She turned towards him. “Yes, that you lost your head when you proposed a courtship between us.”
He stepped closer. “What? My letter said nothing of the sort.”
Diana glanced around. They were the only ones left in the gallery. “Sebastian, it’s fine. You are allowed to change your mind.”
He shook his head. His jaw tightened. Sebastian stared into her eyes intensely. “In my letter, I said I would love you for the rest of my life. That I had been a fool to think I could simply have a tryst with you. That I knew from the moment you fell into my garden that you belonged to me, and I belonged to you.”
Diana stared back at him, confused. “I don’t understand.”
Sebastian reached forward and rubbed away a tear on Diana’s cheek that she didn’t even know had fallen. He continued, “I wrote that I knew my asking about a courtship was sudden, and it was wrong of me to demand an answer right away. But most importantly, I loved you enough to give you time. Time for you to decide if you could marry a man like me, raise your son with me, have more children with me, and wake up in my arms every morning.”
She stepped away, overcome with emotion and unsure how she received such a drastically different letter. Frantically wiping at the tears, she said, “None of that was in the letter I was given.”
They stood facing each other, still in front of the awful landscape. Diana wasn’t sure what happened, but she believed him. She could see the sincerity on his face. Someone read and switched out the missive. It was the only logical answer. Diana wanted to be angry, but all she felt right now was happiness. She smiled. “You love me.”
He stepped closer. “How could you ever think I don’t? Put me out of my misery, love, and tell me how you feel.”
“I love you too,” she said.
A rightness flowed between them. He reached to pull her into his arms but stopped, remembering they weren’t alone. Hunger and frustration flickered across his face. Diana was sure she wore the same expression. Sebastian leaned in. “Meet me by the gates that connect our gardens in an hour.”
She nodded. “I need to tell Aunt Winifred I’m leaving early.”
*
Only in hisshirt and trousers, Sebastian walked through the gate, separating his townhouse from Diana’s. He smiled, remembering her falling into his garden. At that moment, even though he didn’t know it, his life changed. He saw a flash of white. Then there she was, in her nightgown and a wrap, walking towards him. He would love this woman and only this woman for the rest of his life.
She stopped in front of him and grinned mischievously. “So, the King of the Den, the most notorious scoundrel in all of London, loves me?”
He swooped her up in his arms. “A question like that shouldn’t escape your lips.”
She tilted her head, laughing, looking up at him. “Why is that?”
“Because you should never doubt that I am completely besotted with you and devoted to you.”
“Those are quite the romantic words from someone so wicked,” she whispered.
He needed her now. He kissed her and practically ran, still carrying her, into his house and up the stairs to his bedroom. By the time he shut the door with his foot, she was laughing hysterically. He placed her on the ground, not releasing her.
“We probably woke your servants.”
He kissed her neck. “They know I appreciate discretion.”
“Hmmm…I bet.”
He pulled back and looked at her intently. “You are the first woman to be in this room.”
She rolled her eyes. “I remember you fishing Lady St. James and Lady Clarrow out of your fountain.”
“And I sent them home. This has always been my space. No lovers have ever spent time here with me. I always knew the only woman I wanted here with me was my wife.”
There was still much to talk about, but that would come later. Right now, he wanted to make love to this woman and claim her as his. A hungry possessiveness coursed through him. He helped her remove her robe and nightgown before discarding his clothes.
His eyes lingered on all his favorite parts of her. Her soft hips that he dreamed about every night. The curve of her breasts and the way they felt in his hands. The thatch of curls that hid the part of her that he wanted to drive himself into. Sebastian sighed. “I think I must be the luckiest man that has ever lived.”
His hand slid down her waist and to the curve of her hip. She shivered, and he smiled wickedly at her. Sebastian dipped his head down and ran gentle kisses across her collarbone and shoulder. She gasped, and he leaned further down, kissing and teasing the tip of one of her breasts before kneeling. He could feel the desire emanating from her. His lips pressed a smattering of kisses on her stomach before he grabbed her thighs in his large hands. He pressed a kiss at her core, nudging her legs further apart with his head.
She grabbed onto one of the posts of the bed. He smiled before going back to what he was doing. He licked and tasted her while she moaned. “Sebastian, I don’t think I can stay standing.”
