Read Online Scandalous Wager: A Whitechapel Wagers Novella by Christy Carlyle - Free Book Online

would.”
    “Inspector
Reed mentioned marriage. Have you had a change of heart on that account,
Lizzy?”
    A change of heart exactly. Lizzy had never
expected to give her heart to anyone, and now nothing less would do.
    “Yes,
utterly and completely.”
    Ian
smiled. She didn’t look at him but saw the flash of white out of the corner of
her eye.
    Her
mother sat for a moment, silent, and it looked to Lizzy as if she was almost as
shocked by her turnabout regarding marriage as she had been to find her draped
across a man’s lap.
    “Well.”
Mrs. Ainsworth spoke the word as if it tied the whole matter up with a bow. She
settled back in her chair and looked about as if hoping Jenny might appear with
a steaming cup of tea.
    Lizzy
was on the point of offering to make tea for all of them when her mother spoke
again.
    “I
suppose we must speak to your father. You, in particular, Inspector Reed.”
    Ian
cleared his throat and wiped his palms on his trousers before speaking. He had
not seemed nearly as nervous when speaking to her father.
    “Yes,
thank you, Mrs. Ainsworth. As it happens, I have already spoken to Detective
Chief Inspector Ainsworth on this matter.”
    Lizzy
closed her eyes and sighed. An image of her father, red-faced and irate, came
to mind and she heard his words echo in her mind. He had said he would never
consent to her marriage to Ian, though that was before Lizzy was certain she
would have consented to marriage herself.
    Ian’s
resonant voice sounded next to her.
    “He
consented.”
    “What?”
    “He
did?”
    Lizzy
and her mother spoke nearly in unison.
    Ian
turned to Lizzy. “After you left the office, we continued to discuss the
matter. And he changed his mind.” He reached out and took her hand. “He said he
hoped you might change your mind too.”
    Despite
the watchful gaze of her mother, Lizzy leaned closer to Ian. His dark gaze
mesmerized and drew her. She still wanted to finish what they had started and
smiled at the realization that they would have a lifetime to do so.
    “I
have.”
    “Have
you? I don’t recall hearing a yes.”
    “Then
ask me again.”
    He
moved away from her, not releasing her hand but rising slightly, only to kneel
down in front of her.
    “Will
you, Lizzy? Will you marry me?”
    “I
will.”
    He
leaned to kiss her hand, but Lizzy caught his chin and pressed her mouth to
his.
    “And
I would suggest soon.”
    Her
mother’s quip caused Ian to pull away from the kiss. But as he resumed his seat
next to Lizzy, he kept hold of her hand.
    “The
sooner the better, Mrs. Ainsworth.”
    Lizzy
watched as her mother and Ian shared a conspiratorial look of mutual amusement.
    “Very
good. Lizzy, your father will be home soon. Perhaps it is best if he learns of
your betrothal tomorrow, when Inspector Reed is not here and you are
less...tousled.”
    Mother
was right, though the notion of letting go of Ian’s hand was distinctly unappealing.
But she let him go, retrieved his jacket and overcoat, and watched as he
settled into both.
    He
bid her mother good evening and rather than nod or wish him well as she usually
did, her mother stretched up and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
    It
seemed only fair she should be accorded the same pleasure and drew close to him
as he stepped into the entry hall.
    Leaning
in, she took a deep breath, savoring his scent, before she kissed his cheek.
She lingered there, at the curve of his ear and whispered. “There is one last
thing I must say to you before you go.”
    He
smelled delicious and the heat of his skin was too enticing to resist another
kiss against the light stubble on his cheek before she continued.
    “I
meant to say so before, but we were interrupted.”
    Apparently
deciding they had stood too close for too long, Lizzy’s mother cleared her
throat, loudly enough to be heard through the drawing room door.
    Before
they could be interrupted again, Lizzy said the words that had been in her heart
long before she had changed her mind