He shrugged in return, dusting the tip of his cane through the chalk scattered across the marble floor. I’m here. Come and get me.
She fought a flicker of irritation and watched his smile grow. Her need for him, her want, was stronger than her pride, wasn’t it? She couldn’t forget that he’d given up part of his the morning after the most incredible night of her life. It seemed fitting, allowable, to bend slightly to his will.
She’d just have to ensure he didn’t become used to it.
She desired a life with Cortland DeWitt. Her solitary childhood defeated once and for all. Mind settled, skirting the crowd, she made her way to him.
The throng parted in a bevy of fluttering fans and whispered comments. Of course, she heard them and was laughing when she reached him.
Poor man, he’s fallen for the Wintry Widow.
Is that the second son or the duke?
I’ve heard she prefers horses to blokes.
The first in the Trio has fallen. What’s to become of the other two?
“Look at that smile,” he said and, shocking the crowd, drew her hand into his. “Is it for me?”
She shook her head, warmed to her toes when his fingers closed around hers. “It’s for the fools I encountered on the journey.”
His blinked, then he threw his head back, his amusement echoing across the ballroom.
She yanked on his hand. “Stop it, Cort. They’ll never cease babbling now.”
Shifting his cane under his arm, he hauled her across the floor and out the open veranda doors, uncaring who might see them. The wind ripped at her coiffure, sending strands flying. “Our marriage will set them on their bums, sweetness. This little show isn’t going to make a difference. If we’re patient, they’ll find other victims to torture the following week. Go with it.”
“Marriage—”
He had her against brick, his mouth seizing hers, before she could utter another word. His cane clattered to the flagstones as he stepped between her legs, finding her body, her heart, her soul, open in welcome. “You love me,” he murmured against her lips.
She pushed him back enough to allow a sliver of moonlight to slip between them. Joy spread like fire through her veins. “How presumptuous.”
Tipping her chin, he deepened the kiss until her knees quivered, her lungs emptying of air. “How presumptuous, darling.”
When they’d carried the embrace as far as they could without being asked to continue after vows had been uttered, he hugged her close. His heartbeat thumped in a frantic rhythm beneath her cheek.
“I love you,” she whispered into the silken threads of his waistcoat.
“I’ve always loved you,” he returned, his lips buried in her hair. “Always. Now, gratefully, because you’ve finally come to your senses, I don’t hate myself for it.”
She lifted shining eyes to his, a tear tracking down her face. “Oh, Cort.”
He dusted a kiss across her brow. “Don’t. Never again with this maudlin expression. I won’t stand for anything, especially the past, standing between us.” Trailing his knuckle along her jaw, he captured her spent tear. “So…”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, teasing him. “So…”
He tilted his head. “Is that a yes?”
“Is that a proposal?”
His chest lifted and fell on a thick exhalation. Tunneling his hand in his jacket pocket, he returned with a small velvet box. It was aged, faded with time, once a striking cherry now bleached to a pale pink. Flicking it open with trembling fingers, he swallowed, apprehension chalking grooves alongside his mouth. The ring was stunning, an emerald near the color of his eyes surrounded by a petite ring of diamonds. “It was my grandmother’s. In safekeeping for the first DeWitt of this generation to pledge himself. You could have knocked Knox over with a feather when I told him I was in need of it. We had to revive Damien with smelling salts when I said it was you I’d won. The Trio is forever changed as we add another to the family. Now we’re a Quad.”
She reached to touch, then pulled back. She’d never been given such a lovely gift. Amberly hadn’t believed in tokens of affection and her parents hadn’t once thought to show her they loved her in word or offering.
Sighing softly, Cort took her hand and slid the ring on her finger. The stone glimmered in the moonlight, a promise, a future. “We’ll have the jeweler make it a perfect fit. Like us.”
“I’m not perfect,” she whispered.
