Page 25 of Enslaved to the Seduction of a Lady
He laughed at that and cupped her cheek in his hand. He tilted his head as he looked at her, this wonderful, funny lady who had fallen quite by accident into his life.
“Please,” he said, “don’t apologize. It was perfect. But… are you sure?”
“Heavens, Luke,” she declared. “I’ve been sure for such a long time! I just… I don’t know. It was a difficult thing to discuss.”
“That much I can understand,” he said. “Because I feel the same. I fell in love with you the day we met, My Lady, and I have loved you every single day since.”
“Really?” she asked. Her eyes had softened, changed from seductive confidence to innocent uncertainty, and he could not stop himself from leaning in and kissing her again. Quick, chaste, but full of love and reassurance.
“Really,” he said as he pulled away. “I haven’t wanted to say anything, for fear that it would jeopardize our friendship. We have such a good friendship, don’t we? I wouldn’t want to lose that.”
“We do,” she said, smiling broadly. “But, like you, I have always wanted more. Perhaps we can have both?”
“I am certain of it,” he said, but even as he said the words, he forced the impossibility of it from his mind.
He took her by the hand and led her to the haystack on which they often found themselves lounging, although this time he felt something new weaving its way through his bloodstream. He could feel the gentle movement of her, and he realized that she quivered under his touch.
“You’re shaking,” he said, looking at her with a curious expression.
“A little,” she admitted. “That was nerve-wracking. And wonderful.” She laughed and looked down at her hands, and Luke found her to be the most beautiful lady he had ever met. They would make it work, one way or another, of that he was certain.
“I was terrified you were going to declare your love for some wealthy gentleman who had wooed you at the party last night,” he admitted.
“Goodness, no!” She spoke with such horror that he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “I’m not sure you could build a single decent gentleman if you took parts of the lot of them.”
They fell into a silence, but they didn’t look away from each other, both immersed in the world of the other. Both in wonder at all that had happened that day. It was a silence they had sat in many times—companionable, peaceful—but this time, it was different, too. Now, it was filled with a quiet excitement and a happiness Luke hadn’t thought possible.
* * *
“It will be difficult,” Alison said after a while. She looked down at her hand, her fingers entwined in his, and she spoke softly, cautiously.
“I know,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “But I don’t want to think about that. Not when everything finally feels soright.”
“But we have to think about it, Luke,” she said, looking at him and urging him. “It’s the only way we’ll have a chance to be together, properly, and not live in the shadows. That is what you want, isn’t it?”
“You know it,” he said, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hands. “But I don’t know that it’s possible.”
Alison looked away from him, chewing her lip. She was glad he was not merely blinded by love, but she was not sure he understood the seriousness of what she was saying.
She looked down at their entwined hands and she smiled softly, even though she felt a stab of pain. They could be so happy together, but it would be difficult to get there—if they ever could.
“My father,” she continued, still not looking at him. “He will want to match me with a noble.”
“Yes,” Luke said. “And in many ways, he is not wrong in that desire. He only wants the best for you, and a wealthy noble will see you better off than someone without a title or a home to call his own.”
“But what of love?” she asked, urging and pleading.
“Perhaps he doesn’t understand the emotion,” Luke said, shrugging. “But whether or not he understands, we must find a way to win.”
“I’m not going to let him match me with anyone else,” she said, definitive and firm. “I’m going to tell them about us, and I’m going to fight for our love.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. His words faltered, stuttering. “I knowIam sure, but you must carefully consider what you are giving up, Alison.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she said firmly. “I am more sure than I have been about anything. I cannot imagine marrying anyone but you, Luke, and I will not abide any of the gentlemen my mother has lined up for me.”
“Alison, I need to ask you, do you think it’s a fight we can win?”
“In all honesty, I don’t know,” she said. “But we will have my sister and Lady Isabella on our side, and that’s a start.”
“A start, perhaps, but is it enough?”
“Whatever happens, Luke, we will be together one way or another, that much I promise you.”
