Her gaze dropped back to her hands. She had been in a similar position once before with Guy, trusting his words that he would ask her first before speaking to her father, and then having to deal with an unwelcome betrothal. “Are you saying you will give me a choice?”
“Yes.”
“And what about you? Marriage is between two people. What do you say of this special license?” she replied.
A gentle smile appeared on his lips, at which a flicker of hope sparked in her heart. Was there a chance that he wanted her too, that perhaps that kiss had meant something to him? His fumbling post-kiss apology still gave her concern.
“I will accept your decision. I will not force you into a marriage you do not want,” he said.
She could sense he wanted to say more, but something was holding him back. Leah searched for an opening. “Do you believe in marriage without love?” she ventured.
Her words registered immediately on his face. James was shocked. Good. If he didn’t love her, then he would not press her into marrying him.
“I understand that it is a social necessity at times, but if you are asking me if I would willingly venture into such a hopeless union myself, the answer is no. I believe in love,” he replied.
She raised a hand to his face, and her fingers traced the stubble of his beard. She liked that since their arrival at Mopus Manor, James had stopped shaving every day. The touch of his day-old growth set her heart racing. It was time to risk it all. To allow her heart to finally speak its truth. She knew it was a gamble, but this was their future, and she would leave nothing on the table when it came to winning his love.
“So, if I told you that I was in love with you, what would you say?” she said.
James bowed his head and her heart sank. But when he looked up again, there were tears shining in his eyes. She left her hand cupping his jaw before brushing away a tear when the first one rolled down his cheek.
“I would tell you that you stole a little piece of my heart that day at the garden party. From that moment on, I slowly but irretrievably fell in love with you. I was so cut up about you marrying Guy that I took myself off to Derbyshire just to get away from hearing about the wedding. The reason I had the travel coach with me when I came to St George’s church, was because I intended to flee London as soon as the wedding service was over.”
He screwed his eyes shut, and more tears fell. “I would tell you that I betrayed my friend in order to make sure you escaped having to marry him. And I would tell you that I would do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant spending the rest of my life with you.”
It was a statement of love that went straight to her heart. There could only ever be one response to such a soul-deep declaration of devotion.
“I love you, James Radley. Will you marry me?”
Chapter Forty
She loved him. James moved swiftly to give Leah his full response. He rose up on his knees and leaning over her, speared his fingers into her hair. Holding her to him, he captured her lips in a searing kiss. There was nothing tender about the embrace as he plundered her mouth. Tongues tangled and teeth clashed. If Leah had wanted slow and easy, she was not going to get it. He could not hold back. His heart swelled as she met him stroke for stroke in the kiss. Her need was as great as his.
Weeks of pent-up frustration tore through James like wildfire. His only effort at restraint being that he kept his hands in her hair. He knew if he let them drop and allowed his fingers to roam, he would tear her gown open and ravish those full, plump breasts.
“Yes, I will marry you. And you will marry me,” he said. Not a request, nor a proposal. A command.
“I am yours,” she replied.
The battle between his cultured self and his primal needs reached its peak. His hands slipped from her hair and he roughly pushed her skirts up. He touched the naked, soft skin of her leg, then bent and placed a kiss on her inner thigh.
She opened her legs wider and he set his thumb to her slick, hot opening. He stroked her deep, and Leah groaned. “Have whatever you want, James. I am at your mercy. Take me,” she urged.
He lifted his face and lay his forehead gently against hers. His heart was beating at a fearsome rate. Desire for her coursed like fire through his veins, but he had to stop. “Believe me, it is taking all my strength not to pull you to the floor and make you mine here and now. But I will be damned if I am going to have held out all this time, only to cave to my base desires at the last and ruin you before you are my wife.”
He would go mad if he didn’t touch her. The sooner they were married the better.
By sheer force of willpower, James let his hands drop from her thighs. Sucking in deep breaths, he got to his feet. His heated blood still pulsed hard through his body. The look of disappointment on her face almost had him reaching for her a second time and giving in to temptation.
“Today. We get married today. The special license permits us to marry where and when we wish,” he said. He held out his hand and pulled her to her feet, forcing himself to ignore her soft mew of disappointment. Soon enough he would give her what she craved.
“It would seem a waste not to use that special license that your father went to so much trouble in order to procure. And yes, the sooner we get married the better, James Radley,” she replied.
James risked another kiss. This time, he lifted her chin and placed a soft, almost chaste one on Leah’s lips.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too. You have no idea how much I have wanted to hear you say those three little words,” he replied.
