“Mr. Darcy, we’ll just wait here for a couple of minutes for Pete and Sean to arrive to take the painting upstairs,” Taylor said.
“Good idea.”
Taylor raised the partition between them.
“Well, what do you think?” William prodded.
“When you said you purchased an expensive place, I didn’t think ... this. It’s amazing.”
“It’s a Beaux-Arts style built in 1906,” he sheepishly said. “The previous owner poured a fortune into it, saving it from a 1960s modernization disaster. Just wait until you see it inside. It’s everything you would have chosen for yourself.”
“How do you know?”
“Because, when I bought it, I said to myself, ‘Lizzy would love this.’ ”
“And you bought it anyway?”
He laughed, turning in his seat. “I’m going to let you in on a secret—I thought about you a lot, almost every day. I told no one and hid it very well. For over six years, I fought it, and I always failed, telling myself I hated you. But you can’t disconnect from the other half of your soul, no matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you think you don’t care. Your heart and soul know what should be. And they held fast to wanting to be with you. I wasmeantto be with you.”
He laid his open hand on the space between them, and she placed hers within. Her heart squeezed at his confession. “And here I assumed you banished me from your mind and were living your best life.”
“Oh, I did go forward, hell bent on proving you wrong—or maybe right about my being obsessed with Pemberley—but my heart always looked back to what we shared. I was nothing before you, and I was nothing after you, even with Pemberley’s success. Now, my life has meaning.Thisis my best life with or without the money.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she slid across the seat to hug him. The woodsy scent of his cologne embraced her. His tender smile undid her.“I feel the same way, my love. And the best is yet to come.” She kissed his smiling lips, then quipped. “So, you bought this mansion withmein mind?”
“Not exactly. I bought it withmein mind, but you and I always saw eye to eye on architectural design and historical preservation. The style just seemed like too much of a coincidence when my client mentioned he was selling. I knew you would approve of my purchase. Caroline has beenconspiring behind my back to gut the entire third floor and modernize, of all places, the wine cellar!”
“You have a wine cellar?” She shook her head, then craned her neck to look up out the window again. “I’m blown away.”
“Wehave a stocked wine cellar, and we are gonna be so happy here, Lizzy.”
“I could live in a dumpster and still be happy so long as I was with you.” Her heart felt so full that she was sure it would burst. Placing her hand on his cheek she said, “How did I get so lucky as to win your love twice?”
“It wasn’t luck. It was fated from the first time you bit your bottom lip in art class.”
Chuckling, she said, “And you, barely able to sit still. You should know, I knew.”
“What did you know?”
“That your pants were uncomfortable.”
He chortled. “Yes, they were. For an hour, I daydreamed of you naked, wearingonlypigtails and cowboy boots.”
“So, you admit it wasn’tloveat first sight, more likelustat first sight?”
“Love came that night when you sucked my bottom lip after I drove you home from the restaurant. When did you know you loved me?”
“That’s easy. It was that same moment when my lips touched yours.”
The team flashed their headlights behind them, and Taylor rolled down the window. “Shall we go up, sir?”
William nodded, adjusted his tie like he was preparing to enter a boardroom, then opened the door. Exiting, he held his hand out to her, and hand-in-hand, they walked to the front steps. Meanwhile, Taylor, flanked by the guys, removed the crate-encased Seurat from the trunk.
Standing in front of what looked like an iPad embedded into the limestone to the left of the door, William tapped the device. It awakened, mirroring his face on the screen and activating a facial recognition bar that scanned up and down. Once approved, he placed his palm on the screen; the bar traveled from left to right. Finally disarmed, the massive door unbolted with a thud. “Sean will program all the security measures for your access today.”
“Um, okay. Will they live here, too?”
“They have quarters on the basement level but will work on a home security rotation schedule. One guy per twelve-hour shift.” He glanced over her shoulder at the small team approaching with the crated painting, and before she knew what William was about, he scooped her up, cradling her in his strong arms.
