Moving with purpose now, Mr. Beckworth pulled two chairs together, facing one another, and then asked if she’d like to sit.
He didn’t order her to.
He asked.
“Thank you,” she said, drinking in his graceful motions as he lowered himself onto the opposite seat.
After a moment of pregnant silence, he was the first to speak.
“I assumed you wouldn’t want to stay at Smuggler’s Manor—that you wouldn’t want to stay with me. It was stupid. I could blame it on Winterhope and your mother, but it was me.” He leaned forward, and his knees pressed into hers. “The first time I saw you wasn’t the day I… kidnapped you.”
“You didn’t kidnap me,” Amelia pointed out. “You were doing a favor for a friend.”
He cocked one brow. “Winterhope and I aren’t really…” But then he winced. “Maybe you are right. But I’d seen you before. And you were… The second I saw you, I wanted you. I’d never felt like that about anyone. But you wereLady Amelia Crowleyand therefore, utterly untouchable. Completely out of reach. Up until then, I was all too aware that society believed itself above the likes of me, but I didn’t care. I always knew where I stood. Their rules didn’t matter to me. But that day, they mattered. I hated feeling like that. I hated that they mattered.”
“I’m so sorry.” Amelia took his hands again. “I don’t remember.”
“You wouldn’t have. I’m rather good at making myself invisible. But what I’m trying to say is…” He dropped his gaze. She had never seen him so uncertain.
She didn’t like it.
“Yesterday, when you came downstairs, you wereheragain. I believed that lie again. I believed that you were one of them. And you are, I know that, but I also know you are different.” He smiled a little. “Hell, maybe Winterhope is too.”
“I am different. That version of me, the one you saw, she was the daughter my parents expected me to be. She was rather like that corset, and I don’t want to wear her again.” Amelia didn’t know how to say what she meant, but the words felt right. “I am… Amelia. And that’s who I will be from now on.” It was such a simple declaration, but one that had upended and rearranged her whole life in a frighteningly short amount of time.
Mr. Beckworth hummed, stroking the backs of her hands. She could practically see him turning her words over in his mind, examining them with care. “I don’t pretend to understand Society,” he said. “But if you come back to Smuggler’s Manor—if you come with me—I’m not sure you can ever go back.”
Amelia met his gaze steadily. “I choose to go with you. Society can hang.” But suddenly she was nervous all over again. Because she needed to know. And she didn’t want to play games.
Not with this.
“I want to return because I love you. But only—” She swallowed around a suddenly massive lump of emotion lodged in her throat. “Only if you love me too. Not in a general sort of way, but in a… forever sort of way.”
She held her breath, meeting his gaze, hoping she didn’t look as desperate as she was.
“Of course I love you.” His nostrils flared. “And not just in a ‘forever sort of way’, but in anI’d die for you, eternalsort of way.”
Amelia’s heart trembled. “Good.” She could barely squeeze the word out past all the joy filling her up, head to toe.
And then, he did the one thing she had not expected, not in all of her imaginings of this moment, from anxious dread to hopeful optimism. He slid off the chair, kicked it out from behind him, and dropped onto one knee.
“Will you marry me?” His loving eyes had never looked more earnest.
“This isn’t because I’m ruined, is it?” she asked. He had said he loved her—but she wanted to be sure. “You deserve a choice in this just as much as I do.”
“Nothing could ruin you, love.”
“Then my answer is yes.” She burst into a smile. “Oh, yes!”
They had covered the important matters and had all the time in the world to discuss everything else. Aching for him, she needed something more tangible.
Mr. Beckworth seemed to feel the same. Because he ducked his head, wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her out of the chair. Hanging over his shoulder, she grunted out a laugh. Was that his hand on her bottom again?
This morning, rather than carry her into the forest, he was heading for the bed.
“You aren’t getting away from me this time,” he said, his voice gruff. “My love.”
She smiled to herself, so, so very happy.
