“Of course, my lord.”
“Is the rest of your household so welcoming?” she asked with a touch of irony after he left.
“You know he is merely behaving the part of an unflappable butler, don’t you? At this very minute, Chambers is probably dashing helter-skelter toward the basement to tell as many of his fellow staff about you, regaling them with your warmth, kindness, and beauty.”
“Not to mention my impatient nature and thus my inability to remain in the front hall, as well as my outrageous impropriety in leaving my maid in the foyer.”
“Actually, that will set tongues to wagging. Besides, this room isn’t very comfortable for two. Let’s go into the drawing room.”
Instead of his feet moving forward, however, he drew her to him. She didn’t protest. Cradling her face between his palms, he gazed down, knowing he could dive into the blue seas behind her gaze and never tire of swimming in her goodness.
“May I kiss you?” Vincent asked, hearing his voice catch.
“You may,” she said, although as he lowered his mouth to hers, he noticed she didn’t close her eyes until the last moment. Brilliance wasn’t quite the trusting Lady Persia from the night before, nor the same woman he’d known for half a year.
Yet when their lips fused, they were the same two people who had come to care for one another. For his part, he loved her fiercely. The outside world might batter them as a ship in a storm, but Vincent knew in his heart that they would withstand it.
Tilting his head, he took his fill of her, unable to keep from dropping his hands to her waist and pulling her against him. Her lips parted for him, and he tasted her, sucking her tongue until she curled her hips against him and grabbed his forearms.
When he lifted his head, the words came pouring forth like a well-known melody.
“I love you.”
Her eyes widened, indicating he’d surprised her.In a good way,he hoped. Then in what he assumed was an unmanly fashion, he held his breath for whatever might come next.
Her tongue licked her lips, and his groin tightened.
“I have said it aloud to only one man,” she said, and he was plunged again into despair. “But you didn’t hear me,” Brilliance continued, “because you were walking away, terribly angry at how I’d taken your music from Mirabel.”
Vincent recalled that day. “Did you truly say then that you loved me?”
“I did. Afterward, I put my love into a small reticule in my heart, pulled the strings, and kept it safe while moving on. But I never let it go.”
“Is your love still in that reticule?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. I confess it has since escaped and filled my entire heart.”
He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. “I am grateful.”
Then he offered her his arm. “Allow me to show you our drawing room. I would like to give you a tour of the entire house, but even Mr. Chambers might protest such flagrant breaking of the rules.”
She laughed, a sound that rang through him like a glockenspiel. “I wouldn’t wish to get on the wrong foot with him.”
He led her into his drawing room, hoping she liked it. Belinda was perched on the front edge of the sofa. She jumped up.
“I am sorry, my lord, my lady.”
“There is no problem,” he assured her. He turned to Brilliance. “Would you like to have her stay or go to meet my staff?”
“I suppose for the sake of appearances my maid ought to stay.”
“Very well.” Vincent picked up one of the wing chairs, hoping he was impressing his future bride with his show of strength, and carried it to the other end of the room. Setting it down, he offered it with a flourish of his hand to Belinda. Her cheeks reddened, but she sat.
Rejoining Brilliance, who had taken her maid’s place on the gray-and-white striped sofa, he sat beside her.
“The room is pretty,” she declared, “if a little sparse.”
He glanced at it with fresh eyes. There were no bric-a-brac on the mantel or on the low table in front of the sofa. No tall plants,nor vases of flowers, adorned the room, either. He’d seen all those things in other peoples’ homes and appreciated them.
