AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You should have heard some of the embarrassing things I said in the past.” He turned so that his back was pressed up against the wall. “Being among so many people mucks up my brain. My words come out all wrong.”
Grace moved up close to him, pressing her back against the wall beside him.
How comfortable it was, standing here with her. As though they’d always known one another. As though there was nothing more natural in all the world than standing beside her, speaking whatever was on his mind.
If only he could be sure this wouldn’t be the last time.
“Grace,” he began, his tone carrying the weight he felt. “I never lied to you.”
“You mean, other than leading me to believe you were your own sister?”
True, there had been that. “Other than signing my name as Frances instead of Ezra, yes, I never told you a single thing that wasn’t true.”
Grace seemed to mull that over for a minute. Finally she said, “I guess I had rather wondered why a lady who I remembered as being perfectly elegant and polite would write that she had no great love for embroidery or playing music. But that she rather preferred a bruising ride along the countryside.”
Ezra smiled. “I remember writing that particular letter. I was more than a little worried you would figure me out.”
Grace turned, pressing her shoulder against the wall instead of her back, and faced him fully. “Then why did you? Why did you keep writing?”
Her hand dangled temptingly close to his own. “Because each letter was just like your first. You spoke the words in my own heart.” Ezra reached out, brushing his fingertips against hers. “I kept writing because I wanted to. Because I wanted to know you better. Because I wanted you to know me.”
Her eyes took on that thoughtful gaze he’d come to know so well. It wasn’t the warm spark he was hoping for, but it was far better than the cold, hurt look he’d seen so much as of late.
“I feel mortified,” she said barely above a whisper. “I never would have written so many of those things if...”
If she’d been aware of the truth. “I know. And that’s why I kept writing as Frances. I knew you would close off if you found yourself writing to a gentleman. I didn’t want that.” He wrapped his fingers firmly around hers, taking her hand fully. She didn’t pull away, and he counted that as a reason to hope. “I wanted the real you.”
She cast her gaze heavenward. “And then that stupid letter all about Lord Brown.”
“Whatever else you think or say, never regret that one.”
The confusion returned to her expression. Clearly, she had no idea how much that particular letter had affected him.
“It was that letter,” Ezra continued, “that made me realize that letters alone weren’t enough for me any longer.” Ezra pulled in a deep breath and all the courage he could muster. “It made me realize how much I’d come to love you.”
Her eyes went wide. “You what?”
“With every letter, every thought shared, I fell in love with you. I was already a lost cause before we ever formally met at Bridgecross Manor.”
Grace rocked back, releasing his hand and bringing both of hers up to her face. “My goodness.”
Ezra pressed off the wall. “Grace, I’m sorry there was need to deceive you. I’m sorry we couldn’t have become friends on more even grounds. But I am not sorry I wrote you that first letter, and I’m not sorry I continued to write. If I hadn’t, I never would have gotten to know you as I have. I never would have seen what a brilliant and kind-hearted lady you are. I never would have found in you my equal in mind and conviction. For all that, I cannot be sorry.”
Her hands slipped down. “You truly love me?”
The optimism in her voice nearly undid him. Ezra closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms completely around her. “Hopelessly so. Completely and entirely.”
Her eyes lit up, the joy he’d been wishing to see filling them completely. “I have to confess, it’s taken me some time to reconcile the person I thought I was writing with the person I’ve come to know in you. If I’m being completely honest, I was already half-way to being in love with you before I learned you and my correspondent were one and the same.”
“And now?” He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers.
“Now I think I might be as hopelessly in love with you as you are with me.”
“Completely and entirely in love?”
Her hands snaked around his neck. “Completely and entirely.”
His lips met hers in a kiss that burned away all the uncertainty of before. All that was hidden was now known, and all that had been cherished was now all the more precious. She pulled him in closer still, and for several minutes, there were no thoughts of sisters, or letters, or anything beyond the two of them and that single kiss that blended into a second and then a third.
After a time—Ezra had quite lost track of how long—they pulled away slightly.
“Marry me, dearest?” he asked, his mouth trailing kisses across her jaw and over the soft spot beneath her ear.
“I suppose I shall have to now.”
He chuckled. “Now that I have kissed you scandalously?”
“Now that you have given me no choice but to love you in return.”
And that, Ezra felt, was excuse enough to kiss her again.
