“She pulled me aside just before the wedding was supposed to start and told me she was in love with someone else, but she couldn’t call off the wedding because it’d look bad.”
Furious, Eve spun around. Startled, Darius dropped his hand, stepping back.
“Are you kidding? She had the nerve to ask you to take the blame?And you did?”
“I could see the pain in her eyes. She said I had to promise not to tell anyone.”
“And you did.”
He shrugged. Eve didn’t know if she should cry for him or smack him silly for having been so stupid.
“I thought I was in love, Eve, and I’d always been taught—and still believe—that when you love someone, their happiness comes first. I wanted her to be happy. Besides, if I’d refused to walk, Melanie would have gone through with the wedding, and I’d have been stuck with a wife who loved someone else.”
“Oh, Darius,” she said, her eyes moist. That woman had played on his kind heart. Eve put her hands on her hips. “If I ever meet her, I can’t guarantee that I won’t tell her exactly what I think of her, the little skank—”
“No.” He put a finger to her lips. “She’s not worth the negative energy. Listen to me, Eve. I love you.” At his words, the anger she was struggling to control fled. He dropped his hand. “After high school, I tried to move on and even thought I’d succeeded with Melanie.”
“I did too.” Eve laced her fingers with his.
“All these years, I’ve wanted to know what you were doing, even thought about asking my parents if they’d heard what you were up to. But I’m a coward.”
Something told Eve that he shouldn’t be allowed to turn this negative. Even as a teenager, he’d had a tendency to beat himself up over things. She’d already seen in his words and tone that he held himself completely accountable for his silence twelve years ago and for having been played a fool by his fiancée. He’d been stupid to agree to her demand, but he’d acted out of love and with honor. Eve refused to let him take it on himself.
“Right. A big guy like you, who I hear did a wonderful job bossing teenage artists around and now helps run a big company, is a coward. Sorry. Not buying it.” She winked at him, and his shoulders relaxed.
“It wasn’t until I saw you again in Kayn’s office that it hit me what a fool I’d been to let you get away,” he said. “Every moment I’ve spent with you since—especially when I thought you were going to die right in front of me—has proved to me that I can’t lose you again.”
Eve’s heart swelled, and this time it didn’t hurt. She rose on her toes and pressed her lips to his. Darius slid his arms around her and pulled her closer. She wrapped hers around his neck and lost herself in the musky smell of him, the sense of rightness in them being together at last. When he ended the kiss, she wasn’t ready and tried to pull him to her again.
“No.” He captured her hands. “I need to ask you something important first.”
Her breath caught. Was he going to propose? If he was, she knew her grandfather would want to be there to hear it and rub it in that he’d been right. But if Darius wasn’t . . .
“Should anyone else be here?” she asked, unable to put her wish into words.
Chuckling, he reached behind her. She twisted around and found him pointing to her parents, grandfather, and what looked like the entire staff who now stood outside the glass solarium watching them. Darius slid open the window.
“Can you all hear?” he asked.
“Geein it laldy,” one of the men called, and her grandfather chuckled, nodding.
“What did he say?” Darius asked.
“Give it all you’ve got.” Eve brought their joined hands to her cheek.
“Evelynn Stewart, I’ve loved you for half my life, and I can’t go on anymore without you.” Darius dropped to one knee.
“Wait,” her grandfather cried, pushing his way closer. “I can’t see if he kneels.”
Eve met Darius’s gaze and found he was also having a hard time not laughing. Oh, how she loved this man.
“Can you see now Granddad?” she called, not taking her eyes off Darius.
“Aye. Get oan wae it.”
“Ur ye sure ye can handle mah fowk?” she asked Darius.
“IthinkI might have understood that. Are you asking if I can handle your family?”
