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Penelope is reading under the willow tree, enjoying the serene sound of nature and the cool wind of summer. She is deeply focused on her novel when a sound of twigs breaking and the appearance of a man startled her.
"OH!" Penelope screams.
"Pen!" Colin smiles brightly, shrugging off the fallen leaves on his coat. "Are you alone?"
Penelope blinks, she knows that Colin has returned merely three days ago but she has not seen him in person. She could not help but stare at the man she had been dreaming of since she was eight, which means she has been yearning for him for 20years now.
"Pen?" Colin tilts his head, he then sits beside her. "Thank the Gods, Eloise is not around."
Penelope finally snaps out of her daydream. "Colin... You are back."
Colin nods. "I have. I actually have gifts for you." He gently held her hand. "I missed you, Pen."
At three and thirty, Colin did not look a day older than her. He has always been the epitome of male elegance and beauty. Penelope stares at his face and nods. "I did missed you too... very much."
Colin's smile grew wider. "I was planning to call upon you this afternoon.. but here you are."
"By calling, you mean climb the tree near my window?" Penelope raise a brow. "Can your knees still do it?"
Colin lets out a belly laugh. "I was gone for a year and you, Featherington, have gained such confidence to tease?"
Penelope leans on Colin's arm. "Being a spinster gives you that."
"Eight and twenty is not a spinster."
"Said by a single man who is three and thirty." Penelope sticks out her tongue.
Colin kisses the top of her head, a familiarity that will gain traction from the ton. "Is your Mama still bothering you?"
Penelope chuckles. "She had long given up on me, Colin."
Colin rubs her arm. "Mama still pushes me to attend balls... to court a lady."
"Understandable." Penelope hums.
"I wish to be free from that." Colin admits.
"And I wish to be free from our home... from my Mama." Penelope paused. "But I am not allowed to have it all, can I?" She smiles weakly.
The two spent the afternoon catching up under the willow tree, hiding their distinct closeness from the prying ton.
___________________________________________
Penelope is reading a novel while sitting on the settee when she heard a thud. She tries to ignore the sound but it became repetitive, making her stand and open her window.
"Pen!" Colin whispers while hanging on to a vine.
"Bloody-" Penelope looks at him. "Colin!"
Colin grunts. "Will you let me in first?"
Penelope opens her window wider, helping Colin to climb into her room. He grabs Penelope's hand before she could close the window, pulling her to sit beside him on the edge of her bed.
"Pen... I could not sleep."
Penelope playfully hits his arm. "That made you think it is acceptable to climb my bedchamber?"
Colin frowns. "Pen... we've been doing that since we were small." He wickedly grin. "Well since I was small."
Penelope huffs. "Say what you came here for before I forget that we are friends."
"Pen.. Marry me." Colin lifts her hand and kisses her knuckles.
Penelope's jaw dropped. This is not the way she envisioned the day that Colin would finally see her... love her.
"WHAT?" Penelope blushes.
"Listen." Colin squeezes her hand. "I want my Mama to stop pestering me and give me freedom... and you, as well, wants freedom from your family."
"And we are supposed to find that by caging each other?" Penelope raises a brow.
"Cage?" Colin flinched. "Are we not friends? Would it be dreadful to spend each other's life together... as friends?"
Penelope gulps. Is this the closest thing she could get from being the love of his life? She tries to weigh in her options. "But... what are the rules?"
"Rules?" Creases forms between Colin's brows.
"Will you take a mistress?" Penelope avoids Colin's gaze. "Sleep around like you do now?"
"You think of me as such?" Colin's eyes reflect the hurt he feels.
"I hear...whispers."
"Bollocks! Those rumors could not be more farther away from the truth." Colin retorts.
"Tell me what this arrangement entails then." Penelope squares her shoulders.
Colin kisses her knuckles again. "We shall appear as a couple to the ton but remain friends at our home."
Penelope tries to hide her disappointment. "Of course. I shall expect none other than that."
Colin feels like he is being stabbed in the chest, is this how being rejected by the love of your life feels like? Maybe the closest thing he could possibly be is Penelope's platonic husband. "Of course."
"I accept then." Penelope nods.
"Great."
"How shall we tell our family then?" Penelope shyly asks, fidgeting her chemise.
Its now or never, Colin wagers. "By this." Colin suddenly lifts Penelope's chin, he then dips his head down to kiss her.
Penelope was stoic for a minute, she cannot believe Colin Bridgerton is kissing her, inside her room.
Colin stops and pushes his forehead against her. "Kissing is for two people, Pen."
They share a giggle and gazes deep into each other's eye. Slowly, their mouths find one another, sharing a chaste kiss.
It maybe their hidden desires or the thrill of it all but their kisses soon turned into something passionate, ending Colin on top of Penelope.
And that is how Portia Featherington finds them.
"PENELOPE!"
___________________________________________
Colin sits on a chair inside Anthony's study, nursing a drink on his hand.
"You really got no shame?" Anthony paces the room.
"Anthony." Violet subtly intervenes.
"No, mother." Anthony pauses. "Penelope is family. She is a sister to me and a daughter to you." He throws a deathly glare to Colin. "And he... he ruined her like she is his whore!"
Colin indignantly stands up. "Do not call MY wife like that!"
"You treated her as such. And no! She is not yet your wife." Anthony spats back.
"Semantics" Colin waves a hand. "She had been my wife since we exchanged letters... since I kissed her lips and touched her-"
Violet cuts him off. "Enough!" She gives both her sons a stern look. "What are your plans, Colin?"
"Penelope and I have talked... we shall be married in a moth." He smiles proudly.
___________________________________________
Portia paces in front of Penelope while her daughter sits tight on the drawing room settee.
"Here I thought.. spinsterhood was the last shame you would bought upon our name and yet, I was wrong!" She stops to look at Penelope. "How dare you disgrace us by being a mistress?"
"Excuse me!" Colin barges in with a murderous look.
"Mr. Bridgerton." Portia plasters a fake smile. "Those were not meant for your ears.".
"I am still speaking!" Colin shouts, earning a silent gasp from Penelope.
"Your daughter is not my mistress." Colin fidgets his fingers in anger, forming a fist. "She is to be my wife." He glares. "And were you not so narrowly concerned of your own standing, you would've noticed that Penelope is the most eligible amongst you and the ton. She is clever, and warm, and the very definition of beauty."
Portia blinks and hesitates to answer back.
Colin grabs Penelope's hand and pulls her to his side. "In the future, I advise you not to sully our Bridgerton name by suggesting otherwise." He glances at Penelope before taking her out of the house.
Colin discretely takes Penelope to his bachelor's lodging in Bloomsbury. The two went straight to Colin's bedchamber to avoid further exposure to the staff.
Penelope looks around, she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. "Colin... we are alone."
"Oh. Are you uncomfortable?" He held both her hands. "Are you well?"
Penelope nods. "I am well... nothing I have not heard from my mother. Well.. except being a whore." She laughs to lighten up the mood but Colin remains frowning.
"You are not a mistress nor a whore." Colin lifts her chin so that she will look at him. "I meant every word I said, Pen. Any man would be lucky to have you. I am very lucky to have you." I love you, he wants to add.
Penelope's heart beats faster, her hopes getting up. Is Colin sincere? Could he possibly learn to love her? She would gladly accept any crumbs of love from him, even a tiny fraction of her love for him.
"Tha...Thank you. You are a very good man, Colin." Penelope bites her lower lip.
Colin struggles to fight the urge to kiss her again. To feel her plump lips once again. "I will marry you, Pen... if you will still have me."
"In what world would I not, Colin?" Penelope cups his face. "You are a dream." My dream, she wants to tell him.
"Then it is set. We shall marry." Colin glances at her lips.
Penelope sees where his vision lands, she licks her lips, hoping to be kissed.
"Shall we... seal it with a kiss?" Colin suggests.
Penelope nods, before Colin could respond, she pulls him for a searing kiss. Propriety be damned.
The next few moments were a blur for both of them and the next thing they knew is that they were out of breath, both with swollen lips.
Colin chuckles and talks first, his forehead and nose touches with hers. "We shall be happy... married with bliss."
"Yes.. as friends." Penelope adds, trying to soften the blow she thinks that would come.
"Of course." Colin hides his disappointment and aching heart.
They distance themselves from each other, facing one another with hands intertwined.
"Colin..." Penelope gathers the courage to speak.
"Yes?"
"Mama...uhm.. she said I must give you children.." Penelope blinks. "She said, given my advanced age, I shall see to it that a child will be born from our marriage.. so that.. "
"So that what?"
"So that you shall not seek others.." Penelope looks at the floor, she could feel the anger emanating from Colin.
"How dare she." Colin scoffs. "Pen... I shall be faithful to you."
"As I shall be too." Penelope quips.
"We can talk about... intimacy.. and children... soon." Colin declares.
"Would you.. would you like us to be?" She lifts her head to stare at his eyes. "Intimate?"
"I shall be glad of what you are willing to embark on, Pen."
"I want it all." Penelope blurts out. The shock from Colin's face and the silence made her panic and add the next words which she immediately regrets. "As good friends."
"Right." Colin gulps, hoping all the pain he feels would likewise be gulped down. "We are very good friends...it shall work."
___________________________________________
Exactly a month after being caught, Colin and Penelope got married at St. Bride's Church, attended by all the guests their mothers could possibly fit in.
At the wedding breakfast, Colin is pulled aside by his brother, Benedict.
"What is the plan here?" Benedict raises a brow.
"What could you mean?" Colin asks.
"I am not a fool." Benedict whispers. "I know what you two are doing. You must be fool to think this is a good idea."
"We are married." Colin frowns.
"Have it ever occurred to you that you could confess to your wife?" Benedict suggest.
Eloise suddenly emerges from the doorway. "That I would agree."
Colin groans. "Have you been listening?"
"It concerns you and Penelope." Eloise crosses her arms.
Benedict winks at Eloise. "Fools, are they not?"
"This one." She points at Colin. "Is a bigger fool for not simply telling Penelope the truth."
"And what is it?" Colin raises a brow.
Eloise hits his nape. "That you love her... truly."
Colin fidgets his fingers, looking afar. "And risk ruining our friendship? She had been transparent that she sees me as a friend."
"Did she?" Benedict rubs his chin.
"She said it herself." Colin replies.
"But. Did you make it seem like it was right?" Eloise asks.
The trio is interrupted by the sound of the carriage, arriving to fetch the newlyweds.
"Good luck brother." Eloise pats his back.
Benedict mimics the action. "Happy wedding eve."
Colin and Penelope rides the carriage, holding each other's hand yet both panicking.
"Hi." Colin squeezes her hand. "Hi wife."
Penelope returns the smile. "Hello husband."