Page 81 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
He opened a small door, and sunlight poured in, briefly blinding him. Once his eyes got used to the brightness, he stepped out onto the roof and led her out to join him.
Together, they walked to the low wall, where they stared at the broad, steel-gray sea stretching toward the horizon. She had tied her hair into a loose knot, and dark strands had come free, blowing across her cheeks. Distractedly, she brushed them back, yet they kept trailing over her face. He wanted to wrap those curls around his fingers, feeling their heavy silk, but he kept his hands at his sides.
“Still not easy with the sea,” he said at last. “The Thames, now,thatI know. It’s where I worked and made my blunt. When we’d be unloading ships, the river often stank, but it was a familiar smell, and it was comforting to hear the water lapping against the pilings or sludging up on the banks.”
“You said men died in the river when it was cold,” she said softly. “How frightening, to see that.”
“Lots to be frightened about in Ratcliff. After Da made his fortune, the nobs and aristos were pestering me, but it didn’t matter. Their words meant nothing, not when I knew how thin the line was between life and death. How easily something important can slip through your fingers. I know that now, better than I’ve ever known it before.”
From their spot high up, they could hear the waves beating against the shore. At some other time, the sound might be lulling, yet he was anything but calm.
“It’s a possibility.” He braced his hands on the railing. “Marriage.”
“To secure your inheritance?” She didn’t look at him, but kept her focus on the horizon. “To make right the wrong from a year ago?”
He stepped between her and the wall, and her hands splayed on his chest. His heart pounded under her palms. “The hell with the blunt. And it’s not about fixing the past.”
“Then whatisit about?” Her gaze was searching as it moved over his face.
“Moving forward.” He cupped her face with his palms and stroked his thumbs along the curves of her cheeks. Her skin had cooled, yet there was heat beneath. “You’re not a princess and I’m not a brute kept around only to shock the ton. We’re more than that, and now we know. It can be a whole new beginning for us.”
Her lips trembled. She leaned into his touch, rubbing her face against his hand. He soaked in the feel of her, soft to his work-toughened skin. But then she stepped back. His heart plummeted.
Her voice shaky, she said, “Iwantto give you an answer.”
“But you can’t,” he said heavily as he dropped his hands.
She shook her head, and more strands of her hair fluttered in the wind, black wisps against the cloud-streaked sky. “My mind, my heart... I can’t figure out what either of them need. WhatIneed. The only thing I know is that I have to have time.”
There was a hard, rending feeling in his chest, yet he nodded. “It’s yours.”
“That’s not what you wanted to hear,” she said with a sad smile. “But it’s what I can say.”
“I want you to be mine, Willa. Always.” His chest rose and fell as if he was hauling heavy cargo. “That means nothing if you don’t come to me with your arms open, with your heart open. And if it’s time you need to do that, then I’ll give you time.”
In a life of brutal physical work, and gutting emotional loss, saying those words was the hardest thing he’d ever done. But he wasn’t the same man who’d set foot on this island, and as he looked at Willa, her face turned again to the sea, it was clearthat the only way to keep her was to give her the space to spread her wings.
He found the Ransome brothers, predictably, in the billiards room. Except instead of playing the game according to its rules and using cues, they stood at the periphery of the room, lobbing the balls into the table’s pockets.
Both brothers looked at him eagerly when he came into the chamber.
“Our parents will want a Town wedding, of course, at St. George’s,” Kieran said cheerfully, crossing his arms over his chest and propping his hip against the table. “Sometimes it’s easier to just give them what they want than try to fight the earl, but you and Willa’s wishes come first. However, St. George’s doesn’t hold good memories for anyone, so we could—”
Dom held up a hand, and Kieran fell silent.
“It’s not going to happen, is it?” Finn asked gently.
“The choice is hers,” Dom answered, firm. “It has to be hers.”
When the brothers remained silent, he went on, “The ultimatum our families made, about getting married within a year or we lose our fortunes... I may cost us everything. Because if Willa doesn’t agree to become my wife, I don’t want anyone else. I never will.”
Stoically, he waited for Kieran and Finn to object, or insist that he try to persuade Willa to wedhim. Much as he hated disappointing his friends, he wouldn’t be moved on this point.
“We know.” Kieran’s voice was gentle.
“And we understand,” Finn added.
Dom stepped closer. “You don’t care?” he demanded hotly. “That I’m costing you all that blunt? Not just you, either, now, but your wives, too.”
