“Yes, I will.” She nodded. “Yes.”
She nodded again, emphasizing the point just to show him she was in complete earnest, and thenhe was kissing her again, a long, deep kiss that made her dizzy—though whether that was due to his amazing prowess at kissing or her oxygen-deprived lungs, she couldn’t have said.
But at last, he drew back. “If you want more time to think it over—”
She shook her head, cutting him off. “Thinking is overrated.”
He didn’t laugh with her. Remembering his fear of a few minutes before, she hastened on, “I’ve had five days to think, and I don’t need any more time than that. I love you, you know. I realized it—or at least, I finally admitted it to myself—after you proposed and I turned you down. I stood at the window, watching you walk away, out of my life, and I knew I loved you with all my heart and soul.”
“And you knew this five days ago? Woman, why didn’t you come running after me straightaway and tell me?”
“Well, for one thing, as I said, I wasn’t completely sure you loved me, not in a lasting way.”
“And what changed your mind?”
She smiled a little. “Nothing. I’m being a bit of a gambler on this, Max. I’m taking the depth of your love on faith. After all, nothing in life is sure.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Evie. My love is the one thing in this world you can be sure of. I love you more than you can ever know, more than words can express.”
His eyes, the beautiful midnight blue of a starless sky, were so tender, so filled with love, she had to catch back a sob of joy.
“But I’ll try just the same.” His hand lifted, his fingertip tracing a light caress back and forth across her lips. “When I think of how it would be to see your wonderful, funny smile every single day, of having daughters with your tawny eyes and pretty freckles, of watching you slay your opponents at croquet at all the Whitsuntide house parties to come—when I think of all of that, it makes me glad to be alive, so, so glad that it hurts.” His hand fell to cover his heart. “Right here.”
Tears pricked her eyes and clogged her throat, and it took her a moment to reply. “Goodness,” she managed at last, “for a man who didn’t think there were any words to describe the love he feels, you were pretty damned eloquent just now.”
“But does it convince you, my darling?”
She considered. “Yes, Max,” she said with a sureness she’d never felt before. “I do believe it does.”
“And being my duchess? You’re sure you want the job? You were dead set against it,” he reminded before she could answer. “And even now, you don’t know what’s involved.”
“It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, I’m going to tackle it and conquer it and make it my own. I’ll make mistakes, I expect, but that can’t be helped. You’ll just have to help me along a bit, and I’ll muddle through.”
“Are you saying that because you love me, and you hope to make the best of it?”
“No, I’m saying it because I want to do it. I know,” she said, laughing as he raised an eyebrow. “Quite an about-face from five days ago, isn’t it?”
“To say the least,” he murmured. “If it’s not your love for me that changed your mind, then what was it that did the trick?”
“You have the pigeon to thank.”
“Him?” Max frowned, not seeming too pleased by that. “Why him?”
“He proposed marriage to me, not two hours ago.”
“What?” Max’s frown deepened. “That scoundrel.”
She laughed. “How can you say that?” she teased. “It was a genuine proposal of marriage.”
“Yes, well, perhaps it was,” he said grudgingly. “Perhaps I’ve been wrong about him.”
“You weren’t, believe me. You had him pegged accurately from the start.”
She explained, and as she did, his displeasure became a look of hard, cold implacability she’d never seen in his face before, and she realized just how intimidating the duke could be when he tried.
“I’ll have his head on a pike, Evie. By God, I will.”
“It isn’t the Middle Ages, Max. You can’t hang him, quarter him, and cut him into pieces.”
