An Enchanted Evening

Part III

PART III 

            Raising my gloved hand to his lips while keeping his gaze focused on mine, William pressed a kiss to the back of my hand, causing me to blush, my cheeks burning.

            “You have made me the happiest of men,” he breathed, grinning widely. His smile was crooked and so endearing; I could only smile joyfully in return, watching him shyly from beneath my eyelashes.

            Then his gray eyes burned into mine, and I trembled with the power of his unstated passion. “On an additional yet related subject, I wish to ask your permission despite the fact that I am being quite presumptuous this evening.”

            “Y-yes?”

            “May I kiss you?” he whispered.

            I nodded, blushing even more deeply.

            Slowly he lowered his face, and my eyes closed as his lips brushed across mine, barely touching. Then he pressed against my lips more firmly, deepening the kiss, and I gloried in our shared passion. I felt so much for this man that I could not contain it all, and I gasped in shock at the uncontrollable emotions pulsing through me.

Taking advantage of my open lips, his tongue gently entered my mouth.        Although I was shocked at first by this unforeseen development, I found myself kissing him back in the next moment with all of the love I felt for this extraordinary man.

            Gradually he slowed our passionate encounter, pressing gentle kisses to my lips, my jawline, and my throat. I gasped again as an unfamiliar yet strong yearning coursed through me that I had never known was possible between a man and a woman.

            “We must stop now,” he panted between kisses along my throat. He leaned back as I opened my eyes, feeling as if I had taken a remarkable and unbelievable journey without leaving his arms.

            Watching me closely as I blinked several times in succession, trying to restore my thought processes, he grinned at me with an air of triumph.

            Reaching up, I tentatively felt my swollen lips with my gloved fingers before returning his smile.

            “If your father saw that kiss, he would be demanding me to marry you within the fortnight,” he declared, seemingly unrepentant.

            My smile disappeared at his words. What did he mean? Did he often breach propriety in this way with other young women of society? Did he now consider me a trollop, no longer pure or worthy of his high station? Did he not wish to marry me now?

            As these muddled thoughts spun through my brain, I rose abruptly to my feet, straightening my gown and trying to restore my hair to an acceptable state in order to avoid awkward questions once I re-entered the ballroom.

            Of course William was correct; if anyone had witnessed us in such an embrace, we would be forced to marry immediately. And obviously from his words and apparently light-hearted manner, he did not wish to marry me right now…if ever.

            Then why did he wish to ask my father if he could propose to me?

            Was he teasing me? Ridiculing me? Or perhaps kindly trying to soften the blow that was to come when he refused to marry me after that wanton kiss?

            Perhaps he no longer considered me a lady worthy of his hand? 

            I was so confused….