile on her face.
“You two are absolutely faking it,” she said, then turned and walked off, leaving us alone again.
My cheeks flamed, and I grabbed the ribbon box and shoved it back at William. “Stop distracting me.”
He grinned. “At least we know everyone will believe us.”
***
ME: I kissed him.
I stared at my phone, waiting as the three little dots showed up indicating that Amber was writing back.
AMBER: Is that all you did?
ME: I AM HAVING A CRISIS
AMBER: Boohoo, you’re stuck in a castle with a hot, multimillionaire duke who wants to kiss you. Excuse me if I don’t feel sorry for you.
ME: Technically, he’s not the duke. Just a viscount.
AMBER: Just a viscount, she says.
ME: Well, when you put it like that…
AMBER: Is he a good kisser?
ME: Dreamy.
AMBER: Does he have a brother?
ME: No.
AMBER: Any hot, multimillionaire duke friends?
ME: …I have those.
AMBER: Yes, but you don’t talk to them, so what good is that for me? You’re not going to introduce me to any of them.