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He was either the luckiest man in the world, or on the precipice of complete destruction.
Already he dreaded the moment they must part.
“I nearly forgot!” He remembered the present still safely tucked inside the valise. “I brought you a gift.”
“What gift?”
“Give me a moment, and I’ll show you.”
He donned his shirt. Being bare-chested after an intimate moment was one thing, parading around the room with a half-mast cock was another.
He fetched the package. When he turned back, she had already sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. But to his private pleasure, her dress remained charmingly tangled above her knees, with hints of those pink bows peeking out.
He had plans for those bows. Or ribbons like them.
“What a big valise for such a small package,” she teased.
“That?” He glanced back at the case. “I carried a blanket over from the Albany, too.”
“Ah. I’d thought the blanket rather dear.” She spread her hand across the bedcovering. “My good Lord Asquith, does that mean you planned to seduce me?”
“I planned to ask you to marry me. I thought you’d like a comfortable place to sit while we discussed the details.”
“You are sweet,” she replied. “And also correct.”
Sweet. He wasn’t sweet.
But she didn’t realize, and he felt no need to enlighten.
“Don’t you forget.” He cast a playfully reproving glance. “You demanded ravishment.”
“Yes.” She widened her eyes. “After you flustered me with shift-stripping tales.”
“You have me there.” He shrugged. “You’re fetching when you’re flustered, you know.”
Her laughter made his heart stumble.
“Believe me,” he added. “I did not plan to be half naked in my stables with my future viscountess.”
“Future...” She covered her mouth. “Oh, no! I never considered. But once we wed, I’ll become Lady Asquith, won’t I?!”
He cocked a brow. “Don’t tell me the thought never occurred to you.”
A look of genuine puzzlement entered her eyes. “You were my focus, Simon. Not your title.”
He crouched down. Or, perhaps, his knees finally buckled.
Lucky, he thought. I’m stupidly lucky. And safe from the precipice of destruction.
He caressed her leg. Safe, at least, unless she left him. But after today, she could not.
In exchange for the options he’d stolen from her, he silently added to his pledge—he would devote himself to her constant care.
He started immediately.
“Are you sore?”
“A little,” she admitted.
