Page 96 of The Gambler Wagers Her Baron

She held Damon’s stare, and a thousand unspoken musings passed between them: apologies, regrets, promises, and…something she didn’t quite understand.

Before she could ask, his head dipped, and their lips pressed together.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but the feel of Damon’s lips against hers, his hard body pressed to her soft curves, his scent of lavender and citrus mingling perfectly with her floral aroma. Neither attempted to overpower the other to take control.

They merely reveled in an unspoken harmony that had always been present.

His kiss was reserved just as he was, yet the distance between them disappeared. His arms held her so tightly, Payton wondered if he thought she would vanish from his embrace. Did he not realize that his solid hold on her was the foundation she’d lacked her entire life? With him close, there was no room for her to flounder. There was no possibility of failing.

In his arms, she was no longer the wounded child seeking happiness on the horizon, only to gain that distant point and find herself unfulfilled yet again. No, there was nothing better awaiting her somewhere else, no matter how far she traveled or how many people she left behind.

In that moment, as their lips danced to an unsung melody, Payton realized she’d found everything she’d been searching for—and so much more.

Chapter 31

Damon had spent so many years dwelling on the unfairness of everything around him that he’d nearly allowed the most perfect thing to walk out of his life. He’d spent so many years drowning in despair that he’d almost missed the opportunity to pull himself from the turmoil.

Drawing Payton ever closer, he reveled in the feeling of her pressed against him even as a longing stirred within him that had lain dormant for so long. With it, he expected a spike of betrayal to pierce him, the overpowering need to retreat to his solitary life, and a heartbreaking realization that he would never have anything more.

He’d loved, and he’d lost.

Loss was a natural conclusion to love.

It had always been the way of things. Or was it?

Damon breathed in deeply, pulling back slightly from their kiss. Her responding moan made him confident that even if loss one day came, this love was worth exploring, knowing, and accepting.

And sharing, with his children and all of society.

“Payton…I…” Damon kissed her parted lips, both her cheeks, and her forehead as his fingers released their hold on her. She’d confessed to wanting the same things as he did, yet how that future would look was still indecipherable to him. She needed to know that when he said he wanted her by his side, he wanted all of her. Finding the words to tell her that was nearly impossible, however, as he was afraid to speak the wrong words…feared ending this moment. “I want you in my arms from today until forever.”

“I hadn’t imagined it would be what I wanted, yet here we are,” she mused, a smile lighting her face.

“I did speak the truth earlier. You cannot return to Ashford Hall as my children’s governess,” he whispered. He stroked her cheek and down the length of her neck as he gazed into her eyes, content to be lost in their blue depths until his last breath until he noted the light dim and her stare cloud with confusion. She shivered under his touch, and his body naturally responded. “When you return to my home, it will be your home, as well.”

“Damon.” She shook her head, and her gloved fingers tightened on his forearms. “Are you certain?”

“For so many years, I’ve been uncertain about every aspect of my life,” he confided, brushing a wayward curl from her cheek. “My days have passed without consequence, my nights indistinguishable from my days, and my thoughts as unpredictable as the rains across town. I neither knew where I was going or from whence I came. I’ve been adrift, with no land in sight”—he pulled back, needing to say his piece yet fearful she wouldn’t understand—“and you were the beacon sent to rescue us all. So, when you ask if I am sure, I can say that, without hesitation, I have never been so very certain of anything in my life.

“You have not only blessed me with a second chance at life, but you have also brought it to Joy and Abram. No longer will they live a trivial existence shut in this townhouse with a reclusive, unworthy father. Even if I do not deserve better, my children do.”

Her eyes watered as her fingers fisted in his shirtsleeves. “Damon, you deserve happiness as much as any person. Life, like luck, is a fickle thing, or so I’ve learned. Despite your misfortunes, that does not mean you are unworthy of contentment and peace.”

He searched her stare. “Perhaps. However, I want far more for myself. I want love.”

“And I want to be the one loving you.” There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation, she did not avert her gaze nor wilt in his embrace. “Damon, though I hadn’t realized it, I have spent my life in search of something. Every day looking to the next…until I found you. I tried to focus on what came next. but it always led back to you and the children.” It was then that she looked away, her stare moving to the floor. “I must admit, there have been times I longed to end my attraction to you.”

“I have resisted, as well.” There would be no more lies between them, no more half-truths, no more hiding. “I would do things differently if I had it to do all over again.”

“How so?” she asked.

“I would have spoken to you at my gaming parties long before you came to work in my home.” He’d noticed her on many occasions, though always kept his distance. Not only from her but from everyone.

“I likely would have rebuffed your advances, my lord.”

His brow raised in surprise. “Why ever would you do that?”

“It is not the brooding lord sulking about the edges of his ballroom I have found myself longing for, but the man—the father—you truly are.”