Page 95 of The Lady’s Great Escape

“Please stay. I’m not done.”

“I’m not sure I can take much more, countess.”

She frowned.

“I meant to say that you’ve proposed to me three times already, and it should be my turn to ask you.”

His brows rose as he sat back down next to her. She placed her hand on his cheek and stroked her thumb over the corner of his mouth. The side where his smiles began.

He wasn’t smiling at the moment. He was simply watching her with a tentative and confused look about him.

“It is only fair that I ask you this time. Will you hear me?”

His lips twitched and he nodded once before saying, “Of course.”

“Will you marry me, Christopher? Because I do want you. But I need you as well. I need your smiles to make my days brighter, and I need you by my side to make life more bearable. I need your kisses and touches to add pleasure to my future.”

She licked her lips and continued.

“But mostly, I know I need you because that night at Lady Harrington’s party she asked me my preferences in a partner and I described you exactly. Not only because I find your physical appearance so divine, but because in a time when I felt unsure of myself, I needed the person who made me feel like the best version of myself, who thought of me as enough. I needed my best friend.”

“You make me sound like your favorite chair,” he said with a smirk on his lips.

“I was wrong to take insult to that. I realize now that one’s favorite chair is always at their back, supporting them when they’re weary. And no matter where they go it’s the place you long to return to.”

This was so much more difficult than he’d made it seem the times he’d done it. How had he managed it?

“Will you be my husband, Christopher, because I need you and want you?”

He kissed her, a slow simple kiss before pulling away and saying, “I will take your request into consideration.”

“Kit!” She smacked his arm, but he caught it and kissed her fingers before kissing her again.

“Yes,” he said against her lips. “Of course, I’ll marry you. I have loved you for so long, Celia.” He kissed her again, but she could barely return the kiss because she was smiling so widely.

“Thank you,” she said.

“It seems you’ve succeeded in finding a lover. And I have found a wife. This season has been quite the victory.”

“Hmm… And you’ll be my lover starting tonight?” she asked, playfully.

“No. Starting right now.”