A Kiss To Remember | Herophine

Chapter Twenty Six - The Desk Drawer

Mercy

But even the sweetest of dreams must come to an end...

Mercy halted, then slowly turned, smoothing the rich burgundy of her skirts. "I never thought it quite fair that the fairy godmother didn't enjoy the same privileges as her protégée."

Felix moved toward her. "Aren't you tired of running, Mercy? I know I am. I've been running for eleven years now and it hasn't gotten me anywhere I wanted to be."

A mocking smile touched her lips. "And just where do you want to be, my lord?"

"In your heart. In your arms." As the shimmering strains of a waltz wafted up from the ballroom below, he took another step toward her. "In your bed."

Mercy turned away from him, but not before he saw her stern mask crumble. "How dare you insult me so? Why one word from me and my cousin will be compelled to murder you."

"Let him," Felix said grimly. "I'd rather die on the duelling field tomorrow than spend the rest of my days only half-alive. Which is how I feel whenever I'm not with you."

Mercy turned back to him, blinking furiously. "Well, that's just your wretched luck, isn't it? Because you're the one who squandered the last eleven years of our lives, not me."

"That's not true and you damn well know it. You were the one who broke off our engagement. You were the one who chose to believe an ugly morsel of gossip instead of the man you professed to love." He shook his head. "I still can't believe you thought I'd throw you over for some brainless chit like Madeline Dawnson!"

"I saw you!" she shouted. "I saw the two of you together that night at Lady Clare's party! I saw you holding her in your arms! I saw you kissing her just as you always kissed me!"

Felix

Felix felt the blood drain from his face. "Oh, God," he whispered. "I never knew."

"Aren't you going to deny it? Aren't you going to tell me that she kissed you? Who knows? After all these years, I might just be lonely and desperate enough to believe you!"

Felix closed his eyes, buffeted by the secret shame that had kept him from defending himself to her for all these years. A lifetime of regrets flashed before them the tender moments they might have shared, the children they might have had. But when he opened them again, he knew this was the only moment that mattered.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I did kiss her."

"Why?" Mercy whispered, the tears spilling from her beautiful eyes breaking his heart all over again. "Why would you do such a thing?"

Felix drew a handkerchief from his chest pocket and handed it to her. "Because I was young and foolish and alone in a moonlit garden with a pretty young thing who was looking at me as if I hung the moon. Because I was going to be married in less than a fortnight. Because I was half out of my mind with loving you, but terrified of the depth of my feelings." He shook he head helplessly. "The moment my lips touched hers, I knew it was a mistake."

Mercy crumpled the handkerchief in her fist. "Georgia and Clarice came to me the next day and told me you were planning to marry Madeline instead of me. And, of course, I believed them. How could I not? I'd seen the evidence with my own eyes. You left me no choice but to break our engagement before you did. How else was I to spare my pride?"

Felix cupped Mercy's chin in his hands, forcing her to look him in the eye. "You might have seen me kissing Madeline Dawnson in the garden that night, but you didn't linger long enough to see me push her away. You never heard me tell her that my life and my heart were already promised to another." He caressed her trembling lower lip with his thumb. "To you."