“Hey now, I didn’t say that. I believe she feels the same, but she’s been... burned, as her brother says.”
Allie let out a heartfelt sigh. “Of course. A man hurt her. Bastard,” she bit out.
Dom arched both brows. As far as he knew, Allie’d never had a blackguard break her heart, but she seemed to empathize with Tess thoroughly.
“Tell me about marriage,” he said, trying for a light tone.
Allie started to speak and then chuckled. “I never thought I’d hear you say that word either.”
“Yes, all right. I’ve been a cad about town. But I’m not that man anymore.” He sat up straighter in the diminutive chair. “At least I don’t want to be.”
“I recommend it wholeheartedly,” Allie said, her lips curving into the loveliest grin. “You take your vows, you pledge your troth before others, and then it’s just the two of you, deciding on everything together. And with each other’s best interest always at heart.”
Dom sat forward and reached for her hand. “It does my heart good to see you happy, little sister.”
“And it would make mine burst to see you happy.” A stark, pained look entered her eyes. “You haven’t been for a while, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“No,” he whispered. “I haven’t been.”
“But now there’s Tess.” She tipped her head and studied him. “And such a glint in your eyes.”
“How do I convince her that I’m the man I want to be and not the one I have been?”
“Marrying someone takes courage, Dom. In lots of ways, it’s an enormous act of hope and faith.”
Hope. Faith. They weren’t principles he’d had much interest in over the years. He believed in luck. In a treasure seeker’s instincts. And in all the historical facts Eve dug up before an expedition.
“And trust.” His voice emerged rough, the feelings in it raw and deep. “How do I make her believe she can trust me?”
“Trust takes time.”
Time. He hated it. He was a man of action. Of impulse.
If he gave her time, what if she walked away again? What if she decided it was easier to live her life as she had before he’d come along?
His gut clenched at the thought.
God, he’d wasted so many years chasing what didn’t ultimately mean a thing—adventure, the next thrill, the next distraction. And yet now he knew what mattered, what he couldn’t live without—Tess—and he feared his impatience might make her too afraid to trust him.
Dom settled back in his chair, stared at the pretty pastel wallpaper he’d never really noted before, the pile of bookshis sister had written, the steady ticking clock on the mantel. There was such comfort in this room, in the life she and Drake had made.
That’s what he wanted with Tess. Not a brief liaison. Not a fleeting affair. A life.
He met his sister’s perceptive gaze, and something must have given him away fully because she smiled softly.
“You’ve already decided, haven’t you?”
Dom nodded. “I’m going to ask her.”
Saying it aloud made something spiral high inside him. And then his thoughts brought the soaring sensation crashing down all at once.
What if she said no?
“If she’s afraid to trust, you may have to prove yourself, Dom. You may have to fight for her.”
“Tess is worth any fight.”
Allie ducked her head and nodded. “Then you’ll know what to do. Think first of her best interest, and it will guide you.”
