AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Loving him…loving him would be a blessing on some days, and a challenge on others. He wasn’t a pond, but an ocean. Slow and steady as the tides, except when a storm blew through and the surf boiled over and the waves crashed up and over the bow of the boat.
But no matter how hard the waves thrashed, he would never let her sink.
He would forever keep her safe.
She knew that.
In her heart, in her bones, in hersoul, she knew that.
Yet it wouldn’t be a safe, staid journey. Ezra was not the gallant gentleman that she had pictured herself marrying. He was impatient, stubborn, and a rogue to boot. They would laugh together, and they would also cry. They would make love, and they would fight. They would talk late into the night until they fell into an exhausted slumber, and then in a fit of anger they might go an entire day without speaking a word.
Her gaze went back to Lord Wimplebottom. To security. To certainty. And then she turned, and she ran–shesprinted–towards Ezra, flinging herself into strong arms that shot out automatically to catch her.
“Yes,” she cried, pressing her palms to either side of his face as he swung her around. The crowd surged out of the way to create a circle around them of curious onlookers, but she only had eyes for Ezra. The rest didn’t matter. The future she’d made up for herself? It was a dream.Thiswas real. The man that she loved was real. Not perfect. Not a prince. But who needed princes when you had your very own highwayman? “Yes, Ezra. A thousand times yes. Because it’s you. It’s been you. It will be you. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. I want to choose you. I want to chooseus. Every day, for the rest of our lives.”
His gaze somber, his granite expression revealing none of the thoughts swirling inside his head, he slowly set her back down on her feet, but kept his hands on her waist.
“Before you said no,” he said guardedly.
“I did.” Within her chest, Annabel’s heart began to race and a clammy flush spread along the nape of her neck. In the all the time she’d taken to decide whether Ezra was right for her, she’d never stopped to consider thathemight no longer want to chooseher. “I was caught off guard. Wait.” If there was ever a time to tell the truth, the complete truth, it was now. This moment. This very second. “I was surprised, but that wasn’t the reason I refused your courtship.”
“Then what was it?” he asked, and the flicker of pain she saw in his eyes cut her to the quick.
She brushed her thumb across her cheek. “I said no because I was afraid of what would happen if I said yes. I was trying to save myself the hurt of loving too deeply, and in doing so I hurt you, instead. I’m sorry, Ezra. I’m sorry that I did not say yes then, but I want to do it now. I want to say it until you beg me to stop, and then I’ll keep saying it still, because with you, the answer will always be yes.”
The ballroom was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Everyone held their collective breath, including Annabel.
Ezra bowed his head and searched her gaze with searing intensity. The hands on her hips tightened, drawing her closer…then he grinned, showing off his dimple, and relief escaped her in a whoosh of air that turned into a startled shriek when he picked her back up off her feet and spun them both in a circle.
“Lady Annabel Rosewood,” he said, his clear, deep baritone carrying throughout the room. “Will you do me the honor and privilege of being my wife?”
“Yes,” she replied without a second’s hesitation. “Yes, I will. Iwillmarry you.”
The guests erupted into spontaneous applause as Ezra lowered his fiancée for a kiss. Music began to play, couples split off to dance, and still the kiss went on, until Lenora approached and cleared her throat with a subtlehem hem.
“Might we save that for the honeymoon?” she said primly.
With great reluctance, Ezra ended the kiss, but he kept an arm wrapped protectively around Annabel’s shoulders as she turned to receive her sister.
“Congratulations,” said Lenora, her blue eyes glistening with unshed tears as she unknowingly repeated the same word that the Dowager Duchess had used on Christmas Eve. “I am overjoyed for you both.”
“Thank you.” Annabel reached for her sister’s hand and squeezed. “You showed me how not to be afraid, and to grab love with both hands when you find it. I’ll be forever grateful, Nora. I love you.”
Lenora dashed at her cheeks. “I must–I must have inhaled pepper somehow. If you’ll excuse me…” She bolted away, but hadn’t gone more than a few feet before Perth caught her. The duke winked at Annabel over his wife’s shoulder, then led her away to the refreshment table where Eloise was happily stuffing her face with ginger biscuits.
“Should we dance?” Annabel asked Ezra, wanting nothing more than to remain in his arms.
“I’ve a far better idea,” he said mysteriously, and she laughed when he took her by the wrist and began to pull her towards the nearest door.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To practice,” he said without looking back at her.
“Practice forwhat?”
At the door, he finally stopped and turned his head. The heat she saw smoldering in the depths of his gray eyes caused her breath to catch, and her pulse to flutter wildly, even before he yanked her into his arms, pressed his mouth to her ear, and whispered huskily, “Our honeymoon.”
