“But you didn’t,” he said softly.
“No,” she agreed. “I never did, no matter how I tried. And Ineverloved Graham, no matter how much I wished I could. Perhaps I should have said something as the years stretched out. There were times I thought I might. But it felt more and more impossible to do that as Society became more invested in my nuptials with Graham. The scandal if I broke it off—”
“Yes, I understand,” he said, letting out a long sigh of regret. “It kept me silent, as well.”
She shook her head slowly. “In a way, Simon, we are so alike. Both wanting to please those around us, never wanting to disappoint or hurt them. And in the end, it made both of us cowards. It madebothof us turn away from the future we wanted.”
“I suppose it did. For a while. But now we’re here. And I hope that we can overcome our mistakes of the past. I want to.”
She believed him. It was impossible not to when he was so sincere and so honest about their past. But she still wasn’t quite ready to give in to what he offered. To give the heart that he had crushed a few days before.
He examined her closely. “You’re still not certain. Does that mean you have another question forme?”
“I-I do.” She felt the lump in her throat, the pain that spread through her as she stared at this man, her husband, her love. There was only one more thing that she carried with her now. But it was the biggest heartache of her life. The one fact that would keep her from fully trusting this man. “Would you have truly left with Roseford? Would you have walked away and let me marry another?”
His face twitched, pain slashing across it. The moment seemed to stretch out forever, an eternity of struggle for them both as he searched for whatever words he was going to say. “Why do you think I followed you that afternoon when we were trapped together?”
She shrugged. “We were friends and you saw me struggling. You—”
“No,” he interrupted.
She blinked at the forcefulness of his tone. “No?”
“No,” he said, softer this time. “I knew I shouldn’t, Meg. I knew I should get James or Graham to go after you. I followed you because I…I knew in some part of me that doing so would seal my fate. I told Roseford I wanted to leave, I told myself I would step aside as I always had and allow your future to unfold without me. But I followed you here, Meg. And Iletus get caught in a storm.”
“What do you mean?” she whispered.
“I was following you for an hour before I stopped you. Don’t you think I noticed the gathering clouds? Don’t you think I knew exactly what might happen if I didn’t steer you home before they opened up a torrent?” He paced a moment. “Once we were trapped, I still had options that would keep the scandal at a minimum. But I stayed in this cottage with you. And I kissed you at last. And I did all of it so the decision would be removed from my hands. So I could take you from Graham without having to be man enough to admit it was what I wanted all along.”
His face was bright with emotion now, his blue eyes stormy and filled with many things, not one of which was regret.
“You’re saying you manipulated what happened?”
“Perhaps I didn’t allow myself to know that at the time, but…yes,” he whispered. “The fact is, Meg, I can say that I wouldn’t have walked away, because I didn’t. Ididn’twalk away. And I know that it is hard to believe based on my past, based on what I’ve done before and since we wed, but I’m telling you right now I willneverwalk away again. I willnevergive you another reason to believeyoumust. I will fight for you, Meg. From this day until the day I draw my last breath. I will fight for you because you are all I have ever wanted, all I have ever needed and all I shall ever desire.”
She stared at him, stunned both by his words and the strength with which he said them. For the first time in years, he looked at her with clear eyes, with his intentions written across his handsome face, with all his love out in the open for her to see and embrace and adore.
And in that moment, it was enough. More than enough. It was everything.
She moved toward him, tears beginning to sting her eyes, and caught his hands. “I love you, Simon. I love you.”
He didn’t answer her with words, but drew her against him, dropping his mouth to hers for a kiss. For the first time, there was no desperation to the kiss. No feeling that it might be their last. There was only tenderness, desire and love. She melted against him, hardly noticing as he steered her into the bedroom, untying her robe as they stumbled together.
He stripped the fabric away and tossed it aside. When his hands trembled, she smiled. “It isn’t as if you haven’t seen me like this before.”
He nodded. “I have. But until this moment, I’ve never fully accepted that you were mine.”
She caught her breath. “Well, Iamyours. Andyouare mine.”
“Forever,” he whispered, that word a vow to her that meant more than any they had said in the chapel. Tonight it was a surrender, a gift of faith, a promise of a future.
And she reached for him, tangling her arms around his neck as she lifted her mouth to his and returned that promise with her body. With her everything.
He helped her onto the bed and quickly stripped out of his clothing. She opened her arms to him as he joined her on the bed, his heated gaze branding her in a way it never had before. This was full surrender and she bathed in the glow of it.
His mouth came down on her throat, and he began to slowly kiss and caress his way along the length of her body. She gasped as he pleasured her tight nipples, sucking hard and laving each with his tongue until her vision blurred and wet heat soaked the inside of her thighs.
Then he dragged his mouth lower, licking her stomach, her hip, and finally he settled between her legs, opening her wide so that he could lavish her sex with long strokes of his tongue. She rose up against him, thrashing her head against the pillows as pleasure arced from and spread through every nerve in her body. She fisted the coverlet, gasping out his name as she reached for release.
