Page 75 of The Secret of the Dashing Detective
He reached out a hand, into which she slowly, tentatively, placed one of her own. He tugged on it, leading her deeper into the house, to the sitting room where he had grown up. He sank down to the couch, and she followed suit beside him.
He cleared his throat, intent on starting at the beginning to tell her of how he had gone to her house and found her missing, where her family had told him she was, her grandmother’s warning, his own frenzied dash to his parents’ house in complete shock, and then the furious mix of emotions that had coursed through him when he had turned the corner and saw her running toward him.
But he decided that wasn’t the place to start – with Juliana there was only one place to do so.
“I love you,” he said, putting great emphasis on each word, and yet still, they did not seem enough to truly describe the extent of what he felt for her. At the narrowing of her eyes, he knew she didn’t believe him and he forged on, saying it louder, stronger. “I love you, with every part of me. I have never felt like this about a woman before, and I know I never will again. I just… I thought that my feelings weren’t enough. I thoughtIwouldn’t be enough for you, that this life would be one that you would grow to resent.”
Her back straightened, her body stiffening, and he knew exactly what she was thinking.
He took both of her hands in his now as he sank to his knees in front of her, leaning his body forward as her eyes widened in surprise.
“But I realized something when we were apart, when I saw you running away from a man you defended yourself against, when you went to all this effort to make a meal for me in order to force me to see that there is no end to what you are capable of. I realized that it is not for me to make the decision for you. It is for you to understand what life would be like and then to determine for yourself if that is a life you would choose. I’ve been a stubborn fool, and while I cannot ask you to give up everything to be with me, Iwilltell you that I will no longer decide your future for you.”
He finally looked up and met her eyes, squeezing her hands, trying to make her understand the truth to his words. Her eyes were glistening as she stared at him.
“Truly?”
He nodded. “Truly.”
She sank down on to the floor next to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Then I choose you. Today, tomorrow, every day for the rest of our lives.”
He reached out and captured her face between his hands.
“Will you marry me, then?”
“Of course I will,” she said, her lips curling into a smile. “And I love you too.”
He couldn’t wait any longer then, as he dipped his head and took those smiling lips with his. The kiss started gentle, tender, loving, but before long she was grasping the lapels of his jacket, pulling herself up toward him as he delved into her mouth, tasting her, teasing her, and she returned it, giving as much as he did. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but soon she was straddling his lap, her legs wrapped around him as she brushed against him where he was straining toward her.
“Juliana,” he murmured, breaking away. “Jules.”
“Yes?”
“We have to stop.”
“Why? We are getting married,” she said, panting now as she pressed herself closer to him, bringing her lips to his again.
“Because we are in the middle of my parents’ sitting room.”
She froze before scrambling off his lap. “Right, right,” she said, patting her hair back into some semblance of order. “That wouldn’t be the best of impressions if they were to walk in, now would it?”
His laugh started as a low rumble before it spilled over, full of incredulity that it could be possible that this woman would become his wife.
“Let’s clean up, shall we?” he said. “Then we will return home.”
He didn’t say which home, but then, he wasn’t entirely sure himself.
“Where are my parents, anyway?”
It was at that moment that his mother appeared, and Matthew didn’t need to be an investigator to be suspicious of her timing.
“Matthew, how was your dinner?”
“It was wonderful, Mother.”
“Thank you so much for allowing me to cook here, and, Mrs. Archibald, for all of your help,” Juliana added, and Matthew could tell from his mother’s fond gaze that Juliana had already won her over.
“It’s getting late,” his mother said. “Why don’t you return Juliana home, Matthew, and I will clean up tonight?”
