A/N Thanks to CVH's Quill for beta-ing this chapter!
Why won't Penelope reply to his letters? It's been a month. He has half a mind to cut his trip short and go home to find out what's wrong.
Why won't this infuriating man stop writing letters to her? After a month with no replies, she thought that he would stop.
At her wit's end, Penelope has one choice: reply.
Keeping it short but not sweet, Penelope pens a rote, polite reply. But, goodness, why couldn't the man just stop?
Colin wanted to scream. His soulmate was treating him as a friend. No, worse than that, she was barely treating him as an acquaintance. Her letters lacked her passion. They lacked her turn of phrase. They lacked her … personality.
After finding out that he wasn't her soulmate, Colin vowed that if he couldn't have her romantically (for he would never dream of taking away that option from her), he would be her friend. He would be her best friend—better even than Eloise.
And, Colin tried. Goodness, did he try! They were in separate countries, but Colin filled his letters with his current life. He asked of hers.
But, Colin could only read so many of Penelope's nice (and Colin thought the word with disdain, in a way he had never thought of it before) letters.
He has known her for years. She was so much more than this. It would be one thing if he didn't know what her personality was capable of - she's witty and clever and not this watered-down Penelope! Colin was ready to find her and shake her out of it. He has never felt so thwarted by someone being nice to him.
Penelope was frustrating him something fierce. After her latest letter where she somehow implied that three events passed without anything happening, Colin was ready to swim back to Mayfair. That was it; the straw that broke the camel's back. She was a queen of words, the incomparable Lady Whistledown, and here she was using them to obfuscate and distract. She refused to give him a crumb of herself or her current life.
Colin cut his trip short. If he received one more "nice," "polite," and "amiable," letter, he was going to pull his hair out.
Already in a mood by the time he arrived, Colin was ecstatic to see Penelope across the square. He was less than pleased to see her climbing into a hired hack with no chaperone, no maid, and not an ounce of protection.
Ignoring the fact that his driver had just gotten him home, he instructed the man to chase the hired hack. He didn't need to worry about his still packed bags on the back. He didn't need to greet his family. He didn't need to even step foot in his family's home. He did need to find and protect Penelope.
Controlling his breathing, Colin tried to keep his patience. But Penelope seemed intent on spiking his heart rate. They followed her as her hired hack cut across the city. Once both carriages left Bloomsbury, he could tell that she was not going anywhere she should ever be alone.
Even once they pull up to a church, Colin still can't control his anger. He had never felt this way before. Penelope ducked in before he could stop her — expertly navigating around the people on the street this early in the morning.
Hurrying down from his carriage, Colin quickly approached the driver of the hired hack. He knew this man was just doing his job, but Colin barely restrained himself from throwing a punch at the driver for his willingness to bring Penelope here.
Taking a deep breath, Colin stopped himself. He would catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. He knew this. He knew how to charm someone.
"I'll pay you to leave." Nope. That's not how one should have done it. But it was efficient. The driver was already convinced. Colin parted with the paltry sum and waited until the hired hack was gone. He would be damned if someone else tried to take Penelope back across the city. If she was going anywhere, it was going to be with him.
Returning to his carriage, Colin leaned against its side and crossed his arms. He glared at everyone on the street as he waited for Penelope.
Whatever business she had here, it didn't take her long. Exiting the church, she looked left and right for her hired hack. Before she could be upset that it was gone, her eyes landed on him.
"Colin!" She exclaimed, surprised. "I was just …"
"Don't start." He bit out, cutting her off. He refused to hear another lie from her lips at this moment. "Get in the carriage."
She didn't move.
"Now!" He opened the door for her. "I will pick you up and throw you in there."
That got her moving. Penelope wisely got in his carriage. Colin instructed the driver to take the long way back.
Okay, deep breaths. It didn't work earlier, but it was all he had when he was this angry. (He could admit to himself that this anger was truly covering up his fear for her safety, but he wouldn't admit that out loud.)
They sat in silence. Colin finally calmed down — somewhat. Tapping into his love for the woman, he chose to impart wisdom instead of words of anger. "Penelope, you have to be more careful. You can't just take trips like this unprotected." Colin beseeched her.
"Oh, so, now you care for me." There was no shortage of personality in her tone. Colin knew her tone wasn't a good thing. But, at the same time, it was the most 'Penelope' thing he had heard or read in months (though it felt like years). "You can't tell me what to do."
"I may not be your soulmate or have the right to tell you what to do." Colin sighed. "But you are my soulmate. I'll always care about your safety."
"What?" Penelope's annoyance disappeared entirely. "When have I ever lied to you to make you think that you weren't my soulmate?" Penelope challenged.
Colin leveled her with a flat look. With a false voice, he said, "No, Colin. I'm not Lady Whistledown."
"Actually — I've never said that, nor have I ever lied to you." Penelope scoffed. "I've told you that I am," here she paused to stress the word, "Lady Whistledown, multiple times!"
"No, you could not have." Colin's eyes glazed over as countless memories ran through his mind.
Penelope gave him a moment. Then she snapped her fingers. "Hey! You thought that I didn't love you?"
"Well, I didn't know about that," Colin hedged. "I thought that you must have another soulmate out there. But, but, you knew? Why didn't you say anything?"
"Not even in your wildest fantasies, Fife." It was Penelope's turn to adopt a false voice. "I thought that was your way of rejecting me."
"Never," Colin breathed. "I can't believe that we're soulmates."
Penelope was shocked that Colin had known about Lady Whistledown for some time.
"Come here," Colin spread his thighs and his feet settled on either side of hers in the carriage. Why was he so tall?
"We're in a moving carriage," Penelope protested.
"Penelope." Colin paused. His eyes never left hers. "Come. Here."
"But, you're not attracted to me." Penelope's confused eyes stared back at him. "You told Fife."
"I'm still able to lie to other people. I thought that you weren't my soulmate and I was hurting. Right now, with you, I have never been more attracted to anyone in my life. I won't say it again. Come here."
And it suddenly hit her. Colin couldn't lie to her. He truly meant that. He was her soulmate and she was his.
The courting, proposal, and marriage would come later. For now, Penelope went across the carriage to Colin.
The End.
