Penny’s mouth fell open, and his eyes widened until they welled with tears. He blinked, scattering dots of moisture across his cheeks. Others clung to his long lashes, and I thoughtfleetingly that I’d never seen someone look so pretty when they cried.
His jaw snapped shut, and he swallowed, then started to speak again and failed before he gave up on words and instead nodded vigorously.
I knew he would say yes, but that hadn’t kept worry from creeping in the moment I decided to do this. I didn’t realize how tightly wound I’d been until a held breath left me in a rush and took my tension with it. I felt weightless, like I would float away if not for the fur on my lap anchoring me down.
Penny tugged off his left glove and pushed up his sleeve to expose his wrist. When he held it out to me, I couldn’t tell which of us was shaking more.
I brought his hand up and pressed a kiss to his scarred palm, then wound the cord around his wrist. He drew ragged breaths between wet sniffles while I struggled with cold-numb fingers to knot the ends together.
Once assured he wasn’t actually struggling to breathe, just overcome with emotion, I gave his fingers a squeeze. “Sweetheart, are you all right?”
“I never thought—” He dragged his right sleeve across his face, then sucked a stuttering breath. “I didn’t think this would ever happen to me. Not until I metyou.You changed things for me, Kit. You… you changed my life, and I…”
Emotions choked him again, and he tucked his chin into his chest.
I chuckled. “You’re still young. You would have found someone.” I eased my hand out of his grip and finished the knot securing the cord to his wrist, then gave it a tug. “Pity for them I found you first.”
Penny laughed tearfully as I pulled his sleeve down and helped him back into his glove. Then I dried his face with the hem of my cloak.
“I love you,” I said and dipped to steal a salty kiss. “More than anything. And there is nothing in the world that could pry me away from you. Not anymore.”
He nestled into my side, and I curled my arm around his shoulders. The sights of Stagcross no longer held either of our attention; Penny stared at the bit of cord peeking out between his sleeve and the cuff of his glove, and I surely couldn’t take my eyes off him now.
Months ago, when Penny showed up at my door in Forstford, I’d told him that I was happy there. That I was satisfied with my life of solitude and obscurity. Even then I’d privately acknowledged that it wasn’t so much happiness as it was degrees of contentment. I hadn’t felt actual happiness in so long that I’d forgotten what it was like. But Penny barged into my life and lit up the parts of me that I’d tried to smother because it hurt too much to face them alone. He found the cracks in my armor and took root. Then he grew there behind my defenses like a weed.
He breathed life back into me. He reminded me what it was like to care and to forge the kinds of connections that made life worth living. He showed me what it was like to be happy. And with him fitted perfectly against me, knowing that sometime in the very near future he would be my husband, I was blissful.
“I was going to ask you, you know.” He craned his neck so he could look up at me. “I was going to have Warren make a chain when we were home for spring planting. Then I was going to ask you at harvest. I was afraid that any sooner and I would scare you away.”
Considering how critical I’d been of the speed at which Cait and Edgar’s relationship had progressed, his concern didn’t surprise me. It was hard to believe that a few months ago I was certain I could never love someone like that. I’d been so frustrated that they couldn’t give me an explanation other than“when you know, you know,” but they’d been right. Ididknow now.
“Sorry I ruined your plans,” I said.
Penny pressed in closer. “Don't be. I'm glad I didn't have to wait.”
I leaned down to brush my lips across his forehead. “This is where this was always heading, right? Why waste any more time?”
It was full dark by the time the driver dropped us in front of the inn and offered his congratulations on our engagement. We thanked him for the ride and returned to our room to warm up by the fire, tangled together on the sheepskin rug in front of the hearth.
Penny fussed with the cord around his wrist, and I couldn’t deny that I liked seeing his commitment to me on full display. It wasn’t that I’d had any doubt that he was mine, but I was only half-joking when I told him he would have found someone else if not for me. I relished the thought of keeping him—all his love and the happiness it brought—all for myself.
Propped against me and still fawning over his bracelet, Penny ran his fingers across the vines and feathers etched into the leather. “Did you make this?” he asked.
I nodded. “I did. Still not as good as your work, but it’s passable.”
He shot me a scolding look, and I chuckled.
“It’s perfect,” he said. “I don’t know where you find the time to do these things.”
I carded my fingers through his hair and tugged him in for a slow, savoring kiss that kindled a fire in my gut. “You were recovering from the trip to Wendwood,” I said against his lips. “I neededsomethingto occupy my time in the forge. I don’t like being away from you.” My free arm curved around his waist,and I traced my fingers up his spine beneath his shirt. “And now you’re stuck with me forever.”
Penny melted into me. “I don’t mind that,” he murmured, “and I can’t wait to tell everyone you’re mine.”
The first time he’d said that, it had galled me. It felt proprietary and suffocating. But I understood better now how he always meant it, even if he didn’t say it in so many words. It was howIfelt abouthim. The same reason I loved the sight of the leather knotted around his arm. He was mine to love, to care for, to protect and defend. And I was his just the same. It felt comforting, now. Felt right.
I eased Penny back so I could stand, then offered my hands to help him up, too. “And you’re mine,” I said while backing us toward the bed. When my thighs hit the mattress, I settled on the edge of it and slid my arms around Penny’s waist, encouraging him into my lap.
His lips met mine, sweet and insistent, and I lost myself in those kisses, in the heat of his skin under my palms as I pushed his shirt up over his ribs. We parted long enough for me to tug the garment over his head and for him to return the favor, and then we were chest to chest.
