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Angie’s mouth dropped open with shock.
‘It’s not such a huge sacrifice on my part,’ he insisted. ‘And I will not regret it later. With Dad dead and Mum gone, I have few feelings left for the family business. I’ve hired good people to run the various companies, and I can keep a general eye on proceedings from up here without it taking up much time. I might have to attend a few meetings a year. That’s all.
‘As far as my marital home is concerned... I don’t have any fond memories there. I’ll be only too happy to buy a new place up here. And as for going into business with Bud...I’ve always fancied myself doing something creative, and I think I’d be good at it. Bud told me the night of his party that he would start up an agency of his own if he could find a backer, so when we were speaking that day in the barn I proposed we go into business together, with my money and his expertise. Once he realised how serious I was about you, he agreed.’
Angie didn’t know what to say. She was flummoxed and flabbergasted.
‘Now I’m asking you again to marry me, Angie,’ Lance said firmly. ‘If you say yes, we’ll go buy a ring straight away. We won’t be able to get married for twelve months, till my divorce comes through, but meanwhile we can look for a house and plan the sort of wedding your mum would want for you.
‘If you say no, however, I won’t give up. I’ll do everything in my power to get you to change your mind. I’ll pursue you, seduce you, even buy or blackmail you if I have to. You will be my wife, Angie Brown. Make no bones about it. So what’s it to be right at this moment? Yes? Or no again?’
Angie stared, first at Lance’s handsome and impassioned face, then down at the poem she’d written all those years ago. Not that she really needed to read the words to remember its content. It was firmly imprinted in her brain. But there was something incredibly moving about seeing them in their original form—the large, simple print shouting out the tender innocence of the poem’s creator, the battered piece of paper showing just how many times Lance had unfolded this page to read them.
Every day I shall think of you –
Every night I shall dream of you –
One day you will come for me –
One night you’ll be one with me –
Love burns eternal when it’s true –
It does not die. I’ll always love you.
‘Angie?’ Lance said, his voice husky. ‘What’s your answer to be? Tell me, for pity’s sake.’
She struggled for control as she looked up, emotion welling up within her. She tried for a smile, but she suspected she was crying.
‘Yes,’ she managed to get out, then suddenly broke into a dazzling smile. ‘Yes, my darling. Oh, yes!’
And she threw herself into his arms.
