Her expression transformed. Warmth and happiness deepened her gaze. “Are you saying that you would rather not part? That we can be together in London again? Lady Farnsworth did not appear nearly as shocked to learn about us as I expected, so if my situation with her can continue, we might be able to remain very good friends.”
Ah, sweet Amanda. She expected so little from the world. From him. “I would like to be more than friends, darling. I want to marry you. Please say you will. If you decline, I will never marry because, having shared love and passion with you, I am unfit for another woman.”
Her expression went slack. She peered at him, hard. “Is that wise? To marry me? A secretary and a thi—daughter of a thief?”
“Not at all wise.”
She burst out laughing. “You might have said you think it the wisest decision you had ever made, or at least something vague like,what is wisdom in the face of love?”
He laughed with her, then pressed his lips to her hand. “In the event you do not already know it, sometimes I can be an ass.” He looked in her eyes. “It is the wisest decision I have ever made. Promise me that I will have you my whole life, Amanda. I will go mad if you don’t.”
“I will marry you. Oh, yes, I gladly will.”
He raised her up so he could embrace and kiss her. “Are you finished with your dinner? Dessert still waits.”
She turned in his arms and lifted the covers. “Berries and Chantilly. I was disappointed the first time we met at your brother’s house that I had no time to indulge in them.” She stuck her finger in the cream and licked it, unaware of how erotic the little action looked.
“I was more disappointed than you were,” he said. “I had such plans for it.”
“Plans? Other than eating?”
He dipped his finger deeply, then stroked her mouth, and her neck, then the palm of her hand. “Most would be consumed eventually.” He flicked his tongue at the places he had painted.
Her eyes lit with excitement. “I think you should get me out of this dress, Gabriel. Quickly.”
He kissed her cream-smeared lips. He handed her the berries and carried the bowl of cream when he took her to bed.
Chapter Thirty
“Thursday? I had planned to leave town, but of course now I will stay.” Happiness did not drench Harry’s reaction to news of the wedding. If anything, he appeared dismayed.
Another older brother might suspect the spare harbored hopes of inheriting that had just been dealt a blow. Gabriel knew that Harry would never want the title, and would resent finding himself invested with it.
“Am I to meet her then?” Harry asked. “This is sudden in the extreme, if you intend to use the special license within a few days of procuring it, with a woman no one has met.”
“I am so bedazzled I cannot bear to wait. Forgive me if I did not introduce her, and perform the usual social niceties. Our courtship has been unusual. She is not what you may expect.”
He told Harry about Amanda. The description appeased his brother to a surprising degree.
“I have heard of her, this secretary. How odd that you settled on her, of all women.”
“Even odder that she accepted me. There is no explaining love, I suppose. The arrows of Eros shoot where they will.” He rather liked that line. He would have to use it when other men expressed less generous skepticism of this match.
“Of course. Certainly. My best congratulations, Gabe. I never thought to see this, or to see you so happy if it happened. I will be there, and honored to stand up with you.”
“I asked her to join me here today, so that you can meet her before the ceremony, Harry. I hope you do not mind.”
Harry’s brow smoothed. “I am glad for that. I confess that I will accommodate this news better once she and I have met.”
Gabriel realized that Harry worried that some adventuress had worked her wiles on a duke. He never knew his younger brother kept an eye on him, just as he did on Harry. That touched him.
They continued their stroll through Harry’s gardens. Gabriel resisted the urge to tell his brother to hire a better gardener. Rustic and romantic had turned overgrown and unsightly in places.
“I have seen Emilia,” his brother said in a studied, indifferent voice.
“Have you been attending parties?”
“No.” Harry paused. “She came here.”
