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‘I have loved you all my life,’ Giles said. ‘But I did not realise that I love you now as a man loves a woman, totally, body and soul. I love you, Laurel.’ Then he was driving into her, possessing her, taking her with him as he went over the cliff. She heard his voice as they fell, over and over. ‘I love you, Laurel. Love you.’
* * *
‘Did I dream that?’ Laurel asked. She lifted her head from where it had been butted in against Giles’s right armpit and peered at the room. It was in virtual darkness.
‘If you did, so did I.’ Giles heaved himself up against the pillows. ‘I love you.’
‘Giles, I—’
‘You don’t have to say it.’ He gathered her in against his chest and pulled a sheet over them both. ‘It is the truth and I had to tell you, but I do not want you to say things you do not feel.’
‘Shhh.’ She sat up and twisted round to look at him. ‘I love you, too. I always have. I loved you when I was angry with you, I loved you when I tried to tell myself I did not miss you, I loved you when you came back and I was still furious with you. I will always love you,’ she said simply and wondered if it was possible to be any happier.
I do not deserve this, it is too perfect.
‘Whatever I do?’
‘Whatever. You aren’t a saint, Giles, let alone an angel. You are a man, thank goodness. It is highly possible there will be times when I want to strangle you, but nothing will stop me loving you. When did you realise how you felt?’ she asked, snuggling down against his long flank again.
‘It was something that Beatriz said, of all things. She asked me if I had loved you when you were a girl, before you were beautiful. And I said that of course I had always loved you. And then I realised what that meant.’
‘And you said nothing to me?’
‘It was only yesterday evening,’ he protested. ‘I had to pluck up the courage.’
‘You were frightened?’
Surely not.
‘Terrified. What if you had laughed at me? What if you had been kind and told me that you were very fond of me?’
There was self-mocking amusement in his voice, but Laurel shivered. ‘Yes, I see. Horrible. Giles, this is wonderful, isn’t it?’
‘It is heaven and we are going to sleep now and we will wake up and it will still be wonderful.’
She felt his lips in her hair, felt the steady thud of his heart answering hers and slept.
* * *
In the morning it was still wonderful, despite two tubs of cold scummy water in the middle of the bedchamber and Dryden and Binham wanting to talk about their slow journey and how long it had taken to escape from Winchester and the faint, residual anxiety about her father-in-law.
The worry subsided after visiting the sickroom and finding the Marquess attempting to get out of bed and generally giving his valet hell for preventing him. He looked fit enough, to Laurel’s eyes, to ride in a steeplechase and she said so, making him snort with laughter.
‘That’s a fine wife you have there, my boy. Listen to her and come and talk to me after breakfast—here, I suppose, if Gibbons is not going to let me out of bed.’ He shot the valet a dark look.
‘Doctor Harris said I was to hide your breeches if you attempted to rise before he has had a chance to examine you again, my lord,’ the valet said calmly and removed himself from the room.
‘Blasted doctors. Anyway, there’s some problems with the land drains in the lower meadows and I want your views.’
‘Certainly, sir.’ Giles closed the door on his father and grimaced at Laurel. ‘I know nothing about land drains and I want to spend the morning showing you how much I love you, but—’
‘You’ll have to get a grip on drainage instead. I understand. There was a message from Mrs Finlay asking if I would care to tour the house with her, so we will both do our duty this morning. My love,’ she added for the sheer pleasure of hearing the words out loud.
Eating breakfast together should not have seemed fresh and different, but this was the first time they had done something so routine, so normal and domestic and knew themselves to be in love and loved. It was a delicious secret, something to be shared and communicated with a look, a touch, an inflection in the voice asking for marmalade or a fresh cup of coffee.
It even made Laurel smile when Giles went off to talk to the Marquess, grumbling as he went about having to think about drains when there were other, much more important things to talk about. ‘And do,’ he added, with a look that sent anticipatory heat into places best not thought about in the breakfast parlour.
* * *
