“Say yes.” He groaned. I laughed when he kissed up my jaw, and then back down again. “Please.”
“How about,receiving no invitations because we’re outcasts, yes? You are not thinking this through.”
“No?” He kissed my nose. He rolled until we were side by side, looking out across the barn. He lifted a hand as though to form the frame of our future. “I see our family—not just an heir. A proper family—and summers in the country. Our children wandering like wild things, their cats and hounds and chickens all at their heels.” He looked back at me, grinning. “I see you inviting anyone and everyone to one of your grand parties, no matter how many times their names have been in the papers. Me, growing what we’ve built tenfold for our children. Of course, there’ll be plenty of late nights in the library. A rendezvous or two in the hay barn.” He winked, and I tugged him back until his knees entangled with mine.
“It won’t be perfect,” he admitted. “We are good at making mistakes, you and I, but we’ll fix them together.”
Heavens, he was so sincere. So confident, but so hopeful for the future he’d just spelled out. I felt his hope take root in my chest and spread out like veins around my heart.
I wanted it. So badly, I wanted it all to come true. “I have no idea how to host a party as grand as that, but if you promise not to be cross—”
He squeezed my thigh and bit back his grin. “I promise I won’t be cross.” He took my jaw delicately in his hand and pressed his lips fervently to mine.
“There is so much I do not know, Lucas. I’ve barely traveled. I will surely bumble it all—”
He kissed me into silence, then drew back, and said, “You,Georgiana Wood, are perfect to me in every way that matters. You make all the bad things worthwhile. You make themgood. You make me better. With your sweetness, your genuine heart, your laughter, your brilliance ... we will find your confidence together. And you will flourish.”
Heavens,thatwas how he saw me?
Our eyes locked together.
I waited for him to break. To change his mind. To look away. Any sign that he was unsure.
He didn’t.
Would it be so terrible, a life with him? If he knew the risk of my failures. If he promised to support me, to guide me ...
He waited. Lips pursed. Gaze set like he would sit beside me for a lifetime while I thought it through.
A life with Lucas could go very wrong. But the way hesaw us, the future he wanted for us, was a dream I’d risk anything for.
Slowly, I nodded. “Very well, then.”
“Yes?” He bit back his smile, still questioning.
I let myself smile, let myselffeelagain. “I love you, Lucas. My answer is yes.”
“Yes!” he cheered, grinning wider and kissing my face all over until I truly did dissolve into the joy that beckoned me. I reveled in it.
We spent another few moments—and perhaps a few more after that—in the barn, and then a few more against the barn door before Lucas finally opened it.
Sunlight poured in, and we walked hand in hand toward our future.
Epilogue
Four Years Later
His Grace, Lucas Kennerly, the Duke of Marlow
She’d left a calling card on my pillow.
It read,
Her Grace
Georgiana Kennerly
The Duchess of Marlow
