“I already know this about you, Lord Kilsyth.”
“I fear I’m not capable of changing my nature or my manners.”
“I don’t care about that. I care about your respect, your trust. I need to know that you will care about me and not dismiss me. I wish for respect and not to be set aside.”
Kilsyth pulled back. “I have the utmost respect for you Eve. No woman has ever excited me as you have.”
Eve snorted. “I find that hard to believe. You are one of the Devils of Dalston.”
“Was,” he corrected. “Besides, none of that was real. You, however, and what I feel in my heart is the realest emotion I’ve ever experienced. You can’t begin to know the panic I suffered when you disappeared. I searched everywhere I could think. My friends combed through Covent Garden, but you’d completely disappeared.”
“I needed to see my sister,” Eve answered, recalling that horrible night.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t learn about the loss of your brother until Jeffries returned that evening.”
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“I understand the need to see your sister, but you nearly tore me in two.”
And, for the first time, Eve regretted not leaving him a note. But how was she to know he even cared, let alone loved her. “I’m sorry for not telling you about his loss and my need to leave.”
“That is behind us now.” He squeezed her hand. “But, how are you and your sister, with the loss of your brother?”
“Truthfully, I’m not certain. I was hardly here and had broken the news to Cait before the girls became ill…I’ve had little time to mourn him, Lord Kilsyth.”
At that, he pulled her into his arms. “You have time now and I’ll be here to offer what comfort you need.”
She smiled into his chest as his arms wrapped tightly around her. She needed his arms and until that moment, she hadn’t realized that Kilsyth was her new home.
Tears sprang to her eyes but she quickly brushed them away.
“What say you, Eve? Will you marry me?”
He really wished for her to be his wife and not just return to London and continue on as they had been.
Is this what she wanted?
Yes, of course it was, but as he’d pointed out his flaws, she’d best point out her own.
After taking a deep breath, Eve pulled back and walked away.
“You’ve pointed out your flaws, Lord Kilsyth, and I think it only fair that I share my own.”
“Henry.”
“What?”
“Henry. It’s my name and I prefer to hear that on your lips and not the title I should have never gained.”
Eve couldn’t help the smile. “Henry.”
“Yes, that’s much better,” he grinned, then crossed his arms over his chest and settled onto the arm of the settee. It was as if he already knew her answer, or perhaps he was forcing confidence.
“As to my flaws.”
“Which are few, of that I’m certain.”
“Henry, I do not take well to being ordered about. I will not be walked upon or dictated to, even though after marriage I’d be nothing more than your property.”
