A shiver of that remembered desire stroked her spine now. She clutched her hands together tightly and wrestled her apprehension under control. What on earth could she say to him now? Why haven’t you proposed seemed an inappropriate way to start any conversation between them.
The butler finally came to usher them forward. Melanie bumped into Valentine as he paused at the threshold, surveying an already filled room. Mr. and Mrs. Hartwood waved. The vicar did not. He stared at her so hard that she was certain he knew what she and Walter had done last night.
“Are we terribly late?” Valentine asked.
“You are right on time,” Walter promised as he came forward to greet Valentine and Julia. They shook hands and he organized a comfortable chair for Julia. He stopped at her side, offered a wry grin that caused her heart to skip a beat. “Miss Merton.”
“Mr. George.”
He cleared his throat as he faced the room. “If I could have your attention. I suppose you are all wondering at your invitations. Please do thank my sister for being gracious enough to humor me tonight.”
Imogen surveyed her brother with barely concealed curiosity. “Well, I don’t know about being gracious. I am still waiting for an explanation and I reserve the right to be ungracious when I do finally hear it.”
“I’ll get straight to the point then.” Walter cleared his throat. “I would like to announce a wedding.”
Stunned silence filled the room and Melanie stared at Walter.
Linus Radley moved to the fore, eyes narrowing. “Whose?”
Walter caught her hand in his and threaded their fingers together. “Well, ours of course.”
“But of course,” Radley whispered with widened eyes. “I should have guessed when you thumped me.”
Melanie couldn’t keep her eyebrows from shooting upward in astonishment. “I never heard a proposal.”
“Well, given your track record for saying no, I wasn’t keen to go down on bended knee and risk being unlucky number thirteen,” he shot back immediately.
Melanie blinked as she realized he was utterly serious. “You have to ask.”
He faced her. “Not a chance. We are getting married.”
Melanie couldn’t speak.
“You are out of line, sir,” Mr. Hartwood insisted. “The lady deserves a proper proposal or there can be no marriage.”
“Walter, please. You cannot deny her this moment?” Julia cried out, and soon everyone else voiced his or her opinions on the subject too.
Embarrassment brought an uncomfortable heat to her face. This was not how she’d envisaged this moment. She had thought they’d be alone so she could tell him she’d changed her mind about marriage. He’d silenced her doubts about becoming his wife with his tender lovemaking and his actions to avoid pregnancy had been appreciated. But she couldn’t discuss that here in front of everyone.
She glanced at her brother and saw confusion on his face. Valentine turned on his wife and regarded her suspiciously even though Julia ignored him and kept grinning. Melanie prayed he never guessed Julia had urged her to slip from the house last night.
As she was about to nod to cut off any further debate, Imogen’s spluttering laughter filled the room. She risked a peek and saw Walter’s sister double over in mirth—and soon everyone else joined in, holding their sides.
Everyone but Walter and herself.
Melanie wrenched her hand from Walter’s, shame filling her. The situation was not at all funny. “I cannot marry you without first hearing a proposal,” she whispered.
“Oh, stop, stop. This is no way to start a life together.” Imogen gestured to Valentine to join her and moved closer. “Let’s see if we can speed this up for everyone’s sake.”
Valentine glared at Walter. “Walter, marry my sister.”
“That is what I’m trying to do,” Walter grumbled.
Imogen patted her brother’s shoulder solicitously then faced Melanie. “Dearest Melanie, since my brother hasn’t the wits to realize a sure thing when he sees it, I would like to ask for your hand in marriage on his behalf. He clearly adores you by making sure we were all here to witness this moment, and I for one want nothing more than to make you both very happy for all the days of your life. Please do us all the great favor of accepting him so we might all live peacefully ever after.”
Despite the fact it was Imogen asking and not Walter, his eyes glowed with hope and an affection she had glimpsed in private these past weeks. She nodded. “Yes. I would like very much to be Walter’s wife.”
Their friends cheered and chatted among themselves, but Melanie only had eyes for Walter. She loved him and they would be husband and wife. She caught his hand and held it tightly. “I cannot believe you would think I might say no to you.”