Page 63 of The Lord's Unlikely Betrothal

Her smile faded. ‘I have said all along that I do not want you to change. I will miss you terribly, but I still think you should go and see what you have always planned. You will regret it all your life if not and I do not want that for you, or for me.’

‘The only way I shall go is if you come with me.’

She froze. ‘Oh. Could I do that?’

‘Why not?’

‘Well. I…’

‘You…?’

‘I never thought I would. Ooh, but I could. I could get to see it all.’ Her excited wriggle set off a pleasurable reaction all through his body.

‘You could. We could. But if you do not want to, then we will not. Since Sebastian left, I have been chasing something, an elusive happiness that I didn’t think could be found in England. I thought I would discover whatever was missing in adventure and excitement, but now I realise that what I was looking for was someone to love, and I do love you, Sophia. I cannot get over the extraordinary luck thatbrought us together and I do not want to waste any time apart from you.’

He saw his words hit her, saw the moment she heard the word love and he knew he would hold the joy in her eyes in his heart for the rest of his life. ‘I would love to see the world with you, to share in your adventures. I love you too, Christopher. I think I have almost from the start.’

He pressed a featherlight kiss to the corner of her mouth. ‘Not since the start; you were far too drunk on brandy to be able to form feelings at that point.’

Her laughter turned to more kissing and those were the last words they spoke to one another for a long, long time.

The End