Page 82 of A Duke's Lustful Portrait
Arabella felt her heart sag. Could she really trust this man? Every time she thought there were no more secrets, he revealed one more. With a sigh, she looked at him, her eyes as tired as her heart.
“What is it this time?” she demanded.
But instead of looking sheepish or guilty, he grinned at her with delight.
“It’s this,” he said, reaching into his waistcoat pocket.
He pulled out a gold ring with the biggest sparkly diamond she had ever seen. She let out a gasp and covered her mouth. He looked down at the ring and tilted his head.
“Perhaps this one was more a surprise than a secret,” he admitted. “You’re not angry at me, are you?”
Arabella couldn’t speak. With her hand clamped over her mouth and her eyes so wide it almost hurt, she shook her head. He smiled.
“Good.”
Without another word, he got down on one knee and held the ring up to her.
“In the months since we first met, both our lives have changed entirely. In our own way, we have both been freed from our cages and allowed to live. But I don’t want to be free or even to live unless I have you by my side, Arabella. I never knew true beauty until you came into my life, and I certainly had no inkling of this thing called love.
Had you asked me just last year, I would have told you I was incapable of such emotion, but you have shown me how wrong I would have been.”
“Oh, Sebastian,” Arabella said, being the only words she could manage. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked down at him, her handsome Dark Duke, her mystery man, her knight in shining armour.
“You make me laugh and cry. You make me feel alive in a way I never thought possible. You make me want to be the best I can be.”
Arabella dropped to her knees, her own emotion overwhelming her. She raised her hands to her cheeks, cupping them, and gazed lovingly at him as he continued to speak.
“I want us to grow old together. I want to look back on this time in my life and be able to talk to you about it, for you are the only one worth talking to. I want us to have a family with at least ten children and—”
“Ten!” A bubble of laughter escaped her lips. “We’ll be very busy indeed.”
He nodded. “I want us to be busy together, to be calm together. And so I ask you, Arabella Sinclair, would you do me the greatest honour of becoming my wife?”
Chapter 39
She leaned forward and kissed him, pushing every ounce of passion she had into it. When she pulled away, she laughed.
“No. I’m sorry, Sebastian. As delighted as I am by the proposal, I simply can’t marry you.”
“What?” He blinked in horrified surprise, and she laughed again.
“You’re not the only one who can tease, my darling.” Her lips twitched as she resisted the urge to kiss him again. “Yes, absolutely, yes. I cannot wait to marry you, Sebastian. It’s what I’ve wanted since I first laid eyes on you.”
Sebastian let out his breath in one, and his shoulders sagged. “That’s a relief,” he said, “because the first banns are being read this Sunday at church.”
Arabella gasped again and slapped his shoulder. “You’ve already arranged it!”
He shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face. “I suspected you would say yes, and I don’t want to wait a second longer, Arabella. Life is too short for that.”
“Yes, I agree.”
She leaned forward and kissed him again, more gently this time, remembering that she would get to kiss him every day for the rest of their lives. The thought sent a bolt of excitement through her.
“Here,” he said, holding up the ring. “Try it on.”
She slid it onto her ring finger, pushing it over the knuckle. She held her hand in the air to admire it, wiggling her fingers to make the diamond glint in the sun. “It fits perfectly, just as you and I fit together, and I love it.”
Together, they admired the ring, both dreaming of the future to come. Arabella could see it all—their wedding, their life together. She imagined herself painting the French countryside, as she so often did, but this time, it was with the hope that her dreams might come true. She could see herself painting pictures of their children romping in the garden of their French chateau.
