Page 75 of How to Wed a Courtesan

‘I’m not done telling you about the woman you are now. The woman I love more than the girl I met six years ago. Because you’re correct—you have changed.’

She swallowed and regarded him with a wary expression.

‘You’re a woman now—one who understands obligation above all else,’ he said. ‘You’re a mentor who helps show others how to navigate through difficult waters. Something you had to learn on your own.’ He put the lily in her hands and cradled them with his own. ‘You’re a mother who gave up every part of herself in an effort to save her child.’

She looked away, but he reached for her chin and gently drew her face back towards him.

‘I’m in awe of you, Lottie. In complete and utter awe of how greatly you cared for our daughter.’

Her eyes searched his, as if she was looking into his soul and finding the truth behind every one of the words he spoke.

‘You need to forgive yourself, Lottie,’ he said as gently as he could. ‘Would you do it all over again if you had Lily back and she needed you?’

She closed her eyes and a single tear ran down her cheek as she nodded.

‘I know, my love.’ He ran his thumb over her cheek and wiped away the tear. ‘And that is why you need to forgive yourself. What you did was heroic and selfless.’

‘Heroic.’ she scoffed, opening her eyes.

‘Yes,’ he replied fiercely. ‘What you did, you did for Lily—for our child. Never was there a purer reason than that of a mother’s love.’

She shook her head. ‘Your good name—I don’t want you ruined—’

‘I sacrificed you once for the sake of my good name.’ Ire rose in Evander at his own youthful impetuousness. ‘And I’m filled with regrets because of it. I will sacrifice anything to have you back in my life, Lottie. And not as my mistress. Not when I can think of no woman worthier of being my Countess.’

He plucked the ring box from the table, opened the box to reveal the ring that carried so much weight in its tiny stone, and knelt before her. ‘Lottie, my one and only love, will you marry me?’

Chapter Twenty-Three

This was not the first time Evander had proposed to Lottie, and yet her heart pounded as frantically as if it were. The day before she had been resolved to turn him away. But she hadn’t appreciated how fully he understood who she was. Now she realised he saw her better than she saw herself.

Heroic.

That was what he’d called her.

Never had she thought of herself in such a light. She’d only ever done what was needed.

He knew about her at her worst, and through his eyes saw her at her best. What was more, he had shown her how to see it as her best as well—as something not filthy, with broken morals, but something made resplendent with the truest form of a mother’s love.

This was her second chance, and although she’d been inclined to cast it aside he had convinced her to take it.

And she would.

She looked down at Evander, kneeling before her, still handsome with his sharp jaw and deep green eyes, his auburn hair falling over his brow in a boyishly handsome way, and her heart gave in. Without restriction or fear.

In that instant, she released her concerns and let this be only about them.

A man and a woman in love.

She put her fingertips into his hands and nodded.

His nostrils flared and his eyes widened slightly. ‘Was that a yes?’

She laughed and nodded. ‘Yes.’

A squeal came from the other side of the door, followed swiftly by another bout of feigned coughing.

Evander looked towards the sound with an eyebrow cocked, then turned towards Lottie again, laughing as he leapt to his feet and threw his arms around her. He squeezed her to him and lifted her into the air, so her slippers dangled an inch over the floor.