It will not only be your future at stake.
“I love you, Samantha. I have been in love with you.”
Her blue eyes widened as her coral lips parted.
“If I were a wealthy man. If I had an estate. If I had more that I could offer that would make me worthy of you, I would have pursued you the moment I noticed you at the Witches’ Ball.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I do not believe you, Cassian. If your heart truly loved me, you would have kissed me.”
“It is because I love you that I could not.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I may not want more?”
“I had hoped that I would still have the chance to win your heart after I was successful in France.”
“Then that is where you should go.”
“No.” His dreams for France and that future no longer mattered. “I cannot leave you,” he said quietly as realization flooded his body and he could no longer use the excuse that she would die without him. “I do not want to live without you, no matter where that happens to be. These circumstances have taught me that. We do not know what tomorrow will bring or how much time any of us have. I could have gone off in search of my dream, then returned to hopefully claim your heart. Had I left before this…” He gestured to the room. “I would have returned to having lost the one thing that truly mattered and that is you.”
Tears filled her eyes and even if it would pain him to hear the words, he was prepared for her rejection, though it would change nothing.
“I love you, Samantha. You own my heart and I will not be parted from you. I can only pray that one day that I am worthy of you and can give you all that you deserve.”
The corners of her mouth tipped as a stray tear rolled down her cheek. He swiped it away with the pad of this thumb, surprised that the wetness remained when he drew away.
“I will be by your side always, if you will have me.”
“Oh, yes, Cassian, I have loved you too, and why I so desperately hoped that you would kiss me.”
“I was a bloody fool,” he muttered right before he leaned in and placed his lips against hers.
Samantha hardly had any time to prepare before Cassian’s lips brushed across hers and then they were gone.
That was a kiss?
She expected…well, she was not certain, but the ones she’d witnessed under the mistletoe had certainly appeared to be more involved.
He pressed his forehead against hers. “I fear that your father or brother will walk in and call me out,” he whispered.
Samantha giggled. “It is not as if they can see who you are kissing.”
“Which means I probably look quite ridiculous.”
“Does it matter?” she asked quietly.
His eyes stared into hers. “No. The only thing that matters is you and hoping the witches find a way to free you from this place. Until then, I will not leave you.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“I love you.”
“And I love you.”
He stared at her lips, as he had done in the Witches’ Garden and then leaned forward, pressing his against hers once again, but this was more than a mere brushing, but pressure and passion. When he traced the seam of her lips, she parted hers and allowed him entrance.
Heat rushed through her body and Samantha grew dizzy and had to grasp onto his shoulders.
She had not expected a kiss to be so powerful. Wind rushed around them, a swirling of music as candles flared then settled.
