Turning around abruptly, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and shook her head. “I will not marry without love. It is something I do not wish to experience a second time.”
He stepped away from her, his eyes suddenly shuttered. “I beg your pardon.” He turned his head away and looked out the window. “I ought to have realized. I guess I had only hoped…” He trailed off, put his shoulders back, and turned as though to leave.
“You had rather hoped…?” What was he saying?
“It’s of no matter. I quite understand.”
It was her turn to halt his departure. “What doyouwant?”
Steeling his jaw, Stephen nodded and then looked directly at her. “I had hoped my proposal would be welcomed by you. I had hoped you would wish to become my wife.” He looked down at his hands. “But I cannot expect you to want to marry on the heels of the betrayal you’ve gone through.”
Feeling hopeful, truly hopeful for the first time in several weeks, Cecily placed one of her hands upon his. It was her turn to be brave. “I would welcome a proposal from the man that I love. If, that is, he loved me in return.” She held her breath. He would never lie to her about this. He would never do what Flavion had done, no matter what his reasons.
He grasped her hand tightly between his and returned her gaze steadily. “It is up to me then, to discover if I am that man?”
She nodded.
Surprising her, Stephen dropped to one knee and placed her hand against his lips. “I love you, Cecily. It seems that fate is on my side, and I ought to thank my damnable cousin for bringing you into my life. God help me, but I loved you when you were the last person in the world I should have loved. I loved you when I thought I was going to have to abandon you to your marriage, and by God, I loved you when you went after Flave today with the billiards cue.
“And now that you are a free woman, I love that I can make an honorable offer for you. Will you? Will you be my wife? Am I the man you speak of?”
Feeling her heart might burst from joy, she could hardly breathe.
And then she could. “You are!” Her words came out in a rush of air. “You know you are! Of course, you are! Yes. Yes! Yes!” She threw her arms around him, nearly propelling them both onto the floor. “You must know!” And then she was sitting upon his knee and kissing his face, his neck, his lips. She had missed him so very, very much.
She rose to her feet and beckoned him toward the bed. Her behavior was wanton, she knew, but where Stephen Nottingham was concerned…
He had one arm around her and kissed her with equal enthusiasm but would not allow her to pull him onto the bed. He was laughing and smiling into her mouth though.
“Cecily,” he said cajolingly, “Cecily, my love, I am almost completely without willpower where you are concerned, but I would wish to speak with your father. I want to do this right. I would not compromise you any more than I have already. Let me do this the right way.” But he kissed her back and held her against him tightly. “There are several details to be ironed out, what with this mess with Flavion. I might get you with child. Best not to push our luck, love.”
And then Cecily remembered! How could she have forgotten? “Um,” she said, pulling away to look at him, suddenly concerned again, “I think that ship has already sailed, so to speak.”
He tilted his head at her with a twitch of his lip, what she now knew was somewhat of a smile.
“It is just that….” Oh, fiddlesticks. How, exactly, did one go about this? “Do you think we might possibly be able to get those details ironed out quickly?” Seeing that he still had not comprehended what she was saying, she suddenly blurted it out, “I am carrying your child.” She held her breath as she watched for his reaction. It had been a long time since they’d been together, and although he had professed to love her, she was nervous as to his reaction to her news. She needed to tell him all of it. “I have felt so wretched! I was going to let Flavion think the child was his because I thought him my husband. I wanted to tell you but had presumed nothing could be done. And now… and now…” Looking up at him, she pouted. “You do still want me, don’t you?”
It started with one ironic chuckle and then a few more as Stephen began shaking his head. Before she could admonish him for his amusement at such a serious matter, his entire body quaked with laughter. “I should not laugh, Cecily. I know that I should not,” he said, wiping moisture from his eyes. “But, dear God! We are so damnably lucky! We came so close…”
He swiped one hand across his mouth in an attempt to contain himself, apparently realizing that she did not share in his mirth.
“You are laughing at me!” Cecily accused.
Suddenly serious, he pulled her against him and placed a soft, sweet kiss upon her frown. Cecily felt herself softening. Of course he still wanted her!
“Oh, my poor, poor darling. I’m not laughing at you. I don’t know who I’m laughing at. Fate, perhaps? Or the fact that we’ve been given a miracle?” He grew serious then. “You have been through so much already. Of course, I want you! I did not think it possible to love you more, but I love you even more now than I did one minute ago. I will obtain a special license. And then I will take you to my home. Did I ever tell you that I have a home near Southampton?”
With a peaceand contentment he’d not known before, Stephen reached down and placed his palm over the swell of her womb. He was awed and incredibly grateful for the twisted fate that had finally brought them together. “I noticed this while holding you on my horse, but I had thought you had simply enjoyed too many biscuits this summer.”
She scowled at his words, and he kissed her on the forehead. He could hardly believe his luck! His lips traveled down to her cheek, and then her neck, and then over to her mouth. No longer scowling, she had become as hungry as he was.
Stephen’s reluctance to move toward the bed had vanished. “So you are, what, nearly three months into your confinement? Have you seen a midwife or a doctor? Is it all right to…?” He glanced in the direction of the bed.
Cecily grimaced guiltily. “The only person I have told is my father. And he thinks the child to be Flavion’s. I did not wish to call for a doctor because then I would have had to commit to lying to Flavion about the child’s paternity. I put it off as long as possible.”
“Very wise of you,” he murmured against her skin.
Stephen had resumed the trail of kisses he’d started moments earlier, and she shivered when he located a particularly sensitive spot behind her ear. “Perhaps…” She tilted her head, giving him better access to her neck. “…perhaps I was merely waiting for you. Perhaps something in my heart knew you would come and save me… save us both.”
