“What…um…” She bit her lower lip, looking up at him through wet lashes.“What if I don’t want to be free?Of you.”Pulling his forehead to hers, she lowered her voice, “What if I want to know you more?”
His heart soared at the impossibility of the thought.He couldn’t fathom that she would find something in him to keep.
“Seraphina,” he growled.“You can’t say things like that.”
“That night.You said there was no turning back.That it would be forever.”She pulled him closer, pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.“I know you now.And what I know is good.I want you.Forever.”
Sebastian swallowed around the lump in his throat.He could only make out one word.“When?”
“Now,” she said with a hint of an impish smile.“As my husband.”
He wasn’t about to lose her.And there was only one way to marry her immediately.
“Grab a bag.I’m taking you to Gretna Green, darling.”
Epilogue
“Itwilllookabit like you’re kidnapping me, won’t it?”Seraphina clasped her hands over her lap for the third time, trying to recall the note she had scrawled to Lenora.The carriage bumped along the road.It would be quite the trip, but it would all be worth it once she could call him her husband.
“Don’t fret over that.In fact, that would be perfectly fitting with my character.Isn’t that how everyone sees me anyway?”
She narrowed her eyes at him.“Now that I know the truth, I’ll be doing my utmost to fix that.”
“It’s not your battle to fight.”
“As your wife, it most certainly will be my battle.And speaking of battles.You must tell me the truth about your friends.The Dukes of Westhaven and Winthorpe.”
Shifting in his seat, he grunted his displeasure.“Can’t you just trust me?I saved them from a much worse fate.”
“I can trust you, but I’d like to know more.”
“If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone.”
Well, these would be annoying secrets to keep, she could already tell.But what choice did she have?
“I agree to your terms.”
“Suffice to say that the Montrose family business had some internal hires that were fatally exploiting children, and my friend’s betrothed was cheating on him.He thought he was in love with an angel, but she was only using him.Playing him."
Seraphina’s hand went to his chest.“You are a good man.Made even more so for doing right despite thetondemonizes you every chance they get.”
“Is it too soon to tell you that I love you?”She studied his face to gauge his sincerity and only saw admiration.
“Only if it’s too soon to tell you that I want to have babies with you.”
His smile warmed her heart, so she asked, “How do you know that you love me?”
“I can’t be sure…but I think the second you snuck into my house I didn’t stand a chance.You were so courageous and determined.”
“I was scared.”
“That’s what makes you so courageous.”
“And that’s why you fell in love with me?”
“Part of it.When you let me inside of you, that changed me.”
Tears sprang to Seraphina’s eyes.“It changed me too.”
