“What did you just say?” She swallowed.
“Damn it, Thea. I might as well admit it. I think I’ve been in love with you since the day you arrived on my doorstep and tried to convince me to sell you my horse.”
She shook her head vehemently. “No. That cannot be. I was a selfish monster the entire time.”
“Yes, you were. But how much better have I behaved? I may have taken you in and helped you with your leg, but it’s not as if I was ignorant about the potential for scandal. I knew as well as you did that it could end the way it did.”
“But … you disliked me. I know you did,” she countered.
“Perhaps, at first.” He chuckled. “But I’d never met anyone like you before. You knew what you wanted, and you were so confident and certain of yourself. When you started sneaking into my stables, I couldn’t believe your audacity. When Bell came to visit, he told me it sounded as if I was in love. I couldn’t disagree. That’s why I came to your Christmastide ball.”
Thea’s hand flew to her throat. “That’s why?”
“I missed you. I had to see you.” Ewan turned and paced away from her. “You asked me once what I thought of you that first day. You were stubborn, yes, but I also thought you were magnificent. Magnificent and gorgeous, so like the horse you were so desperate to win.” He turned back toward her and stepping forward, he pulled her into his arms and stared down into her eyes. “I’ve always thought you were magnificent, Thea. And I always will.” He kissed her deeply.
After Ewan’s lips finally left hers, Thea said softly. “My father isn’t particularly well connected in Parliament.
Ewan nuzzled at her ear. “It doesn’t matter. I love you madly.”
Thea closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “I love you too, Ewan.”
He pulled away from her to watch her face. “You don’t have to say that if you don’t mean it.”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t do that. I think I fell in love with you when you were so nice to me after I broke my leg. You could have called the constable, you could have sent me away, instead you treated me as a true guest, a friend even. You brought me the wheelchair and asked me about myself. But when I went back home, I realized the truth of how I felt about you. I was just too blindly stubborn to admit that being stubborn can cost you something you dearly love if you’re not careful. I was so certain Father didn’t want the best for me. I never even stopped to consider whatIthought was the best for me. But the last thing I wanted to do was to force you into a marriage you didn’t want. I would run away first.”
“Yes, your father mentioned that to me in his letter. But don’t think too poorly of your father, my darling. The morning we were married he admitted to me that he’d insisted you stay at my house with your broken leg because he hoped we’d make a match.”
“What?” Thea’s mouth fell open. “Of all the despicable— He thought the only way to make a man want me would be to stick me under his roof for weeks?”
“Something like that,” Ewan allowed with a grin. “But it worked, didn’t it?”
Laughing, Thea leaned up on tiptoes, wrapped her arms around Ewan’s neck and kissed him again. “Hmm. You’re right. Perhaps Father isn’t all bad after all. I’ll have to thank him next time I see him, I suppose.”
Ewan squeezed her against his nearly naked body. “Let’s not make plans quite so soon. He told me he hoped a grandchild would be on the way the next time he saw either of us. I’d like to accommodate him.”
Thea gasped. “He didn’t say that!”
“He most certainly did.”
Thea shook her head. “Why, that scheming man. I had no idea he’d planned the whole thing.”
“Well, he didn’t plan the bit about me winning the horse auction. I suppose I’ll just have to always wonder whether you only married me for one reason and one reason only.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “My horse.”
Thea burst out laughing. “You rogue. I did no such thing. I would have scrimped and saved for years to purchase that horse. But once I saw how happy Alabaster made Phillip, I knew I had to leave them together.”
“On the contrary,” Ewan said, kissing Thea on the neck, “Phillip gave him to us as a wedding gift.”
Thea tilted her head to the side to allow him better access. “He didn’t need to do that.”
“I told him the same thing, but he insisted,” Ewan continued, trailing his lips down to herdecolletage.
Thea’s breath was coming in short pants. Her eyes closed. “Well, he can certainly visit and ride him as much as he chooses.”
“I agree, my love.” Ewan’s was already unbuttoning the back of her gown. “Now. If you’d like, let me show you how to rideme.”
“Ooh, I love the sound of that.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
