“Especially now,” she said. “Before, I worried that I wasn’t good enough for you. Now I still worry that, but now I know how desperately I need you—not just for me, but for the estate that I’m responsible for managing. I don’t know the first thing about running an estate of my own or being a lady. I don’t know how to do any of this without you.”
“Oh, I see, you used to love me for me, and now you only love me for my title.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she protested, laughing when she saw the teasing glint in his eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I know,” he said, pulling her even closer, closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath. “I think you and I were meant for each other.”
“I should hope so,” she said, “given that I have no intention of ever letting you go.”
Caspian grinned. “So how do you feel about me calling you Blanche?”
She shuddered. “Please don’t.”
Caspian laughed and held his Sophia tight. “What about ‘love of my life’?”
Sophia thought about it for a moment, the corners of her mouth turning up in a smile. “I think I could get used to that one.”
“I think I could, too,” Caspian said.
He leaned down to kiss her, all the words he didn’t know how to say wrapped up in the moment.
He had the rest of their lives to figure out the right words to say. For now, kissing her was easier.
Epilogue
Caspianmadehiswayinto the study and found Sophia with his mother, curled up in a ball on the couch reading a book. She smiled at whatever she was reading, and joy spread through him at the sight of her enjoying herself.
“Sophia,” he said softly. She looked up and immediately closed her book when she saw him. “Come with me?”
“Of course,” she said, taking his hand and following him out into the courtyard.
She stumbled on a rock, and he caught her, swinging her into his arms with ease.
“My hero,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Sophia had adjusted to living in the manor extremely well. She still checked on the goats, and she was in the process of teaching someone else how to make butter and the goat milk soap that apparently the whole town was talking about.
But in the past couple of weeks since learning that she was Lady Manning, they’d spent more time with his family, going over the books for her estate and teaching her what everything meant.
Despite his fears after visiting the mansion in Riyel, overall, the estate was fairly well off. The steward of the country estate had done well, creating enough profit with the crops they raised to subsidize the former Lady Manning’s extravagant spending.
They should visit the estate themselves…but there was something Caspian wanted to do first.
Propose.
As it was, he had no weight when it came to the Manning estate. But as Sophia’s betrothed, he would be able to stand by her side and help her.
His stomach twisted as he waited for Kellan to set the next part of his plan into motion. He’d spent most of the past weeks thinking of the best way to propose to Sophia…and hopefully it would all work.
As Sophia’s favorite goat ran out of the barn toward them, excited to see her favorite person, he took a deep breath.
It was time.
“Oh, look, Mollie’s out.” He set Sophia on her feet, facing the stable.
“Hi, baby,” Sophia exclaimed. “What’s that on her neck?” she asked, not really expecting him to answer. She crouched in the dust of the courtyard, not caring that she was wearing another one of his mother’s dresses. “It’s a box,” she exclaimed, untying the ribbon and pulling it off of Mollie’s neck before tucking the baby goat under her arm to keep her from running away.
She tried to open the box with one hand and Caspian said, “Here, allow me.”
