Page 49 of Her Forbidden Bargain

“I need to be alone with you.”

Tristan didn’t say much in the car ride from Del Posto to his apartment, but he held her hand the entire time, rubbing his thumb against her palm and bringing her hand to his mouth several times to kiss it.

She wondered if simply changing her attitude had changed his, but she knew that couldn’t be it. Something had happened to Tristan, too. He was acting so different. When they got to his apartment building, he held her hand all the way up in the elevator and then made her close her eyes when they got to the front door.

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

“And I’m going to do this why?” she asked, teasing him.

He lifted her off her feet and into his arms, kissing her hard. “Stop sassing me or I really will spank you.”

She shook her head. “Tristan, what is going on with you?”

“I am in love.”

Tears burned her eyes as those words came from his mouth. She didn’t believe them. He’d been too adamant about not falling again. “Put me down.”

“No.”

“Tristan, I mean it.”

“So do I.”

He reached down, unlocked his front door and carried her over the threshold. He set her on her feet in the foyer. She was blinking, trying not to cry, but it wasn’t working.

“I wanted to do this properly.”

“Do what properly? You don’t have to pretend to feel something for me you don’t feel.”

“I am not pretending, ma petite.”

She wasn’t sure she believed him, but she knew he wouldn’t lie to her. He never had.

“When did you realize you loved me?” she asked him.

“Today, when I was surrounded by my family. I did not realize how much you’d done with them. They were all telling me stories about you and I realized that no matter how hard I’d tried not to fall for you, I already had.

“I love you, Sheri. And it does scare me. Because as much as I thought that Cecile was my once-in-a-lifetime love, I have come to realize that love is also what I feel for you. I need you in my life.”

She was afraid to believe him. “It’s okay if you don’t love me. I’m not going to walk away from you like I did last night. That was wrong⁠—”

“You are not listening to me, ma petite. I love you. I am not going anywhere without you anymore. No running unless you are by my side.”

She was still afraid to believe him but there was sincerity in his eyes that made her want to.

He must have read the hesitation on her face because he leaned down and kissed her. And when he lifted his head he said, softly, “I am not going anywhere.”

Those words she believed. No man had ever said them to her before. “Promise?”

“Yes, I do. What about you?”

“I’m not going anywhere, either. I’m staying by your side from now on.”

“Why is that?”

“I love you, Tristan.”

He smiled at her and lifted her off her feet. He carried her through his apartment out onto the balcony that offered a splendid view of the Manhattan skyline.

“You’re already wearing my engagement ring, but I need to ask you again…Sheri Donnelly, my love, the woman who owns my heart, will you marry me?”

She looked up at him as he stood next to her on the balcony. Taking a deep breath, she leaned up and kissed him before pulling back. “Yes, Tristan, I will marry you.”

He pulled her into his arms and made love to her, sealing the bond they’d just made with their bodies. And she knew she’d found the happiness she’d always thought would elude her. She and Tristan had found something rare, the kind of love that touched few people’s lives, and she felt blessed to have him as her own.

A Spanish aristocrat.

A revenge engagement that changes everything.

A woman he never meant to choose…until it’s too late.