He gave her a pained look. “I could not make myself believe that, even though I wanted to. It was only once I saw you lying prone at the bottom of those stairs that I realized my mistake. I did not know if you would survive, and I wondered how I would possibly live without you.”
Bridget stared deeply into his eyes, as if she felt every word he spoke down to her core. Her breath hitched. “I thought… oh, Anthony! I have fallen so madly in love with you! My heart felt like it would never be whole again without your love.”
Anthony smiled. “Words cannot explain the depth of my love for you, and your plan only brought us closer.”
“Rose’s plan,” Bridget said. “I—I will admit that there were times when I doubted you. I was terrified that Lady Hastings’s words might be true, but I loved you so much that I was willing to risk your betrayal if it meant that I might have your love.”
Anthony gently took Bridget’s hands in his own and stared into her eyes, as if he might be able to express the full expanse of his love for her just with the intensity of his gaze. “Marry me, Bridget.”
Her breath shuddered, and a soft gasp tore from her throat. Her eyes filled with tears. For a heartbeat, Anthony thought he might have upset her, but then, he realized that those were surely tears of joy.
“I never expected the plan to work like this,” she whispered. “But Anthony, you must know that I have no dowry. My father needed for me to wed the Marquess of Thornton so he would pay my father’s debts.”
“I care not for a whit if you have no dowry,” Anthony said. “And I will pay any debts to preserve your family’s honor.”
“Truly?”
“Truly. I am more sure of my love for you than anything else in the world. I will do anything to see to your happiness. All you must do is say yes, and I will marry you, Bridget.”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes,” she said, the answer barely above a whisper.
Anthony felt his heart swell with happiness. Despite all his errors and all his hesitation, this perfect and wonderful woman had agreed to marry him. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck without hesitation and clung to him. His hands found her slender waist. She was his, at last.
Anthony kissed her like a drowning man desperate for air, and she returned his passion with such fervor that it left him nearly breathless. They kissed and kissed, like they were the only people in the entire world. And although they were not, in that moment, Anthony knew one undeniable truth, which was that Bridget was the only person in the world who mattered.
He would do anything to ensure that this woman was happy, and he would devote the rest of her life to making her feel the same passion and joy that she inspired in him.
Chapter 41
Two days after they confessed their love for one another, Bridget and Anthony met in the park. Anna had joined them as chaperone, but she had fallen tired early in their walk and decided to rest in the shade of a large, sprawling tree. From the gleam in her sister’s eyes, Bridget knew her sister was only feigning exhaustion, allowing her time alone with Anthony.
Bridget felt her face grow hot. Her sister surely realized what manner of activities she and Anthony might indulge in if they were alone. But did it matter anymore? After all, the ton already knew she and Anthony had engaged in some salacious activities. What more damage could her reputation incur? And anyway, she was to wed him.
“Are you still feeling well?” Anthony asked.
“Of course,” Bridget said. “Why would I not be?”
Anthony furrowed his brow. “It is the first time you have left your family’s townhouse since your accident, and I feared that you might have not fully recovered.”
“I can assure you that I am quite well,” she replied. “More than well. I am to marry you, after all.”
“The two weeks until our wedding will feel like an eternity to me,” he said.
“And for me, as always,” Bridget replied. “It seems impossible to think that we are going to spend our lives together.”
“Yes,” he said. “It is difficult to believe that I am so fortunate. I want to see you every morning eating breakfast across from me and telling me your plans for the day.”
“Only for the day?” Bridget asked slyly. Even though that night had ended disastrously, she found herself thinking about the encounter in the garden, where Anthony had sheathed himself inside her and brought her to the height of utter bliss.
“I presume that you will spend many of your nights with me,” he said mischievously. “Therefore, I will not need you to tell me your plans for them.”
“I see.” Bridget tucked a wayward curl behind her ear and gazed at him from beneath her eyelashes. He grinned back at her, his face softened with mischief. “Only the nights?” she asked with mock innocence. “I wonder if I ought to be disappointed at that.”
“Not only the nights,” Anthony replied. “It would be ungentlemanly not to meet a lady’s every need, regardless of when that need occurs.”
“Suppose the lady has needs at an inconvenient moment?”
“A lady’s needs are never inconvenient.”
