Relief surged through Gideon as he strode forward, holding up his hands when he caught sight of Adelaide, who’d apparently heard his footsteps and was now aiming her pepperbox his way.
“Don’t shoot, even though I know you’re more than annoyed with me right now,” he said.
“Gideon,” she exclaimed, lowering the pepperbox. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I was coming to rescue you, but you seem to have rescued yourself.” He glanced at the grappling hook anchoring Dudley to one of the bookcases. “Nice.”
Her lips curved. “I know. I bet no one has ever taken out a criminal with one of those before.”
“I can’t argue with that,” he said, stepping closer. “Nor can I argue that this isn’t exactly the proper moment for what I’m about to do, but I thought you were going to be dead, and—”
“I’m not dead, and before you launch into a diatribe abouthow my current situation is obviously somehow your fault, it’s not. It’s hers.” Adelaide nodded to Sophia, who was sitting in a chair, tears running down her cheeks, looking dejected.
“I wasn’t even considering any sort of tirade because what’s foremost on my mind right now is apologizing to you.”
“Apologizing?” she repeated slowly.
“Indeed.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I’ve been a complete and utter fool and have been absolutely miserable since I told you good-bye.”
“Serves you right,” she muttered.
“Well, quite, but I’m hoping my state of misery will lift if, after I tell you I want to give you an extraordinary life, you’ll let me.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not certain I’m following you.”
He reached out and took the pepperbox from her hand, stowing it in his jacket pocket to be on the safe side in case she was inordinately annoyed with him, then smiled. “I’m saying, in a rather roundabout way, that I’m in love with you—andmadlyin love, at that. I don’t want to live without you, and if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I’m desperate to marry you.”
Her eyes grew wide. “You want to marry me?”
“More than anything.”
Her brows drew together. “And you love me?”
“Indeed. I’m also incredibly sorry for reneging on your temporary position of sorting through old files for the accounting firm.”
“That was not well done of you.”
His lips twitched. “I know, but would it make it up to you the slightest bit if I promised to teach you how to operate the Assassin’s Creed, a weapon I know you’ve had your eye on?”
“I may have had my eye on it, since it’s quite an impressive-looking weapon, but in all honesty, the Assassin’s Creed frightens me half to death.” She smiled. “I wouldn’t be opposed, though, to learning how to shoot darts properly out of thatone cane, especially when I think canes could very well turn fashionable for ladies and would allow me to have a weapon easily accessible whenever I’m in Central Park.”
“I shall personally take you to the range tomorrow with that cane in hand, but now, if we could return to a more pressing issue?”
“What we’re going to do with Dudley?”
“He’s not pressing in the least, since you’ve done an excellent job of securing him. A more important matter is this—whether you’re going to put me out of my misery and tell me your thoughts about my requesting your hand in marriage.”
“Is this really the time for any of this?” Dudley suddenly demanded, drawing Gideon’s attention as well as his annoyance, because now wasn’t exactly the moment for an interruption. Not when Adelaide was keeping him in high suspense regarding the marriage business.
He narrowed his eyes on Dudley. “It might not exactly be the proper moment since it’s not as if I’ve chosen the most romantic of settings. However, since you decided to abduct the love of my life, I’m not willing to waste another second wondering if she’ll agree to spend the rest of her days with me. That means you’re going to sit there, be quiet, and let me get on with things.”
Before Dudley could do more than release a disgruntled-sounding snort, Leopold and Vernon rushed into the room, both men wheezing. They skidded to a stop, Leopold bending over in an obvious attempt to catch his breath.
“Seems like we missed all the action,” Vernon said, rubbing his side as if he’d developed a stitch. “We might need to take up running on a more frequent basis because we’re obviously a lot slower than we used to be.”
“There wasn’t any action to miss because Adelaide had the situation well in hand when I came charging in here,” Gideon admitted. “Nevertheless, if I could prevail upon the two of you to guard Dudley for a moment, I need to return to a mostextraordinarydiscussion I’m having with Adelaide, one I’m desperate to continue.”
Vernon was suddenly all smiles. “By all means, get on with it,” he said with a wave toward the door, paired with a wink, before he whipped a pistol out of his jacket and trained it on Dudley. “Leopold and I will take over for you here.”
