Meg’s face was bright pink. She pulled him by the hand off the chair and he wrapped his arms around her.
Hart’s father, spluttering with mortification, his face crimson, pushed his way through the crowd.
Hart picked up Meg and spun her around. The he set her in front of him on the floor.
Meg’s voice was slight, quiet. “Does this mean…?”
Hart nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat, searching her face. He fell to one knee. “Meg Highgate, I love you more than anything in this world. I don’t deserve you. I’ve never come close to deserving you, but I want a marriage full of happiness and laughter and fun and love. And children. Lots of children. An indecent amount of children. At least half a score of them. For the rest of my life I will do anything in my power to make you happy.”
“Only half a score of children?” The tiny smile at the crook of her mouth might not be noticeable to someone else, but he noticed and he knew. He’d won.
“Do you still love me?” he ventured.
Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “I told you, I’ve loved you since I was sixteen.”
He wiped her tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. “No. You only thought you loved me back then. I’m much more worthy of your love now. This minute. You’ve always been what I always wanted. I just never knew it until now.”
“I love you no matter what, you dolt.” Meg smiled through her tears.
“That’s more like it.” He lowered his voice. “Will you come with me, now?”
A sly smile appeared on her face. “I don’t know. It depends upon where you’re headed. I’m having anawfully good time being a wallflower. I’m quite used to it, you know.”
He leered at her and leaned down to whisper. “To bed?”
“In that case, can we leave immediately?”
He grinned from ear to ear, scooped her up in his arms and strode away with her, careless of the spectacle he was making. “My darling, I can promise you, you’llneverbe a wallflower again.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Later that night, after having been thoroughly made love to by her gorgeous husband who loved her, Meg rolled over, lifted up on an elbow, and kissed him on his rough cheek.
Hart laughed, rolled atop her, and kissed her on the lips. He lifted her hand to his mouth and soundly kissed the back of it.
“I can’t believe you came to the Litchfields’ ball and made such a scene,” Meg said with a snicker. “Especially in front of your father. We’ll never live it down.”
“A scene a long time coming. I should have grabbed you and demanded you marry me last summer after I kissed you in the gardens by your father’s house.”
Meg slapped at his shoulder playfully. “You thought I was your mistress.”
Hart rolled to his side to face her, his elbow braced on the mattress, his head resting on his palm. “Yes, but I soon realized my mistake, and imagine my surprisewhen I realized my sister’s closest friend could kiss likethat.”
Meg slapped at his shoulder again. “You wouldn’t even look at me in the coach the next day after Sarah ran out of the church.”
“I didn’t know where to look. If I had, I’d have been staring at your delectable mouth.”
Meg wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He’d come for her. He’d really come for her. And he’d told her he loved her. She might think it had been a dream if the man wasn’t lying next to her, his glorious chest bared, and a wide grin on his handsome lips.
“Hart, tell me something.”
“Anything, my love.” He leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder.
“You know why our parents fought, don’t you?”
The smile faded from his face. “Yes.”
Meg leaned up on her elbow, the sheets covering her chest. She clutched them to her. “Why? Tell me.”
