‘You were going to ask me to marry you?’ Isabel sat up.
‘Yes. What would you have said?’
She looked at him and slowly shook her head. ‘I don’t know what I would have said. That night already seems like a lifetime ago. The world has changed for us, Sebastian. What I might or might not have done a few days ago means nothing now.’
She ran her fingers across his forehead, twisting the locks of dark brown hair that fell across his forehead.
‘I only know that when I thought you were dead, Freddy could have killed me and I would not have cared.’
He cupped her face in his hand. ‘Say it, Isabel.’
She knew what he wanted to hear. The words she had never spoken in her life.
‘I love you, Sebastian Alder.’
A slow smile caught the corners of his mouth. ‘Was that so very hard?’
She shook her head. ‘Not for you.’
His finger strayed down her throat, and he pulled her down on top of him.
‘You smell of the sea,’ he whispered. ‘This will be how I will always remember you: my sea nymph.’
‘Hardly,’ she laughed. ‘I nearly died out there.’
‘But you didn’t. Now kiss me, sea nymph.’
Chapter Sixty-Three
Aweak grey daylight broke fitfully over the little fishing village. Sebastian opened his eyes and looked out through the dusty window at the lowering sky and then down at the woman in his arms. They had both been so tired that they had hardly shifted their position all night. He kissed the top of her head, and she stirred, snuggling deeper into his embrace.
He loved the way she fitted so well into the curve of his body, as if she had always belonged there. He traced the line of her nose and kissed her.
‘Let’s stay here forever,’ she murmured, rolling onto her back and stretching like a contented cat.
‘Take up fishing and live the life of a peasant?’ he suggested. ‘Nothing wrong with living simply. I was always very happy in Little Benning.’
‘I was happy in Little Benning too,’ Isabel agreed.
He stroked her cheek. ‘Unfortunately for us, my darling girl, that is fantasy. The reality is that I have responsibilities now that extend beyond just keeping my brother and sister clothed and fed. I now have tenants and servants who rely on me.’
She turned to face him, her face so close to his that their foreheads touched. ‘You are a fine Lord Somerton, Sebastian.’
‘And you were already a fine Lady Somerton.’
She smiled. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I am asking you again to marry me, Isabel. You didn’t give me an answer last night.’
She touched his face and smiled.
‘Yes.’
His heart swelled, and he buried his face in her hair, overcome with the emotion that flooded him. He kissed her with such passion that he thought he would lose himself in her, but any thought of making love again was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door.
‘I hope I haven’t woken you,’ Mother Shipton’s voice called from the far side, ‘but I’ve got some breakfast set for ye and your clothes are dry. I’ll just leave ’em outside the door here. Come down when you’re ready.’
Sebastian flung his arms over his head and groaned.
