Page 121 of A Duke in the Rough

“I’m not sure. I dozed off, too.” He played with a strand of her hair. “You’re so beautiful with your hair down.”

“Do you remember when I gave you a lock of it?”

“Remember?! One moment.” He rose from the bed.

When he strode toward the dressing table, she couldn’t help but smile, admiring his firm backside.

Contented warmth flowed through her body as he rummaged through drawers.

“Ah, here it is.” He climbed back onto the bed, handing her the locket she’d given him over eight years ago.

Amazed, she stared at him. “You still have it.”

“My talisman.” He touched a finger to it. “Open it.”

When she popped the latch, she found the strand of her hair still curled up inside. Love expanded in her chest to near bursting.

“I asked you to marry me that day. My proposal, my words were clumsy and unromantic. I fear I haven’t done much better this time. Allow me to try again.”

He rose again from the bed and fell to one knee before her. “Marry me, Honoria. Be my wife.”

CHAPTER 34

As proposals went, Drake’s current attempt wasn’t much better than his previous one. Fitting, though, that he should be naked before her. Guilt jabbed like a hot poker that he still cloaked himself in deceit.

The time had arrived.

He should tell her.

Yet the voice that taunted him for eight long years grew louder.

She’d promised him before, then yielded to her father’s iron will. He couldn’t bear to go through that again.

Kneeling before her, exposed and vulnerable in more than his lack of clothing, he succumbed to his doubts.

He must be certain.

“Say the words, Honoria. Will you marry me no matter what?”

She grew serious. “Drake. I know I hurt you all those years ago. And for that, I’m so sorry. Earlier tonight, I wanted to tell you something. It wasn’t the time or place, but I need you to know now before giving you my answer.”

An icy dread seeped through him. “Very well.”

“When you left for the military, I believed you took my words toheart and enlisted to make something of yourself. That the burden of a wife would hold you back from your dreams.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a hand to stop him.

“And youhavemade something of yourself. And although I loved you as you were then, I don’t know ifyouwere proud of yourself.”

Simon’s words came back to haunt him.You need to believe in your worth.

“You’ve proven you belong in society. Not only to others, but—I hope—to yourself. You can be proud of who you are.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

She shook her head. “None of that. We will strive to deserve each other every day of our married life.”

He couldn’t restrain his grin. “So?”

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