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“Are you certain?” He reached out, taking hold of her glasses, and carefully slipping them off. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull away. Without spectacles in the way, she was breathtaking. Her freckles and even her short hair mesmerized him. “What if I told you noteveryman was going to pretend around you?”
His arm slipped around her middle, pulling her closer to him. She drew in a breath at his touch but didn’t pull away. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“I’d say that wishful thinking doesn’t make something real.” She rested a hand against his chest, spreading a fire through him.
He leaned in, resting his forehead against hers. How right it felt to hold her. How perfect.
“I have always been only me, and all of me, with you,” he said.
“Perhaps you werewhileI was Mr. Allen,” she said, her arms slipping around his neck.
“Is that the way you see it? I may have been guarded around Lady Nightingale, less open and prone to telling my darkest secrets—”
“You never told me any dark secrets,” she said, a rueful smile turning her delightful pink lips upward.
“What about my dealings with your father?”
“Those were hardly a secret; they were only poorly recorded events.”
“You aren’t making this easy, do you know that?”
Her eyes sparked with joy.
“Well,ifI’d had any dark secrets, I might not have told Lady Nightingale because I was worried she would use the knowledge to manipulate me. But I certainly would have told Mr. Allen.”
She stilled, her smile falling away. “I’m sorry you didn’t know you could trust Lady Nightingale as completely as you trusted Mr. Allen.” Her eyes flicked down to his lips and back up again. “You have no idea how many times I have been completely sorry.”
“I do know I can trust you now.Allof you, the Lady Nightingale and the Mr. Allen.” Isaac pulled her closer, placing a soft, light kiss on her lips. “You know you can trust me, too, do you not?”
“I am beginning to wonder,” she said with humor in her voice, “now that I’ve sold Langdon Hall back to you, if you aren’t manipulatingmeto get more.”
Isaac opened his mouth, ready to tease back, but hesitated. There would be time enough for jokes and flirtatious banter later. At least, if things continued the way they were, there would be.
For now, he needed to know that she knew exactly where he stood.
“Alice, you are the most courageous and loving person I know. You care for the people around you, no matter if they are titled guests in your home or the servants who wait on them. You give and you give and for once, you should have a man by your side who workswithyou. Surely you must know, I would never use your title or wealth for selfish purposes.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. She didn’t pull away, and yet he could see that there still was a sliver of hesitancy in her mind. “I want to know,” she whispered. “But you would benefit greatly from my wealth. How can I know that you didn’t fall in love with it first and me second? That I’ll always be second?”
Oh, darling Alice. “Because you know me.” He cupped her face in his hands. “Because, as much as I hate that you lied to me, your ridiculous charade worked. Youknowme. All of me. The good, the bad, the impatient and foolhardy. I’ve been nothing but my honest, complete self around you. You know it all.”
Going up on tiptoe, she kissed him softly. “I guess there’s nothing to do but admit we trust one another, despite everything.”
“I guess so.”
Their lips met again, this time in a kiss of passion and hope, of joy and peace. So many seemingly contradictory emotions flooded through Isaac, and yet they all found a home inside him. Every piece settled into place fully. Every dream and ideal, every spark and electric touch. How had he ever lived without this woman? What the blazes had he been thinking when he’d first decided to marry for wealth? What a fool he’d been; and yet, somehow, he’d still found this vibrant, headstrong woman.
Who was still kissing him, for some glorious reason.
Enjoying it every bit as much as he was, too, if he wasn’t mistaken.
Eventually, they pulled back. Her cheeks were flushed, and the smile she gave him was one he hoped to never forget. Probably the best way to make sure it stayed fresh in his mind would be to see it over and over again.
“We’d better go before someone stumbles in here,” Alice said. “I’d hate to have kept my secret safe for so long only to have it found out now.”
“It is nice that we can stay closed away in this room together, unchaperoned, and not worry about your reputation, though.”
She hugged him close. “That is one benefit I had not foreseen.”
