How to paint the perfect picture.
She would embrace almost all of it.
“I don’t want you to change, Dominic.” All the time, she’d thought she would be the one to bend. “I love the manwho takes command of every situation. The man who makes me feel safe.”
“Don’t think I’ll be soft, angel.”
She shifted in the tub. “There’s no danger of that.”
“When I lift you out of the water, I’ll drive the point home. But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking I’m the one in control.”
She smiled. “You think I hold the cards.”
“The one that matters.”
“And what’s that?”
His eyes held hers. “The answer to the question I’ve been keeping close to my heart since the day you left me. Will you marry me?”
Tears filled her eyes.
She’d once told him he could never give her what she wanted. Love. A home. A family. She’d been wrong. She looked at the ring on her finger, his mother’s peridot catching the firelight.
“I love you, Dominic. I’d be proud to be your wife.”
“Is that a yes, angel?”
“You know damn well it is.”
One month later
“You’re here as a guest, Beattie, not to direct the hired staff,” Dominic said when he found his housekeeper fussing with the champagne.
“Sir, I’ve managed Shadowmere for a decade. Such things are second nature. At least let me make sure the kitchen is running smoothly.”
He placed a hand on his man’s shoulder. “You know I don’t tolerate disobedience. For you, I’ll make an exception.”
Beattie smiled as though he’d been given a knighthood.
Ramsey approached as Beattie departed. “You know he’s barely slept this week. The list ran to ten pages. I doubt there’s a white rose left in London.”
Dominic glanced at the vases of flowers in the drawing room, white roses taking pride of place amid the myrtle.
He thought of his mother and smiled.
“Things will be less chaotic here in future. I’ll have to give him a project. The man lives for a list.” Given the time Dominic spent in bed with his wife, Beattie could organise a nursery.
His gaze moved to her. Her silk gown was simple, and she wore it like a woman who knew her own power. He was not in the habit of counting his blessings, but he knew a rare fortune when he saw it.
She was laughing at something Charlotte said when she turned her head and saw him. Her eyes softened. Her lips parted. And everything they meant to each other was there in that single beat.
He turned to find Stanton staring at him as though making notes for the morning edition. “I can see the next headline inThe Sentinel. The formidable Dominic Hawke tamed by a woman. We’d sell out within the hour.”
Ramsey laughed. “He’s been this way for over a month.”
“I wasn’t tamed. I handed myself over willingly,” he said, his gaze moving between them. “A man obsessed with facts should choose his words carefully. I look forward to the day you both meet the same fate.”
Ramsey took that as a cue to check on Beattie.
