“Then don’t.” He barely resisted pulling her into his arms right then and there, in front all of the well-heeled guests.
She let out a soft laugh. “You make it sound simple.”
“Isn’t it?” He searched her gaze. “You’re here. You came to me. Whatever caused you to board that train, it brought us to this moment. Together.”
“I don’t want to be a coward.”
“Tess, you never were.” He reached out and stroked a finger along the satiny curve of her cheek. “You’re the siren who led me into an apple orchard and had her way with me,” he whispered so no one but her would hear. “That took courage.”
She smiled and then straightened her spine, pulling her shoulders back as if bolstering herself, summoning the courage she’d spoken of.
Then she tightened her grip on his hand.
“I love you, Dominic.”
The words knocked the air from his lungs, and he edged closer to her.
“Tess.” He whispered her name, infused it with all the awe he felt in that moment.
“I was afraid of admitting it to myself.” Her expression was open, her eyes glistening. “But the truth is that I loved you even when I couldn’t say it. I think I loved you from the moment you climbed down from that ladder at Lady Goddard’s. I hated watching you walk out of that room.”
“As soon as you stepped into that room, everything changed. As if my world tilted on its axis.” He lifted her hand and laid a kiss across her knuckles. “Or maybe it was set aright.”
He stroked his fingers along hers. “What would you say if I told you I thought, even then, that you might have felt it too?”
Her breath hitched. “I did. I knew it was impossible, but I hoped I’d encounter you again. Somehow.” She dipped her head. “And you found me in the village lockup.”
Dom chuckled. “I was never happier to see anyone in my life.” He licked his lips. “But that’s honestly how I feel every time I see you.”
“It’s a mutual feeling.”
“Then what would you say if I told you I love you too, Tess Hawthorne?”
Tess’s laugh burst out of her, softening her posture, revealing a dimple in her cheek as she smiled wide. “I was rather hoping you did.”
Dom couldn’t resist anymore; he stood, still holding her hand, and she did too.
He put an arm around her, drew her close.
“I’m going to make sure you never regret it,” he vowed to her.
“That sounds suspiciously like a promise.” She stroked his hand as she said it, and he wondered if she was debating whether promises weren’t such awful things after all.
“When you start thinking about forever with someone, they sort of bubble out of you.”
She laughed and the sound wound a ribbon of pleasure through him that settled somewhere in his chest.
“In that case,” she said with an enticing grin, “I shall allow it.”
Dominic’s room in The Metropole was sumptuous and yet not intimidatingly so. The curtains and coverlet on the spacious bed were a rich, deep yellow, and the walls were a comforting pale green. Fresh flowers sat in vases dotted throughout the room.
“This is beautiful.” Tess turned back to him and found he’d stopped after closing the hotel room door and stood watching her take it all in.
“I suppose it is. I slept the first night at my family home.”
“It must have been nice to be home.”
He strode forward then, and Tess’s pulse kicked up. “Actually, I rarely sleep there. I stay above the family shop.”
