“What? Oh, yes, sorry. My mind was wandering a little. There is a lot happening at once, and sometimes it’s hard to keep apace with it all.”
Richard glanced around them, then grasped her elbow. “Let’s see if we can find a bit of quiet for a few minutes.”
Glad he understood, she let him lead her unobtrusively from the room and across the hall to a corner and a small niche where a window overlooked the lawns and the forest that surrounded the house. From this direction, the snow was pristine, the trees heavily laden, and the sky just showing the first hints of the sunset that came so early at this time of year.
Everything glowed, thought Richard, and so did Holly.
“I’m glad we have a few minutes alone together,” he said. “I have something I need to ask you.”
“Wait—before you do, I have something to ask you first.”
“You do? Well, I…I suppose you should…all right, go ahead.”
“Richard, we haven’t known each other very long at all, but we seem to have gone through a lifetime of adventures, certainly more than I can imagine anyone else experiencing in so few days.”
He blinked. “This is true, indeed.”
“And…” she hesitated, “well, I’ve become an admirer of your courage and your intelligence.”
A sliver of something tickled the back of his brain. “I am pleased and honoured to hear that,” he commented, wondering if there was any way at all his suspicions might be correct.
“So, when I considered the matter—which I have, very carefully—I arrived at a logical conclusion, leading me to this question.”
Her face tipped upward toward his, her gaze steady, her expression a mixture of consideration and nerves.
“Richard, will you…”
He couldn’t let her finish. “Marry me?”
The two voices spoke over each other, followed by an instant’s silence.
“What?”
“What?”
He broke into a soft laugh and pulled her close. “I want you to marry me. I know I’m not the greatest of matches, but I can’t imagine my life without you.”
“But I was going to ask you first,” she complained.
“All right, well then, go ahead.” He held her even closer. “Ask me, Holly, and we’ll answer together.”
He felt her shuddering breath. “Marry me, Richard,” she whispered. “I can’t imagine my life without you, either.”
Lost, he did the only thing he could—and kissed her firmly, lovingly, and with all the passion that had grown within him since he first set eyes on her.
After a few moments, he gently eased his lips from hers. “Well?”
She grinned, her eyes alight with pleasure and excitement. “I will, if you will.”
“I will, without a moment’s hesitation.”
She threw her arms around his neck. “Oh thank goodness, I was so afraid you’d say no.”
“I couldn’t,” he grinned, dropping a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Half an hour ago, I asked your father if he would allow me to pay my addresses to you, even though my status might render me ineligible.”
“You did?” Holly’s eyes grew large as she pulled back a little and stared at him. “What did he say?”
“He asked me if I would love you and take care of you for the rest of our lives, and I said yes. So then he said…well, he nodded and shook my hand.” He swallowed. “Then he told me he considered it a wonderful thing to have a solicitor in the family. He actuallyhuggedme, which was rather a shock, to be honest.”
