Page 112 of Once More, My Darling Rogue
“I shall never lie or deceive you again. You have my word on that.”
“I shall never give you another cut direct. You have my word on that.”
“I’ve missed you, Phee.”
“I don’t see how you had time. I remember Dodger’s from before, when I visited once with Grace. You’ve made it all very elegant, but it took a lot of work. You had to have been very busy with it,” she told him.
“Not so busy that I couldn’t find moments to think of you. I’ll redo any of it if it’s not pleasing to you.”
“This is your place, Drake. Not mine. It’s quite the talk of the town. Now that you’ve come down from the balcony, I daresay, the ladies will be swarming to your side once we stop dancing.”
“Then we won’t stop dancing.”
Something warm settled in her chest, tightened it. She didn’t want to stop dancing, didn’t want the other ladies fawning over him. “That would create quite the scandal after we worked so hard to avoid it.”
“I don’t think anyone would fault me for keeping you in my arms when you’re so beautiful.”
She didn’t feel beautiful, not really, not where it counted. “I wasn’t a very nice person before.”
“You had your reasons.”
“To strive to make others feel small because I felt small is hardly commendable.”
“Perhaps we both suffered from the inability to see you clearly.”
“I see myself quite clearly now.”
“I’m not sure you do. The last time I saw you, you told me that you weren’t the woman who lived in my residence, and yet I know she was the sort to kneel down to help a footman clear up broken glass.”
She was certain she was blushing. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“You can deny it all you want, but you are the woman I fell in love with. You’re strong, Phee, when you need to be strong. You’re courageous. You carry on when it might be easier to crawl into bed and pull the blankets over your head. I told you that you were a servant and while you hadn’t a clue regarding what you were supposed to do, you forged ahead. When your memories returned, you rescued your aunt even though it meant facing your past. You are quite remarkable.”
This was the reason she almost hadn’t come. She didn’t want to hear of his love and devotion.
This was the reason she’d come. To be near him again, to hear of his love and devotion. And she missed him so very much.
“Without my memories, with no tarnished past”—with no memories of Wigmore to intrude—“I was free to fall in love with you. I do love you, Drake. At first I was hurt and so angry but when I take in the entire tapestry of my life, my happiest, most joyful moments have been with you.”
“Marry me.”
Not a question, but a command. It was his way. As it was hers. One didn’t ask when one thought the answer might be no, although why in the world he would think she wouldn’t marry him was beyond her.
“How can you want me knowing all you know about me?” she asked.
“How can I not?”
They were no longer dancing, but standing in the midst of dancers with his large gloved hands, his wonderful large, scarred, powerful hands cradling her face as though it were made of the most delicate spun glass. “How can you love me knowing what you know of me?” he asked.
Tears stung her eyes as she smiled. “How can I not?”
“Marry me,” he repeated.
She bit her lower lip, nodded. “Yes. All right. On one condition.”
“You can name a hundred conditions, a thousand. I shall meet every one.”
She laughed lightly. “You don’t even know what it is yet.”
