Page 68 of Give Him a Chance

Why on earth were Lucy’s shoulders now slumping? “Oh.”

There was silence for a moment, other than the whirring of the gears in Bernard’s own mind. Right, where had he gone wrong? Something was wrong. He had hurt her—but he had only given her the response he’d known she’d expected.

“But I am terribly in love with you, that’s the only thing,” Lucy said quietly, looking up from her hands and clearly forcing herself to meet his eye. “So… So if you would leave a forwarding address, that would be—”

“You love me?” blurted out Bernard.

No. It wasn’t possible—he’d dreamed it. He’d dreamed the whole thing! It wasn’t possible that she, that his Lucy…that she loved him?

“Very much, I’m afraid,” she was saying with a wry nod. “But don’t let that stop you. You clearly wish to leave, so—”

“‘Wish to leave’? Lucy, I never want to leave your side again!” Bernard could hardly believe it, his chest tight and his mind whirling, and she loved him. “I thought—I thought that’s what you were saying, that I had overstayed my welcome and needed to go!”

“‘Go’? Bernard, you could live here for the rest of your life as far as I’m concerned,” Lucy said, passion in her voice now, the same passion that flowed through her whenever she spoke of heractivities for the Prison Reform Society. “I… I very much want you to stay. Please stay.”

Please stay.

It was precisely what he wanted to hear and Bernard could not believe it. She loved him.

She loved him.

There was no point holding back now. Bernard stepped around the table and sat next to her, then leaned forward, aching to be closer to her, and Lucy responded in kind so quickly that the kiss happened faster than he had expected.

Oh, warm lips and sweetness, heat and need, her hand holding his and their breaths mingling, the rest of the world forgotten as she tilted her head and welcomed him in…

Bernard tried to hold back, tried to keep the kiss sweet, but the building ache within him had been held back for too long. His tongue trailed along the slit of her lips and they parted, inviting him in.

And he needed no greater provocation.

The kiss changed, his hands now cupping her cheeks as he delved into the sweetness of her mouth and sparked pleasure through his body, desperately hoping she felt the same, and perhaps she did as Lucywhimperedin his mouth.

“Lucy,” Bernard whispered, breaking the kiss but keeping her close.

Her voice was ragged, but she looked into his eyes and there was no fear there. No holding back. “Y-Yes?”

“I am also very much in love with you,” he managed to say.

There. It was done. He was in love with her, and he had told her so.

And now he would have to live with the consequences.

With pretty, blinking eyes and dimpled cheeks, Lucy’s obvious delight spread across her face before she leaned forward to claim his mouth again. He was hardly going to deny her, thewaves of prickling bliss across his body demanding more, more, more, and it was not the spread on the table that Bernard now wanted to enjoy, but the spread of Lucy’s legs—

He pulled back.

No. Not like this.

“You know,” Lucy said with a laugh, “I can hardly believe it.”

“Neither can I,” Bernard admitted, his hands almost shaking at the realization.

He loved her. She loved him. Did that mean—could that possibly mean…

Well, he had already told Hovell that he wanted to leave the spying business, hadn’t he? And there was a title waiting for him, even if he had not wished to own it in many years.

Why not return in a few months’ time, when all that was sorted out, and…and claim his bride?

“Falling in love with a criminal is certainly not something I could ever have imagined,” Lucy said a little breathlessly, her cheeks pinking. “It… It’s unbelievable!”