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Sara bit into her lower lip. Outside, the sun broke over the mountains and their snow caps gleamed a fierce, blinding white. A tingle at the back of her neck, that sixth sense always attuned to him, told her Lance was closer than before.
‘What I should have said is that I love you, Sara. I don’t want to slay dragons for you, I’ll trap them and train them and have them lie at your feet. The food on my plate, the air that I breathe, it’s all ash. I forced you away, and the colour in my life leached to grey.’
A slide of warmth drifted down her spine. The heat of another body standing close behind her. She shut her eyes, absorbing the pleasure of it, swaying back till she bumped against a hard chest. She couldn’t move away, not now. She leaned into him and Lance wrapped his arms round her, holding her tight. Right back where she belonged.
‘Say something,please.’ Lance’s voice was low and gentle.
‘I think...that I’m not the only one who needs their dragons tamed.’
‘I hate to admit it, but you’re right. Are you offering to carry out that task? If so, I think you’d look rather fetching in armour, wielding a sword. Both of which I could supply from Astill Hall’s armoury if you were so inclined...’
She couldn’t help the laugh which broke free. Lance had the uncanny ability to fill her life with joy and fun. His arms round her waist squeezed tighter for a second. The weight of his chin rested on her head.
‘You have no idea how I’ve longed to hear that sound again.’
‘There hasn’t been much laughter for me recently.’
‘Let’s change that, shall we?’
He loosened his grip on her, gently turned her round and cupped her jaw in his hands. Only now she noticed the bruised quality under his eyes. How the lines of his face had etched deeper. She guessed there hadn’t been much laughter for him either.
‘Sara, I asked once to be your fake fiancé, but what I want is real and true and permanent.’
Her heart fluttered like a butterfly caught behind her ribs.
‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m offering you my heart and my soul, if you’ll have them. My love and adoration, from today and for as long as I have breath in my body. A ring on your finger and a big wedding if you wish, and if not I don’t care. I want you to be mine and me, yours. And some time in the future I hope for little cherubs with blue eyes and golden curls like their magnificent mother.’
The nursery. She knew it. Hehadwanted her to decide. Wanted it as much as she had on that day.
‘What if those cherubs take after you?’ she asked.
Lance dropped his hands from her cheeks and rubbed one over his face, chuckling. ‘Then they’ll be little devils and I’ll love them all the same. But if you don’t love me now, then feel free to reject me as cruelly as I did you. It really is nothing less than I deserve, being the Disappointing Duke, as you so aptly named me.’
Somehow, that title didn’t fit any more. It probably never had. She could think of so many more adjectives to describe him, if only he’d believe them himself.
‘Do you think you deserve my love in return for yours?’
He hesitated, blew out a slow breath.
‘With you, I can achieve anything. It’s time to let go of a past that’s bound me for too long, and to forge our lives together. Being the best man I can be.’
The last flurry of reserve melted away like the snow in spring. All that bloomed inside her was love and certainty of a future that lay bright and beautiful before her.
‘Then youarea fool.’
He cocked an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth curving in a wry grin. ‘If playing the jester will make you smile, then I’m a fool every day for you. Never doubt it.’
‘You’re a fool because you’ve always been the best man for me. My whole problem was that I neverstoppedloving you. Wanting you.’
‘I see no problem at all. And you’ll have me. Always.’
She put her hand to his chest, the warmth of him pulsing through her. ‘My Dashing Duke.’
‘Devoted is a better description.’ Lance smiled as he bent down and brushed his lips over hers. She sighed when he pulled away too soon, craving more. Cravingeverything.
‘If you’re going to be the most Delectable Duchess of Bedmore you should probably have the Astill Amethyst.’
