“But don’t you see? You changed all that for me,” Seth said earnestly. “You’re right. I didn’t want to marry—until I met you, Lady Lavinia. And now my world is different. Now I know that if I have to live without you, everything will be a pale imitation of what it could be. If you aren’t going to marry Lord Hennington, I beg you to consider me as an alternative.”
He held his breath, knowing that he had said all he could. Now all that he could do was wait to see if Lady Lavinia would accept him.
She frowned, looking him up and down, and her words from the garden rang in his ears.I don’t want to marry him.
Had she meant that? Would she send him away now?
“I don’t know what to say,” she said.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t know how I can say yes to you now, after everything you put me through,” she said. “I think you’ve known for a while how I feel about you. You’ve known that I admire you. Perhaps I even love you.
“And you’ve known that love was exactly what I was looking for. Still, you were more than clear with me about the fact that there could be nothing between the two of us. No love. No future. How many times did you make that clear?”
His heart sank. He knew she was right.
“Perhaps youaretoo late,” she whispered. “But if you are, it has nothing to do with Lord Hennington. Perhaps you and I have simply been through too much for me to believe that you could want anything to do with me now.”
“I’ve always wanted you,” Seth told her. “Always. Right from the start, what I saw in you was different from anything I’ve ever seen in anybody else. I held you at arm’s length because I knew you were having an effect on me, and I didn’t know what to make of it. I wanted to resist you.
“Now I know I never had a chance, and I’m glad I didn’t. Even if you reject me now, Lady Lavinia, even if you laugh in my face and send me away and never speak to me again—even then, I’ll be glad I came here today. I’ll be glad I told you the truth about the way I feel for you.”
He started to turn toward the door.
“Wait,” Lady Lavinia said.
Seth turned back, hope rising within him.
“Of course I don’t want you to go,” she said quietly. “Of course I don’t want that, Your Grace. Did you really think there was any chance I would reject you today?”
“You would be within your rights if you had, Seth said. “I’ve made you believe that I didn’t care for you. It’s like you said—if you couldn’t trust me now, if it was too late for me to earn your love, I would understand.”
“You’re a fool to have taken this long,” Lady Lavinia told him, her eyes filling with tears.
“I am a fool,” he agreed. “I am the world’s biggest fool.”
“But I’m not going to deny myself love because the gentleman I’ve fallen in love with is foolish,” she murmured. “We all have our flaws, don’t we?”
“I suppose we do.”
“If you can fall in love with an awkward wallflower, I can love a fool.”
“No,” he told her. “That may have described who you once were, but no longer. You are not an awkward wallflower anymore. You are beautiful and charming, and you know exactly how to speak up about what you want and what you believe. I don’t think I’d find another lady like you if I spent the rest of my life searching.”
He crossed the room and took her in his arms at last, ignoring the fact that her father was standing there watching. Nothing would keep them apart. Not anymore.
“Tell me you’ll marry me,” he murmured.
“Of course I’ll marry you.” Her face shone. “Did you really doubt it?”
“I really did.”
“Never doubt my feelings for you,” she told him. “Never doubt that they are real. I love you, Your Grace.”
He laughed. “If we’re going to be married, you ought to call me by my name. Call me Seth.”
She nodded and spoke his name for the first time. “Seth.”
