“Louisa,” Oscar whispered, and it was like a dagger to his heart. “There was a woman named Louisa Tucker. She’s…dead…I’ve heard she’s dead. But I need to know the rest. I need to know what happened and when. If there is a body that can be recovered for a proper burial.”
He thought of her, the woman who had loved him. Who he had loved but refused to admit he could. If he had been able to give her what he was giving Imogen now…he might have saved her life. But now, at least, he could honor it.
Imogen took his hand in both of hers and he looked down into her upturned face. There was no jealousy there, no hesitation. Only her loving support. Only her understanding. Only everything he ever wanted for the rest of his days.
Willowby stepped forward and placed a hand on Oscar’s forearm. He nodded. “I will make a special effort to determine her fate and recover whatever I can for you. We owe you that and much more. Both of you.”
Oscar cleared his throat. “Thank you.” He shifted. Perhaps one day this kind of vulnerability wouldn’t make him hesitate, but one step at a time. “Then may we go?”
“You may,” Diana said with a smile for Imogen. “We’ll likely need to speak more and you may both need to present your stories to our superior, but for now you are free to go back to your lives.”
“Then that’s all,” Imogen whispered.
“Not all,” Oscar said, and gave a glance toward the others. “But the rest is between you and me. I’m taking you home.”
They said their farewells, then Oscar took her hand and drew her from the room, out to his carriage and back toward the life he hoped to build, as long as he could manage to show her what that future looked like. And he found, despite knowing her love for him and pulsing with love for her, that he was nervous he would somehow destroy it all regardless of his good intentions.
Chapter 25
Imogen sank into the settee before the fire in Oscar’s bedchamber, warming her cold hands at the flames as she kept an eye on the door. After their return to his home, he had sent her up here to wait while he took care of a few things. What those were, she didn’t know.
Nor did she know what the future would look like now that the threat had passed.
Oscar loved her. She knew that was true and that it didn’t hinge on some heightened emotion like the fear that had hung over them for weeks. But that didn’t mean their future was without hurdles. He’d never spoken of what they would mean to each other tomorrow or in ten years or in fifty.
She knew better now than to make assumptions.
So her hands shook as he stepped into the room and looked at her with all that dark intent and bubbling passion and, yes, love. He crossed the room to her and his mouth was on hers, passionate and claiming. She lifted into him, never resisting as he swept her up and carried her to his bed. He laid her on the pillows, his weight pushing her down, his mouth tracing words of love on hers. She surrendered to the passion, clinging to him.
If this was what they had, she would take it for as long as he offered it.
But to her surprise, he didn’t strip her clothing off or take her. Instead, he eventually rolled to his side and propped himself up on his elbow as he looked down in her face.
“My lovely, lovely Imogen,” he whispered before he leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. “What would you like to do for the rest of your life?”
She smiled at this lightness she’d never seen in him before. But then she shook her head. “I don’t really…know. I’ve never had a protector before.”
His brow wrinkled. “A protector? Is that what you think I want?”
She shrugged. “I know you love me, but we never talked about anything else.”
He sat up straighter and stared down at her. “I want to marry you, Imogen.”
When he said the words her heart soared and she gasped out his name into the quiet.
“I want to make you mine, I want to share my name and my life with you. If you’ll have me.”
She reached up to touch his face, loving the nervousness around his lips, the worry in his eyes. This meant something to him, just as it meant something to her.
“I would have you today and for the rest of my life,” she said, and then pulled him into her arms. “Yes, I will marry you, Oscar.”
He broke into a wide smile, the widest, brightest, most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. He kissed her and for a long while she just surrendered to him. He to her. But at last he broke away from her.
“Things will change now, you know,” he said.
She sighed. “I suppose they will have to. We’re no longer going to be living in our bubble. You’ll have your business to repair, and I have a feeling your siblings will no longer accept the barriers you’ve put up between you.”
He pinched his lips. “My business will recover, of that I’m sure. I don’t worry about that. As for my family…” He trailed off.
