“But you wanted to marry Lady Beatrice,” she protested shakily. “I forced you into marrying me.”
“No one could have forced me to marry you, darling.” He caressed her cheek, the expression on his handsome face filled with a new tenderness. “Iwantedto marry you. At the time, I was too stubborn to see it for myself. I was also blinded by my past and a promise I never should have made.”
She could not look away. He had called herdarling. He had said he had wanted to marryher, Helena Davenport. Not Lady Beatrice Knightbridge, the paragon.
“But I lied to Shelbourne,” she reminded him.
“You were desperate,” he countered, “and I was an idiot.”
Tears stung her eyes. “You have never been an idiot.”
“Yes, I have.” He caressed a path of fire down her throat and slid his hand around to cup her nape. “I was too stupid to realize the perfect wife for me was the one I was chasing all over London. The one I couldn’t seem to stop touching or kissing or yearning for. The one who found her way into my heart.”
Did he just say what she thought he had said?
Hisheart?Thump, thump,thumpit went beneath her splayed palm. Hers joined, meeting it beat for beat. The time to tell him had arrived. It was now, here, this moment.
This man. This man she had loved for so long.
She took a deep breath. “Gabe, there is something I must tell you.”
He caressed her nape, that same expression of profound affection upon his countenance, making her weak, giving her hope. “It is not that you are going to flee for Shropshire without me, is it?”
She smiled at his jest. “No, of course not. If I am ever off to Shropshire, I promise to bring you with me, my lord.”
“Nor is it that you regret marrying an oafish prig?” His tone was teasing, but his expression was serious, his eyes intent upon her.
Did he truly hold himself in such low regard? How could he not see he was everything she had ever wanted, the only man for whom she had ever longed?
Helena pursed her lips. “Fortunately, I escaped the fate of marrying an oafish prig by ruining myself so that I would not have to spend the rest of my life tied to Lord Hamish.”
“I should have thrown you over my shoulder after your first attempt at ruination and married you then.” He leaned forward, bringing their lips deliciously near and yet refraining from kissing her as she so desperately wanted him to do. “It would have spared us both a good deal of trouble and hurt. I ought to have made love to you in this carriage and bound you to me forever.”
His words, coupled with his nearness, the warm flow of his breath over her lips, his scent surrounding her, his heart beating beneath her palm, his heat searing her, all combined to make the flesh between her thighs throb. She wanted him there. Wanted him again and again. Wanted to straddle his hips, release him from his trousers, and sink down upon his cock. Wanted him to erase the awfulness of the past two days. To banish the specter of what could have happened.
“Perhaps you should rectify that error in judgment and make love to me now,” she dared.
He brushed his lower lip tantalizingly over hers in the most decadent half kiss. “Tell me first.”
Her ability to think had been impacted. “Tell you?”
He rubbed their lower lips again. “You said you had something to tell me.” And then he punctuated his reminder by kissing the upper bow of her lips.
Oh.So she had. But first, she never wanted this kiss to end.
He deepened the kiss, his heart beating faster now. She kissed him back with all the desire and love she felt for him, trying to show him with actions what she had yet to admit in words.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
He nipped her lower lip. “I know you do.”
Had she made her confession aloud? Helena jerked her head back, tearing her mouth from his. “I beg your pardon?”
He held her gaze, unwavering. “I know you love me.”
