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Ah. It was coming. Well, it was about time!
‘Miss Linton, I have something to ask you. Something very important.’
Finally!
I gave him an encouraging smile. ‘Shoot.’
Taking a deep breath, he stood straight and took a firmer hold of my hands. ‘I have long thought about this, long searched my feelings. I can’t deny it any longer. Since the moment we first met, I knew-’
‘-that I was someone special? Someone who would have a place in your heart?’ I suggested.
‘Well, um…yes. But I never would have guessed how special a place, how important. Every time we danced together, every time you smiled at me, every time I held you in my arms, I felt-’
‘-our connection growing stronger and stronger, until you couldn’t resist any longer?’ Holy moly, I was on a roll.
He blinked. ‘Err…yes. That’s pretty much it. I simply couldn’t deny it any longer. I am completely and utterly-’
‘-in love with me?’
I grinned up at him. He tried to look stern, he really tried. But he was Captain James Carter. After about two seconds, he grinned back at me (in a really stern sort of way).
‘Miss Linton! I appreciate your assistance, but I’m supposed to be the one doing the talking here!’
‘I do apologise. Pray continue.’
‘As I said - well, you said, actually - I am completely and utterly in love with you and…’
He trailed off, looking down at me with an almost wistful smile on his face. ‘This isn’t going the way I hoped, is it?’
‘Don’t let me discourage you. You’re doing a very good job so far.’
‘Good enough to get a “yes”?’
Gently, I freed one hand from his grip and placed it on his arm. ‘Maybe not quite.’
Raising his chin, he took a step towards me. ‘I’ll try anyway.’
‘I thought you might.’
‘Miss Lillian Linton, I love you. I love your fiery spirit. I love the way you dance and laugh and live to the full, and always fight for what you believe in. Will you-’
‘-marry me?’ I guessed.
‘Bloody hell, that was supposed to be my proposal!’
I smiled up at him apologetically. ‘Sorry.’
Silence stretched between us. I gazed up into his face, the face of one of my best friends in all the world, and wondered how things had come to this? How had I not seen this in him before that day in Newcastle? How could I have missed it?
‘Well?’ he asked, his voice hardly more than a whisper. ‘Will you?’
Oh, right. Blast! I hadn’t answered yet.
‘Captain…James, I…’
There must have been something in my expression (or maybe in the way I didn’t throw my arms around his neck, crying ‘Yes, darling, Yes, God bless you! I’ll be yours forever and ever and ever!’), because his eyes narrowed, and he sucked in a breath.
‘There’s someone else!’
