Page 43 of Lady Petra and the Wolf

“I saw your books—”

“Did you mean what you—”

Summoning a patience he did not know he possessed, Wolf gestured for her to go on as they walked away from the Belgravia townhouse toward an unknown destination. An undetermined future.

Wolf was utterly indifferent to their destination as long as he was walking beside Petra.

Losing some of the bravado with which she had stared down her father, Petra bit her lip and Wolf willed his blood to cool so that he could hear her out.

“I hope you can forgive her, but your aunt showed me your books in the library.” The fierce lady of moments earlier was rambling now. “That is, I met your aunt and uncle today. And they inadvertently invited me to take you up on your offer to stay at your townhouse.”

He wanted her to stay there forever. As his wife.

But it had to be what she wanted as well.

Vulnerability seeped through his being that his feelings were so exposed, yet her words to her father gave him strength. “I suppose I imagined reading them with you. Wondering what your thoughts were. Whether you would be surprised at parts.”

“An entire stack of books…” Petra trailed off as she searched his eyes. “That would take anyone quite a while.”

“A library,” he began slowly, willing her to see the truth in his eyes. That he was casting off the shackles of what his father constructed a gentleman to be and laying everything bare. “Would take a lifetime.”

He watched her chest rise and fall as he waited for her to absorb the weight of the question hidden within his words.

“What you did for me…” She began, gesturing toward the IOUs that were still in her hand but he cut her off.

“I only did what I should have done from the beginning, offer you choice and freedom. It was never my place to make decisions for you. I meant what I said that day, Petra, I love you with my entire being. All those years I spent snatching up your father’s vowels, I swore it was for my friendship with John, but the truth is it was for you. You always intrigued me.”

She began to open her mouth but he went on, putting a finger against her delectable lips as she had done so ages ago. “As so much more than a mystery. Perhaps the faux courtship was my excuse, but it allowed me to be near you in a way I never could before. When I actually got to know you, spend time with you, I was done for. My heart was forever in your keeping. Even if I have no hope. But what you said to your father…”

Blast, she was biting her lip behind his finger, which made him almost lose his words. Still he pushed forward, “Please do not feel that you owe me anything. Especially after everything I did. I understand now how badly I betrayed you. If I could, I would rip my arm off for causing you a moment of pain. But if you could ever change your mind about me…”

Her breath seemed to come faster, the pulse at her throat beating like a fairy’s wing. That small detail raised his hopes even higher and Wolf slowly lowered his finger.

“Or your heart,” he whispered, barely daring to hope.

Drawing a ragged breath, Petra reached a tentative hand forward to trace his faint nightbeard. “Most certainly my heart.”

Hercules himself could not have held him back as he crushed Petra against him, bringing her lips to his, uncaring of their whereabouts. What location? He could hardly remember his own name let alone the street he had been walking. Kissing Petra before had been a gift, a tantalizing offering on a life that had been lonely and unremarkable. But kissing her now, drinking in her fierce response, the way she threw her arms around his neck with abandon, the world no longer seemed unremarkable, nor predetermined. With Petra, life could be a delightful mystery. One he did not need to solve alone.

Drawing back after an eternity, he rested his forehead against her own. “Wait,” he groaned, “I wish to do this properly this time.”

Dropping to his knees, he held her small hands in his much larger ones. “Will you marry me, Petra? If you say yes, say it because you want to. Because you love me as much as I love you. You are so much more than a mystery, yet you are the only mystery I want to solve every day for the rest of my life.”

Petra pulled him to his feet with strength that belied her petite frame and a smile that would light up the London sky. “Yes, I will marry you. Because I want to.” She kissed his hand, which he had left bare. “Because I cannot live without you.” She kissed his temple, then his cheek, and whispered, “Because I love you too.”

He did not think his happiness could fly any higher, but as always, here she was, proving him wrong. Picking her up at the waist, their lips met again in an undeniable heat that he now knew was also a lifelong love. Pulling back, Petra traced the side of his face with her fingertips.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out.”

Nuzzling against her hand, he smirked. “Well, I certainly did not make it easy for you. But I promise you this, I will always support you and your sanctuary. I will always back you and I will always be in your corner.”

“Even when I am cross with you?”

“Especially when you are cross with me.”

“You always enjoyed ruffling my feathers.” She huffed, running her fingers down his lapel in a possessive manner. “But I need to tell you something. Something secret.”

“Another mystery?” He kissed the small dimple that appeared on her right cheek.