Chapter 74
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Charles was right next door in the guest room. Noelle knocked and knocked; however, there was no answer, which left her confused. When she passed the study and saw the light on, she paused at the door.
The study door was slightly open, and there was Charles, lounging on the couch, buried under a mountain of paperwork.
He must have heard her because he looked up, and suddenly, they were eye to eye. Noelle felt her cheeks heat up and gave him a sheepish half–smile. “Aren’t you tired?”
Charles quirked an eyebrow, paperwork in hand. “Just finishing up some stuff,” he replied. “What about you? Couldn’t sleep?”
Noelle felt like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar, her gaze dropping to her slippers. Charles let out a soft chuckle. “Having trouble sleeping?”
She nodded. “Can I come in?”
“Sure thing.” Charles snapped his folder shut with a smile. “Come on in!”
Stepping inside, Noelle’s eyes widened in awe. Charles’s study was a world of its own, lined with shelves of books on economics, literary history, and anything else you could think of. “Wow, this is like a library! My grandpa’s a big book collector too!”
Charles got to his feet with a nod. “Is there something on your mind?”
Noelle fidgeted, her cheeks warming as she picked up a random book from the shelf. “I couldn’t sleep, sa I thought I would wander a bit. I saw your guest room door shut, so I knocked but got no answer. You were hiding out here, then!”
“Yeah, I got caught up with work stuff. I need some of these papers for tomorrow. So, what’s up? You seem like you’ve got something serious to say.”
“I…” Noelle chewed on her lip, struggling to meet his gaze. “Can we keep our marriage from my Grandpa for a bit?”
Charles quirked an eyebrow. “Why?”
“You know how Grandpa is. I’ve just come out of a relationship. He might’ve wanted to set us up, but I told him nothing would… ever happen!” She blushed a shade deeper. “Even if I had agreed to dating you, I never thought we’d tie the knot so fast. Grandpa won’t see it coming either.” Noelle was really thinking ahead, worried about Sebastian’s reaction. “If Grandpa finds out we’re married, he’s gonna grill us on why we did it!”
Charles chuckled. “Why else? Since when do two people need a reason to be together?”
Noelle gazed at Charles, her eyes filled with hope. “The thing is, I promised myself I wouldn’t end up with you, and now, out of the blue, we’re married. Grandpa’s going to read too much into it. We’re not stable yet, and I don’t want him to worry. You wouldn’t want him to worry about me, would you?”
Charles could not suppress a laugh and shook his head. “So are you saying you can’t stand me?”
“That’s not it at all,” Noelle rushed to clarify. “We’re already legally married. I just meant that… you were going to give me some time to get used to this, remember? Let’s wait until things between us settle down before we break the news to our folks. I want them to be on board with us and our marriage… We might
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not have those deep feelings yet, but with my sister considering divorce, I really want us to make this work and stay together for good, so…”
“Alright!”
“What?” Noelle was taken aback by his quick response. “What did you say?”
Charles grinned. “You’ve thought it all out. I’d be crazy to say no!”
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