Daisy couldn’t believe what he’d just said. He loved her. When had he decided he loved her? How did she know if it was real?
His gaze searched hers. “Are you doubting me?”
Was she?Daisy didn’t know what to think. Once again, she was so woefully inept when it came to relationships and men that she didn’t know what love felt or looked like. Or what her own feelings meant.
“I don’t know what I feel,” she said.
He pulled his hands out from under her skirts and cupped her face. “Tell me what you feel.” Daisy tried to shake her head, but he held her still. “These last few days, why have you come to see me? Why have we spent so much time enjoying each other’s company?”
“Is that love? Enjoying each other’s company?”
He chuckled. “No. Not this kind of love.”
“Then explain it. Because I don’t know if I trust myself to know, and I hate that.”
This time when he bent his head close, she didn’t dodge the kiss. She wasn’t strong enough to resist him twice. He brushed his lips across hers and stopped. Her stomach dropped in disappointment. She huffed in annoyance when he moved back.
“I know I love you, because looking at you feeds my soul. I could sustain myself on just looking at you.”
Very well, she understood that. Watching him was her favorite pastime.
“When I hear your voice, my pulse races,” he said. “Even when you’re not in the room. If I hear you speaking in the hall, I’m immediately anticipating the moment you walk through the door.”
Agreed. But . . .
“That sounds like infatuation.” She was well acquainted with infatuation by now.
“One of the many things you make me feel and likely how my love began. I know this is new. This is uncharted territory for me as well, but I know when to trust my instincts, and they all say that what I feel for you is love. My instincts never lead me astray. That is what makes me the astute card player. I don’t fall prey to doubt. I trust my mind and heart. I know my strengths, and I know my faults. I’ve known many women, Daisy, but none of them have made me feel the way you do. I’ve never been in love. Until now.”
She wanted to believe him, like this was a fairytale and he could sweep her off to a castle in the clouds, all her fears and worries disappearing. But that wasn’t real, and she wanted this, and his love, to be real.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he said, his thumbs brushing her cheeks. “I know you’re turning those cogs in your mind and dissecting my words. I can see it in your eyes.”
“You can?”
He nodded. “Ordinarily, it would pain me to see your doubt, but I’m overconfident, so doubt away. I know in the end I’ll win you over. I always win.”
Lud, this man had no humility. She bit back a smile. He was absurd, but she loved his exaggerated confidence. Shelovedhis naughty jests and the way his eyes consumed her, stripping her of her bashfulness, baring her, and letting her stand on her own. He was so patient, even now when she admitted to doubting his feelings.
How could she resist a man like this, and how could shenotlove him? Any woman would. Likely, many women did. But she was the one he was confessing his love to, and she wanted to claim it for herself.
“I understand now.”
He ticked his head to the side, eyeing her with a sly smile. “Are you sure? Maybe you need some convincing.”
She was sure. She did love him. In her naïve, inexperienced way, which felt young and impulsive, because that’s the way she’d always been treated. But not here. Not with him.
“I’m convinced.”
“I think I can make a stronger argument.” He leaned forward, his fingers sliding into her hair.
“If you must,” Daisy said with a blissful sigh.
“I simply must.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Icannot leaveyou with any doubt. I can show you I love you not only with words, but with my hands, my mouth, and other parts of my body.”
