She lifted herself on her elbow and looked down at him. “Why then?”
“Because I was afraid you were regretting marrying me, and I didn’t want to give you the chance to tell me that. I wanted to hang on to what we had for as long as possible. I’m not sure if that’s avoidance or cowardice. Both, probably.”
She gazed down at him and then lowered her head and kissed him gently. “I suppose there are still a lot of things we don’t know about each other.”
“That seems to be true.” He shifted her so that she was underneath him. “We should do more talking and less guessing. Spend more time getting to know each other.”
She looked up at him, breathless. “That sounds like fun. I suppose we should have done that part before I proposed.”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference to my feelings, but while we’re on that topic I have a confession—that night you proposed—you beat me to it by seconds.”
“I did?” It took a moment for her to absorb that, and when she did she felt a thrill of delight. “You were going to propose to me?”
“Yes. I decided when we were at dinner that you were the best thing that had ever happened to me. I didn’t want to wait another moment to ask you. It was a spur-of-the-moment impulse thing.”
“But—” She listened to him, her heart thumping. “You don’t do spur of the moment. You don’t act on impulse. You think everything through.”
“Not this. This time I just knew. And yes, part of me wanted to wait, and choose you a special ring, and find the perfect place and the perfect time because I’m a planner, but then I saw thesnow and the look in your eyes as you watched it and I knew the moment was perfect.”
She swallowed. Maybe they didn’t know everything about each other but he knew her much, much better than she’d thought. “So you were going to do it?”
“Yes. I had a paperclip in my pocket and I fashioned it into a ring.”
She stared at him, astonished. “Declan?!”
He pulled a face. “Not very romantic, I know. It should have been a sparkly diamond or something.”
Her heart softened. “I think it’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I wish I’d gone ahead and bought that diamond, but I kept telling myself that it was too soon, and I didn’t want to freak you out. And I was standing there watching you, seeing how happy you were, wondering if I’d mess it up if I gave you a paperclip and then you turned and kissed me and proposed, and I felt like the luckiest guy on the planet,” he said softly, “because you were looking at me exactly the same way as you looked at the snow.”
She smiled, her vision blurred by tears. “And you say you’re not poetic.”
“I’m not. I was stating a fact.” He stroked her cheek with his fingers. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”
“These are happy tears.” She sniffed and caught his hand in hers. “What colour was it?”
“The snow?”
“The paperclip.”
He kissed the palm of her hand and then kissed her. “It was green. Not right for you. It should have been pink.”
“Green would have been just fine.” She murmured the words against his lips. “I love you.”
“And I love you. And if you could stop crying that would be great.”
They heard the sound of laughter coming from downstairs and the slam of the front door.
Declan eased his mouth away from hers and raised an eyebrow in question. “Do you think someone will come looking for us? Should we go back downstairs?”
“I doubt anyone will notice we’ve left, and I don’t care if they do.” She pulled his mouth to hers again. “Tonight I’m right where I want to be. Tell me more about how you were going to propose.”
Chapter21
Jenny
Downstairs, where the party was in full swing, the focus wasn’t on Rosie’s absence.
