Page 85 of Electric Kiss

Imelda was talking like she was giving a guided tour, and in some respect she was, because Daisy didn’t know a lot about Turner Hall or its history. Their aunt squirrelled the information away.

“We should resurrect that,” Archer said.

“I bet that is why there is so much lavender here. I’m sure the lavender farm Freya loves so much would want to get involved,” Luke said.

“There are a lot of flower farms on this small island, but I bet they’ve cut right back since the tourists don’t come anymore.”

“We can change that,” Daisy said.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Nate

“Do you know where the saying,marry in haste, repent at leisure,comes from?” Nate asked her.

“Nope. Sounds like something from the Bible.”

Nate smiled into the crook of her neck. They were curled up on a giant armchair in the Turner Hall library. He’d fallen in love with the room. Bailey had handed him his personal key so he could come and go when he wanted. Lately, he was in one of three places. The workshop where business was picking up, the cottage or the library.

He had yet to meet Cynthia Turner and hoped she didn’t like reading books.

“Have you read the Bible?” he asked, pulling his head away to look at her face.

Daisy was in layers of wool. Her skirts acted as a blanket over them. Her sloppy roll-neck jumper was loose enoughfor him to snake his hand up and cup her breast while he read.

“Not entirely. Growing up, we had to attend Church on Sundays and listen to Father Sheldon’s sermons, but I wouldn’t say I knew a lot about the Bible. Certainly not enough to know one psalm from another.”

“Hmm, well, it’s not from the Bible. It’s from a play written in the late 1600s.”

“Is that what you’re reading now?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you making a point?”

Nate hummed aloud. He was nervous that Daisy would change her mind about her hasty marriage now that her memories had surfaced and she could stop fearing Turner Hall, Cynthia Turner and her past.

“I’m scared I’ll lose you, that you’ll ask for a divorce,” he whispered.

Daisy moved so quickly, dropping her paperback to the floor and tugging his book from his hands to put on the side table under the squat low-lit lamp. She lifted her skirts so fast he glimpsed white panties before she sat astride him and fanned out the material. Then she leaned forward and cupped his cheeks. Her kiss was so soft Nate wrapped his arms around her under her jumper. He needed to feel her skin.

“We’re going to make a deal right here, right now. You listening?” she asked.

Nate nodded, tears welling at her determined, angry stare. He knew she wasn’t angry at him, just at the feelings he’d voiced.

“I’m listening,” he replied.

There wasn’t a sound in the library aside from the grandfather clock ticking at a steady pace.

“There is no such thing as divorce between us. We’re not going to talk about it. We argue we figure it out, but we’re in this for life. I chose you because you settled me. You settle me so much I didn’t know I was lost.”

Tears dripped down her face, but she didn’t appear to be crying. It was emotion leaking out. Nate leaned up and kissed her cheek and then her lips.

“I didn’t realise how lonely I felt until I met you. I didn’t realise how much I wanted to protect someone, hold them in my arms until you needed me,” he said.

“I’m going to need you for the rest of my life. Our children will need both of us until they turn fifteen, and then we’ll have ten years where they won’t, but we’ll secretly support them, anyway.”

Daisy grinned at him with watery happy eyes.

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