“What if we were to build it together?” he asked then, giving her fingers another squeeze.
“Build a foundling hospital with you,” she repeated, in a daze at the notion. He had her dizzied all over again from his nearness, from his words, from the warm buzz within her that was growing stronger, hotter, louder, deeper.
“Do not sound so dubious at the notion, Pru.” He raised their linked hands to his lips for another kiss. “It is true that I am no saint. But I want to be better for you.”
“Your reputation is so wicked my brother would not even dare to repeat it aloud to me,” she said, reminded of his past.
Reminded he was a rakehell. A handsome scoundrel. A man accustomed to getting whatever he wanted. A man who was not to be trusted, regardless of the sweet temptation of his kisses and touches.
“I cannot change my past, but I can promise to be the best husband I can possibly be to you,” he told her. “I am not the same man I once was, though I was a hellion, and there is no denying it.”
She wished suddenly that it was not so dark in her chamber, for she wanted to see his face. Look into his eyes. But even in the absence of light, she swore she could hear the sincerity in his voice, and it resonated deep within her, landing inside her heart.
Where it planted a tiny seed.
Hope.
And something stronger, too, but she refused to think it could possibly be…
Of course it could not bethat. She could not even think the word. Would not think it. Because she could not feel it.
Not for this man, this wicked rake.
The man kissing her hand, then each one of her fingers as if she were the most precious gift ever bestowed upon him. “Say something, sweet.”
“Why do you want to marry me?” she asked him then. “Truly?”
“Because I love you, Pru,” he said, shocking her to her core. “Could you not already tell? I have been chasing you, it is true, all over this house party as you accused me. But not like a lost puppy. Rather, a lovesick one. I think I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you.”
“You…love me.” The words felt foreign and unfamiliar on her tongue. Impossible, too. “But how can that be?”
“It can be, Pru Winter,” he said, releasing her hand to caress her cheek, “because you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, from the inside out. Your heart is pure and true. You are intelligent and strong, fierce and loyal, protective of your sisters, daring and sweet and bold. You are everything I could want in my wife. The way you speak of the children at the foundling hospital—your love for them is plain, and I admire you for that, for loving those who need it most, for offering up your heart so selflessly. And I find myself hoping that one day, somehow, you may find space enough in your saint’s heart for a sinner like me.”
The seed he had planted sprouted. And it grew. She knew the name for the feeling, for the rush inside her chest, that strange sensation, as if she were glowing from within. As if she were light as air and yet heavy as an anvil, all at once.
That feeling waslove.
Indescribable, really. Transforming, absolutely. Incredible and terrifying all at once.
She was in love with Lord Ashley Rawdon.
WithAsh.
And he was in love with her.
“Pru, sweet,” he rasped, his voice strained. His thumb continued its slow, steady exploration of her cheek. “Say something. Preferably that you will wed me and put me out of my eternal misery.”
“Ash,” she said, trying his name out once more, saying it aloud.
Though it was not the first time, it felt different now. Like a promise.
“That is my name,” he agreed wryly.
It was her turn to reach through the inkiness of the night, to frame his face in her hands. She cupped his jaw, absorbing his resilient warmth, the wonderful prickle of his whiskers. “Did you mean what you said about building a foundling hospital with me?”
“Of course. I want to meet all the children at the hospital your brother funds,” he told her. “We can go there together. And we will build another, one even bigger and better. We will give second chances to those who would otherwise be lost.”
There was an edge underscoring his words, and Pru understood for the first time that though he was a handsome rake, and he had charmed his way through the ladies of London, Ash related to those children who had been left behind. The children no one loved. Perhaps, in a sense, he saw some of himself in them.
