“I’m saying, I think considering all of it, and the fact we’re done for now, and don’t know as yet what might be next. Considering all that, and all the rest, I think it would be best all around if you married me.”
She lowered the glass to stare at him. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I know all you said after I was, well, just a raving git, and I’ve done what you wanted, or tried my best to. But I think it’s time we were past that now, and considering it all, we’ll get married and put all that away.”
“Married.” Had the battle, the bruisings, the flaming addled her brain? “As in married?”
“It’s the sensible thing. We’re good for each other, as you’ve said yourself. And... we have horses in common.”
“Can’t forget the horses.”
“It matters,” he muttered. “You love me. You said you did, and you’re a woman honest about her feelings.”
“That’s true.”
“So, we’re good for each other, and have the horses. You love me and it’s the same for me, so we’ll just get married.”
She decided her brain was working just fine, thank you. “What’s the same for you?”
“Jesus.” He had to stand for a moment, circle around the room. Stall by tossing more peat on the fire. “I never said it to a woman not my mother or related in some fashion. I don’t toss such things about as if they’re nothing.”
His hair, caught between brown and red, was a tumbled mess. She hadn’t noticed before, she realized. Or the blood on his shirt, the way his jaw set, so stubborn.
But she could see, very clearly, the intensity in his eyes.
“I believe you.”
“Some words matter more than others, and it’s one of those.”
“What’s one of those, exactly?”
“Love is. I know what love is, damn it, because you put it in me, and you’ve given it to me. And I’ll never be the same again. I’ll never feel it for anyone else.”
“It.”
“I love you, all right then?” He punched the words out like an argument waiting to happen, and she was totally, utterly done for.
“I’m saying it clear enough.” His brows drew together in that half scowl as he threw up his hands. “I love you. I... want to as well. I want all that I feel for you, as I’d only be half alive without it. And I want to marry you, and live with you, and have a family with you some time or other. But for now, I want you to stop making me run around it all, and just say it’s all right with you.”
She only stared at him a moment, as she wanted it all, every tiny detail of it, etched forever in her memory. “This is the most romantic thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Oh bugger it. You want fancy words? Maybe I could pull some Yeats out or something.”
“No, no, no.” Laughing, she got to her feet, and felt stronger and surer than she’d ever felt before. “I meant it. This is romance, for me, from you. If you could say it just one more time. The three words, the word that matters more than others.”
“I love you. Iona Sheehan, I love you. Give me a bloody answer.”
“It was yes as soon as you opened your mouth. I just wanted to hear it all. It was yes the minute you asked.”
He blinked at her slowly, then narrowed his eyes. “It was yes? It’s yes?”
“I love you. There’s nothing I want more than to marry you.”
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Well good. Grand. God.” He lunged at her, and she met him halfway. “God, thank God. I don’t know how much longer I could’ve done without you.”
