Page 349 of From Rakes to Riches

She opened her mouth, then closed it with a befuddled expression. “I’ll have to reread the passage now. You’ve made it quite impossible to pay attention.”

He drew a finger down the line of her nose. “I’m learning your attention is often difficult to pin down.”

She turned her head to the side, playfully avoiding his next kiss. “That’s ridiculous. You don’t know the first thing about—” She seized his bicep. “Raphael.Look. There’s a dolphin!” Pointing in her excitement, she leaned so far forward, the hammock would have been unsettled had he not been there to steady it. “An entire family of them. Oh! I’ve never seen such a thing.”

He draped her across his chest, his amusement at her overwrought delight spilling over as laughter.

He decided to forgo taunting her with anI told you so.

They settled back to sway, and watched gleaming grey sea creatures frolic and leap, seeming to mimic their joy.

Lingering long after the dolphins disappeared, Raphael coiled one of her curls around his finger, enjoying the waves, the breeze, and the closeness between them.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than this moment,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her temple. “I wish I could bottle this feeling like a scent. That I could wear it on my skin always. Escape back here whenever life is bleak.”

She pushed up, bracing her hands on his chest as she leveled him a sober look. “You know, the more I love you, the angrier I am with you. To think that you almost missed this. That you might have died...”

“I concocted that scheme before I met you because I’d never truly felt alive.” He dropped his forehead against hers. “You changed all that.”

Her lip quirked. “I suppose I’ll have to forgive you eventually.”

“You could punish me first, if you like,” he suggested with a naughty wink. “A hundred tongue lashings. Or real lashings, if that’s what you prefer.”

She gave him a half-hearted shove before settling down against him once more. “I’m excited for the life we’re going to live together, and I’m happy to see America, though I’m not looking forward to donning my corset again.”

He chuffed, before a familiar anxiety lanced through him. “Do you ever get homesick for England?”

Staring into the distance, she replied, “I miss my sisters. I worry for Felicity. But I know we’ll go back, eventually. I’m in no great hurry.”

He caught her hand. “We’ll go back. We’ll go anywhere you are happy,” he vowed.

She caught both of his wrists and pulled them around her. “I’m happy right here. In your arms. I can miss England sometimes, but I’m incapable of being homesick.”

“Oh?” His lips found the shell of her ear and stopped for a nibble. “Why is that?”

“Because, husband, my home is wherever you are.”

---