Page 131 of Heart of Iron
“He’ll like that,” she murmured.“He likes puzzles.”
“Are you goin’ to tell him?”
“Tell him what?”
“About Rosalind?”
Lena thought about it.“No, I don’t think so.”
“You don’t owe her nothin’,” he growled.“They’ll cause trouble, you mark me words.”
“I can understand how she feels,” she replied.“Helpless.Fighting for a lost cause.I won’t betray her, Will.Not unless she makes a move against anyone I love.”
He stroked a hand over the silk corseted boning covering her back.Her innate sense of loyalty was one of the things he liked most about her.“She makes one wrong move and I’m straight to Leo.”
“Thank you.”Lena’s finger tangled in his shirt collar.She lifted her tearstained face, bright eyes burning with unsaid emotion.“Will…are you angry?”
“Angry?About what?”
“About the trick Astrid and I played?About demanding you as ambassador in exchange for the Norwegians’ allegiance.”
He thought about it.“It’s not somethin’ I would have wanted for meself.”Sensing the tension in her small frame, he hurried on.“But I’m the only one as can.The thought of change scares me, Lena.I hate the Echelon, hate dealin’ with ’em.I were happy bein’ Blade’s second-in-command, because it meant I never had to leave me safe, little world.”He took a deep breath.“You were right.About lettin’ ’em make me what I were.Whitechapel were just another little cage that I were allowin’ meself to be put into.Can’t say I’m thrilled ’bout it, but maybe I need this.”He squeezed her tight.“I know I need you.”
“You’re not mad?”She traced her fingers over his lips.
Will shook his head.“Life were gonna change anyway.”
“Oh?”
“You,” he admitted.“I couldn’t expect you to live with me in that little hovel.”
A shy smile touched her lips.“Staying there with you were some of the happiest moments of my life.”
The fist in his chest grew tighter.“Me too,” he admitted gruffly.Capturing her face, he dragged it to his, forehead to forehead.“You’re everythin’ to me.”
Playing with his collar, she gave him a saucy little smile.“Are you trying to tell me something?”
“Tell you what?”
“How much you adore me?”
Will kissed her cheek.Maybe.
“How much…you care for me.”Another slightly flirtatious look at him.Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she stroked the rough stubble of his jaw.Then they sobered.She opened her mouth, but he sealed it with a kiss.A way to tell her the answers to the questions she was asking without saying them.
She was breathless by the time he drew back.But not silenced.“How much you love me?”The whisper was a challenge.
He didn’t know why she needed to hear the words, when he’d been damned certain he’d shown her exactly how he felt.This was some unknown neediness he hadn’t expected to find in her, she with her confident ways.
Will kissed her lips lightly, chasing away the questioning tone.“You know I love you,” he said.Her body quivered against his, but he pressed a finger to her lips, stalling her.“I would die for you,” he told her.“I’d kill for you.I faced down mechanical squid, rampagin’ humanists, and lessons in etiquette for you.Idancedat aballfor you.”
The smile on her face warmed his heart.Radiance shone from the center of her being.He didn’t care what he had to say to keep that look on her face.
“I love you,” he told her sternly.“I always will.You’re the only woman I’ve ever seen.The only woman I ever wanted.I know I ain’t much of a catch—”
This time it was her turn to put her finger to his lips.“Don’t you dare.”Heat flared in her beautiful amber-ringed eyes.“I’m the luckiest woman in London.In the world.”
“Aye, mebbe.”He slid his arms around her waist.“Are you tryin’ to tell me somewhat?”
