"You want me to marry you." The realization hit him like a glass of water thrown in his face, and the words had left his lips before he'd had a chance to think better of them. Of course he had at one point considered marrying her. That was why he'd made her acquaintance in the first place, at the dueling tournament. That felt like a lifetime ago, though. The woman that he'd come to know had nothing in common with the neat assessment that he'd made of her in his notebook, back in January. The truth was that he had never considered marrying Angelica. By the time he'd truly come to know her, he'd dismissed the idea entirely. He'd thought that because of their arrangement, she would have discarded the idea as well. She had all the freedoms that unwed women lacked, and more. Why would she want to marry, particularly if she already had him eating out of her hand at every available opportunity?

But she did want it, apparently, and now her jealousy made sense. She understood there was no competition between her and Clarissa Cosgrove for his passion, his desire. He didn't write Miss Cosgrove the sorts of letters he wrote to her, nor did he send her gifts of the same caliber. Unknowingly, however, he'd planned to give Miss Cosgrove a gift she coveted more than jewelry.

"My darling," he said softly, rising from his seat to move towards her.

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