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"Morning? Her eyes widened. "I thought she was just keeping her for the afternoon."
"I had a little talk with her after you left."
"Oh." Megan looked away as color climbed her cheeks.
He felt a moment of panic. "Megan, I thought—" Damn. It was never easy with her. "I had hoped that after what happened in the church, after what you said ..." He cursed silently. He was making a mess of this.
He shifted her off his lap and stood up. She watched him with wide eyes. Trusting him. He could have let it go and not said anything. Yet they both deserved better than that. He cleared his throat.
"I can't stay with you any longer unless this is a real marriage," he began. "It's too difficult to pretend I don't
mind your sleeping in another bed. I want to be your husband, Megan. I want to touch you and hold you each night, and wake up next to you in the morning. I'm finished settling for less. You are either my bride in every sense of the word or we have nothing between us."
She stood up and brushed her hands against her sides. The deep rose-colored gown made her skin look as if it glowed from within. Her beauty made him ache with longing, but he remained silent. He'd meant everything he said. He wouldn't accept half a marriage from her. He would rather cut her out cleanly than suffer and die slowly.
"Have you forgiven me?" she asked.
He closed his eyes against her piercing gaze. Had he forgiven her? Could he let go of the past? It was a fair question, he thought, and realized he should have expected her to ask it. If he needed Megan to fully give herself, should she require less of him? But was he willing to ignore the pain, to turn his back on his constant companion? Sometimes it was all that had kept him going.
Could he forgive her? He opened his eyes and looked at her. How cculd he not?
"Yes," he whispered. "A thousand times, yes."
She moved toward him slowly, then placed her hands on his chest. "I'll be your bride, Justin. I'll share your bed, your troubles and your life, for as long as you'll have me." She smiled. "I had hoped we might reconcile this afternoon, so I took the liberty of preparing the master suite. I even moved our things in."
"What if I hadn't said anything?"
"I would have found a way to convince you." She raised | herself on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "We have a second | chance. It's taken me seven years to find you again. I wasn't about to let you go."
He bent down and picked her up in his arms. She giggled, clinging to him fearlessly. "You're a wicked woman," he said.
"You taught me that, so don't you dare complain."
He walked out of the parlor and started up the stairs. "It wasn't a complaint."
When they reached the bedroom, he set her down gently and took her face in his hands. He'd waited a lifetime to claim Megan as his own. "I'll love you forever," he prom-
ised softly. 'Til worship your body and give you children. I'll be at your side and provide for you always. I've spent my life living for you. I don't know how to do anything else. I-"
"Stop talking so much." She grabbed his shirtfront and pulled him close. Their lips brushed once, twice, then she opened her mouth and taunted him with her sweet taste. He moaned low in his throat. Nothing had ever felt so right. Megan was his other half, his purpose for being. He breathed a prayer of thanks that he d found her at last. He'd come back to Landing to make peace with his past. Instead, he'd found a future with the only woman he'd ever loved.
