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“My dear ones, forgive me. I did not realize when I ran away with Percy that I would not have the chance to make matters right. That things could go so very wrong so quickly. I suppose it is what I deserve. But I loved him so, and I was always one to follow my heart. Averil, I should never have married your father. There I erred. We were so different and I think I believed his sober influence would steady me. Instead I felt suffocated. Forgive me. And Rose, my baby, think of me sometimes and know my biggest regret now is leaving you without your mama. I have asked Sally to care for you and to tell you every day about me, so you don’t forget. Forgive me, my girls, and think of me sometimes as I will think of you, always.
“Anastasia.”
Averil’s eyes were filled with tears. She blinked and then wiped the tip of her finger beneath her eyes. She took a deep, steadying breath.
There was a pause, but before he could launch into the other reason for his being there, Averil spoke again.
“Thank you for coming to tell me. Thank you for letting me read my mother’s last thoughts. You’ve done exactly as you promised. I’m grateful. And the Home,” she hurried on, looking away, fiddling with the buttons on her sleeves. “If you hadn’t found out what Jackson and Sally Jakes were up to . . . well, we might have lost many more women.”
“Averil . . .”
“And Gareth was so worried, what with everything else that has been happening. The baroness. And then—”
“Averil, stop. There’s something else I want to say.”
She froze, her lips parted, her eyes wide. “Some-something else?”
The way he was looking at her was making her agitated, and she’d been so calm up until now. Even when she read that heartbreaking letter. His dark eyes slid over her face, pausing on her lips as if he wanted to kiss her. Averil tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was she who wanted to kiss him. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and kiss him and let him touch her as he had the day of the storm.
There had been times since then when she’d awoken in the night, aching for his touch in a way that made her want to weep, wanting to hold him and say all the things to him that were in her heart. And now here he was, in the flesh, and she was struggling to keep her distance.
“Averil,” he said, and his voice dropped into that deeper register that sent tingles over her skin. “We parted at the castle in a way that has troubled me ever since.”
He was going to apologize. Averil felt her spirits sink. He felt sorry for her and now that his uncle was marrying Beth he wanted to be on good terms with her. Distant acquaintances. She really couldn’t bear it.
“There
’s no need,” she said briskly. “I like to think that is all past and we can move on with our lives. Our separate lives.”
“Our separate lives?”
She stood up. She couldn’t seem to sit still anymore. And besides, she might begin to cry in a ridiculous manner, and then he’d feel the need to comfort her and she might well do something reprehensible. Like kiss him.
He stood up, too, and took her hands. He held them tightly to still her fidgeting. He was very close suddenly, and her heart was beating so quickly she wondered if it would leap out of her chest.
“Averil, I am selling the castle. I am selling the house in Mayfair. We’ve agreed between us, James and Eustace and me. The money is no longer important to me.”
“Oh.” It was all she could manage. His lovely castle! How could he bear to give it up, and why was he?
“Marry me, Averil. I love you. I love you. I don’t want your money, I never did. James talked me into the whole thing, and although I went along with it, I was always worried it would come back to haunt me. I fell in love with you and then you found out about the debts, and you thought I only wanted you for your fortune. I don’t.”
He looked flushed and anxious, and his eyes were fixed on her as if he expected her to laugh in his face.
“You’re giving up your castle?” she whispered.
“And the Mayfair house. The lot. I won’t be a wealthy man, but I’ll have enough to offer you a respectable life, and without touching a penny of your fortune. That’s for you to do with as you wish.”
He was giving everything up. He was giving it up for her. To prove that he loved her.
Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them back. Her smile transformed her face, and when he saw it, suddenly he was smiling, too, and she did what she’d wanted to do all along. She flung herself into his arms.
His beautiful Averil was in his arms, her face turned to his, her arms about his neck tugging him down. Instead he lifted her, her feet dangling above the floor, and kissed her as wildly and passionately as he’d been dreaming of.
“I love you,” he groaned. “Averil, don’t ever leave me again.”
“I won’t, I won’t,” she muttered feverishly, planting little hot kisses over his face, finally finding his mouth.
Ah, this was what he wanted, he thought, and prepared to delve into the warm, sweet depths with his tongue.
