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“I have also ruined you and, as a gentleman and a wealthy landowner in the area, I must now do right by you, especially since you could be with child.”
He couldn’t prevent the delighted smile from breaking out as he spoke.
She was shocked, and immediately filled with wild excitement, but that was quickly followed by guilt, then worry. What stunned her most was the look on his face.
“You don’t have to be so smug about it,” she scolded.
“Why not? I am smug about it. In fact, I think it is a possibility we have to make a definite maybe as soon as possible.” He rolled over until she was beneath him again. “In fact, I think we need to try to make it a reality as often as possible. However, as wonderful as that prospect is, we have your father and the vicar waiting for us in the church, with Rollo, and Mrs Kempton, Aggy and, by now, probably all the staff as well. They are all preparing for our wedding. I have no idea what the time is but think we need to leave for the church before someone comes to find us, and catches us in bed together. You have already delayed events long enough.”
“Me?” she cried, only to smile when he winked at her.
“Your father will be here in a minute if you don’t get a move on,” he murmured.
“Wait!” she gasped, and suddenly sat bolt upright in bed. “Did you say that my father knows?”
“God, no. Not about us sleeping together anyway. This is something that has to remain between us, sweetheart,” he assured her. “However, anyone with a brain in their head can do sums. If you are expecting my child, and we delay with this wedding by more than a month, it won’t take a genius to figure out what we enjoyed the delights of the matrimonial bed before we met the vicar.”
Petal coughed uncomfortably, and had to concede Aidan had a point.
“But we don’t know whether I am or not yet. What if I am not?”
“Then we will try and try again until you are,” he replied, completely unconcerned at the prospect. “I want at least two, maybe three.”
“Children?” She gulped but began to smile.
“Well, I am not talking about
weddings,” he snorted with a grin. “I fully intend to marry only once, and it will definitely be to you. I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. In fact, if you don’t agree to get out of this bed and accompany me to the church then I am just going to have to keep you here until your father catches us. He will have to march you up the aisle at the end of his shotgun, my dear. I promise you this, though; you will most definitely marry me today.”
“What if I don’t want to?” she asked, knowing for definite that she did.
While she wasn’t audacious enough to point it out to him, he had yet to profess any feelings for her. She didn’t expect any wild declaration of adoration or anything like that. Just some token of affection besides desire would have been nice, especially when she knew that her heart belonged entirely devoted to him.
“Why wouldn’t you want to marry me?” Aidan asked without any hint of arrogance. “I know you want me as much as I desire you. I know you enjoy what we share in bed. We get on well. I like you reading to me. You bring light to my world and a smile to my heart. Over the past few weeks you have become as essential to me as the very air I breathe. I will not consider life without you by my side, Petal. If you don’t love me like that in return then I will do whatever it takes to help allay any doubts you might have about our union. However, I absolutely refuse to keep my hands off you. I won’t take steps to prevent a child, and I won’t let you hide out on your father’s farm like this. You are coming back to Wenland, whether you like it or not.”
She knew then that her future was set. Not least because he spoke with calm conviction and such determination that she knew he meant every word. After a declaration like that, she didn’t have the fortitude to deny such a forceful onslaught. She adored him; it was as simple as that. All he had to do was smile at her, and she turned to mush inside and could deny him nothing. To her dismay, she rather felt he knew that already.
“I love you,” she whispered somewhat shyly.
She didn’t even realise she intended to say the words until they popped out of her mind like an afterthought. Once they were spoken, she didn’t want to take them back. Instead, she waited to see what he would do; how he would react. It was critical in helping her decide whether she should leave the house or not and accept his offer of marriage.
“Thank Heaven for that,” he murmured fervently as he tugged her into his arms. He rested his head against hers; his throat locked with emotion. “Then marry me, I beg of you?”
“If you are sure?” she whispered hesitantly.
In the end, she had to ask herself whether her worries were really all that important. He had already declared she was essential to him, and held her in sufficiently high regard that he would forsake all connection with the ton, just to be with her.
But was it enough?
It has to be sufficient, she reasoned. Maybe he could come to love you as you love him in time.
“You will?” He jerked back to look at her, his face alight with delight.
Although she still looked doubtful, at least she seemed calm; almost too quiet as a matter of fact. He rather felt that she was waiting for something although had no idea what it could be. Still at least she had agreed to become his wife. Hadn’t she?
“Is that a yes?” he prompted.
“Yes,” she replied. Anything else she was going to say was stolen by his kiss.
