“What I deserve.”Gemma came slowly toward him until they were standing toe to toe, and she was staring up directly into his face.“I think…I deserve a man who would raid his own manor house for furniture to help me catch a titled husband.I deserve a man who was shown nothing but neglect and disregard by the people who should have cared for him, yet despite that, he grew into the most selfless, caring man I have ever met.I deserve a man who makes me feel safe enough, and strong enough, to cry.”
Her eyes were looking distinctly wet once more, but this time, she was smiling a little.Hal’s pulse thudded.He could hardly bring himself to believe her.
The early lessons of his childhood—that he was nothing, an annoyance if he was remembered at all—were hard to dispel.
He didn’t know what to do, what to say, where to put his hands…and then she stood on tip toe and wrapped her arms around his neck, and he knew exactly what to do.
Taking the sweet offering of her mouth was the easiest decision he’d ever made.He wrapped her up in his arms, determined never to let her go.
“I may never believe I’m good enough for you,” he whispered against her lips.“But if you want me, I’m yours.”
“I want you.I want to be happy.But I don’t think happiness is something you are, I think it’s something you do—something you choose, over and over, and work at every day.This place taught me that.”She smiled up at him, her fingers flexing against his scalp and making him want to push up into the caress.“You taught me that.”
His heart expanded, pressing against his ribcage and up into his throat.“I love you.I choose you.I want to stand by your side and at your back and anywhere you’ll have me, so long as we’re together.Will you marry me?”
Eyes shining, she laughed through a fresh wash of tears.“Yes.God, yes!I want nothing more than to marry you.”
Laughing, he lifted her off the ground and swung her around, dizzy with the possibilities, the future stretching in front of them like an endless field of golden wheat.
She was going to be his.And he would be hers.
“Hal,” she said, her arms tight around his shoulders, her beautiful eyes intent on his face.“I love you.”
Triumph blazed through Hal, along with joy almost too fierce to bear.
“You love me.”The words felt unbelievable, impossible, but her gaze never wavered as she nodded.
This wild, brash, caring, ambitious, clever, gorgeous woman loved him.
Deep inside, a barren, parched part of Hal’s heart unfurled and stretched towards the life-giving light of Gemma’s love.She would change everything, he knew, just as she’d blown into Little Kissington like a whirlwind and upended all their lives with her schemes.
Her love would change him.If he was wise enough, and brave enough, to let it.
Vowing to never close himself off from her again, Hal let her slide down the front of his body, every nerve and sinew glorying in the contrast between her softness and his hardness.
Her eyes lit up, going slumbrous with need, the same need that coursed through Hal’s veins and brought his member to stiff, aching attention.
They sealed their engagement with a kiss that quickly went from romantic to desperate.Gemma nearly climbed Hal like a tree to get to his mouth, moaning her approval when he lifted her to wrap her legs around his waist.
He stumbled over to the bar and set her down on it.She writhed against him like a living flame, searing hot and unpredictable.Hal gave himself over to the heat, craving the burn and spark of her lips, her touch, her tongue.
“Hal,” she murmured against his lips.“I want you.I need you to drive out all the fear and pain and doubt of the last few days.”
His blood fired.He felt ten feet tall.It was as though he’d been fumbling in the dark his entire life, and someone had finally handed him a candle.“You’re mine.”
Outside, the song ended in a round of applause and cheers, reminding Hal of where they were, and the possibility of being walked in on at any moment.
And this particular moment required more than a quick, furtive fumble.This moment required a locked door and a bed and thank God, he knew exactly where to find one.
Swooping her off the bar and into his arms, Hal carried a laughing Gemma up the stairs and down the hall to her bedroom.Gemma kicked her legs happily as he slammed the door shut behind them, blocking out the sounds of revelry and merrymaking, shutting them into their own small world of heated touches and shared breath.
Hal let Gemma’s slippered feet kiss the floor.Not wanting her to feel exposed, wanting only to show her that he had bared himself entirely to her, at last, Hal stripped off his clothes.
It was an odd sensation, being naked while she was still dressed, and he savored it for a moment while letting her hungry gaze roam his nude form.He hoped she liked what she saw.The way she licked her lips said that she did.
“Now me,” she ordered, and Hal had never been happier to be given an order in his life.
He’d not had the chance to undress her before, and he did so now with the reverence the revelation of her body deserved.Every new inch of skin that appeared was a joy to him, and he lavished her with kisses from the sensual curve of her neck to her plump arms and soft, silken belly, the dip of her waist and the flare of her hips, the shapely perfection of her legs and the dainty arches of her feet.
