At this point he was powerless to stop it. Saying it was a mistake or an accident would bring embarrassment on both families. The only option was to suck it up and get married. He knew Kessen’s type; she was married to her work, and he was the same way. How bad could marrying Kessen be? She was wildly attractive—obviously he wanted her—and she would keep him on his toes. She would definitely look good on his arm, not that he would ever admit it to her. Admitting she was eye candy would probably provoke her to shave her head; she was that type of girl.
He chuckled as he let himself out. The party was long over by now, and he needed all the rest he could get before facing tomorrow.
Chapter Eight
Kessen blinked several times before finally admitting she was awake. In fact, she hadn’t slept one wink that night. It had taken at least an hour to get all the flour out of her hair and another hour for her to brush it all out. She wanted nothing more than to get a cup of hot coffee, sit by the fireplace, and read. Though now reading about the Vandenbrook family left an odd twittering in her belly.
It was strange she would feel fluttery when thinking about that family. To think that a few days ago, she was dreaming about the olden days of London society. Now it was like living a nightmare.
She was caught in a scandal. A scandal in 2012! She wasn’t a celebrity, although she would admit to being mildly famous because of her money, and here she was being forced to marry just because of the stupid Vandenbrook family!
But it was some kiss.
“Focus!” she grumbled to herself. In fact, she hadn’t been able to get the incident out of her head all night. Crunching numbers in her head, singing songs, and reading books—nothing could pry her attention away from the memory of Christian’s soft lips against hers.
****
Kessen scolded herself for allowing her feelings to get involved. It was obvious she hadn’t been kissed in a while, especially from the way she had reacted. What was she thinking? Grabbing his hair and pulling it? Wrapping her arms seductively around his neck?
“Oh!” she screamed into her pillow, hitting it simultaneously with her hand, all the while kicking her feet crazily in the air.
When a mild cough interrupted her, she winced. There had to be some other way to let someone know you were standing there watching the crazy antics.
“What a fantastic way to start the morning!” a deep voice exclaimed.
She whined into her pillow once more before opening her eyes.
A prayer went up to the nightgown gods when she realized she had put on cute boy shorts and a t-shirt before bed, rather than her ratty t-shirt and sweats.
Christian had somehow let himself into her room. He looked ridiculously handsome in his perfectly ripped jeans and leather jacket, making her feel somewhat feisty and, unfortunately, a little heated.
“May I help you?” she seethed through clenched teeth.
“Tsk, tsk. We wouldn’t want your teeth to be grinding. Remember, we don’t have the best dentists over here.” He flashed a wide grin, making her stomach drop to her knees.
The man had no idea the effect he had on her, and it was probably a good thing, considering the compromising situations they had recently managed to get themselves into.
“Why?”
He sauntered towards her. “Why, what?”
“Why are you here?”
He sighed. “Well, I think everyone goes through a time in their lives when they ask that same question. It’s brave of you to finally step outside of yourself and—”
Her hand lifted impulsively with every intention of leaving a print on his perfectly chiseled jaw.
“Easy, tiger,” he joked, swiftly grabbing it out of the air and pulling her into his sturdy frame. “We are spending the day together, which means you have to learn how to play nice, or your poor grandmother will have to deal with the repercussions of your wretched behavior.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she argued, turning away.
“Actually,” he stepped behind her and rasped into her ear, “you do. Because if you don’t, the embarrassment would not only destroy both our families, but the stocks for your father’s company would plummet.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he said, grabbing a few papers from under his arm, “everyone loves us.”
Her mouth dropped open. He lifted a hand to shut it, letting his fingertips linger on her chin. The shivers went all the way down to her toes this time. She closed her eyes to regain control. “Let me see,” she snapped, pulling the papers out of his grasp.
It was worse than she thought.
It was true.
She was done for.
Her head jerked up to his gaze. He didn’t seem as smug as she would have liked; instead he looked just as irritated as she felt.
“How did this happen?” she yelled.
“Calm down,” he ordered, pushing her into a nearby chair. “I guess I’ll have to be the one to do this, then.” He took a deep breath and started, “Sometimes when a boy and girl meet, they find each other—how shall I put it? Oh, yes—attractive. And sometimes, when the boy and girl get close things happen and—”
Her chest was rising and falling in ragged succession. “Not that. I know how that happened, thank you very much.” She unfurled the paper. “This. How did this happen?”
His face twisted bitterly. “Take a guess.”
Kessen thought through the previous night’s events—her grandmother’s expression, the handshake between the two.
“No.” She groaned.
“Yes.”
“No!”
“Yes!” he said loudly. “Come on, my father has been pestering me for months; your father is apparently worried sick about you, since you won’t bring yourself out of isolation unless you’re with Nick and Sammy.” His mouth shut suddenly.
She opened her mouth wide to yell, but he forcefully put his hand over it. “We spoke earlier. Actually, I just got off the telephone. Apparently he’s been planning this for months with your grandmother. Even your silly cousin is in on it. Of course, I wasn’t part of the plan, but getting you married off was the reason. He wanted you to marry someone from England, and now he has his wish. And since I’m the head of the offices over here, and I’m the next in line for the dukedom, I’d say his plan worked to perfection.”
She felt hot all over. A feeling of dread swept over her.
“Breathe, America. Deep breaths,” he soothed, his hand still covering her mouth.