Page 108 of Forget Me Not

He rested his forehead against hers. “What else can I do to keep your trust in me and help you be happy in this marriage?”

“Build a life with me.”

“Gladly,” he said.

“And read to me as I’m falling asleep.”

“Of course.”

“And love me.”

“Always and with all my heart.”

Just as he’d done all those weeks ago, he kissed her right cheek, then her neck, just below her right ear, then below her left. She sighed and melted into him as he kissed her left cheek. He brushed his lips over the corner of her mouth, the tip of her nose, her eyebrow.

“Lucas,” she whispered.

“I mean to take my time, sweetheart. We’ve all our lives ahead of us. No need to rush.”

But she rose on her toes and found his mouth, kissing him with all the fervency spilling from her overflowing heart. All thoughts fled beyond him, them, that moment.

He pulled her fully into his arms and returned her kiss with every promise of tomorrow.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Lucas passed the weeks beforeand after Christmas at Lampton Park with Julia, happier than he’d ever been there. They had made a new beginning built on the foundation of the friendship they’d forged as children and the love that had begun to blossom between them. She smiled and laughed with the ease he remembered from long ago, and her face lit with joy when he walked into a room. His heart became every inch hers. His dreams and hopes and future revolved around the life they could build together.

They talked at length and with honesty about what they both wanted in life and what they both needed to feel valued and cherished and loved. He would travelwith herwhenever and wherever she wished and with her input and insight when she chose to remain at home. And they would pass long, happy, peaceful months in the quiet comfort of home, because that was as important to her as seeing new places was to him.

They had found balance, and in that balance they’d found the hope that had eluded them for so long.

They returned to Brier Hill after the Christmas season. Mrs. Parks expressed her delight at seeing Julia again, a show of tenderness quite out of character for the usually gruff woman. Even Pooka overflowed with excitement, running in energetic circles around Julia just as he’d done the day of the allemande in the circular sitting room. Julia simply smiled and looked at Lucas in helpless delight.

“Leave her be a moment, Pooka.” Lucas shooed the pup away. “I’ve something to show her, and I can’t do it if you keep her prisoner out here.”

Curiosity filled Julia’s expression. “You have something to show me?”

He nodded. “And keeping this ‘something’ a secret has thoroughly tested my self-control. I’ve been desperate to tell you about it for weeks.”

She held her hand out to him, a gesture that had become so common between them that he could hardly remember a time when he hadn’t walked about nearly all day with her hand in his. After Pooka half ignored a few more commands, Lucas and Julia made their way to the house. The dog trotted off once they’d stepped inside.

Lucas led the way up the interior stairs, and Julia ran her hand along the carved banister with unmistakable fondness. She had come to love this house; that meant the world to him.

“Perhaps, if his mother wishes to travel, little Lord Falstone—His Grace, I mean, he being a duke now—might come visit us here,” she said. “This house is not so grand and imposing as a castle, but I do think he would be happy. We would make certain he was.”

She knew what it was to be a lonely child. Her heart naturally ached at the knowledge that another little one was somewhere feeling alone.

“In another couple of years, he will likely begin his time at school,” Lucas said. “But in the meantime, I will make certain our invitation is known to the duchess.”

“Only a couple of years?” she asked. “He will still be so very young.”

Lucas pressed a quick kiss to her temple. “Some boys begin their time away from home even younger than that.”

“Ours won’t,” she said firmly.

Ours.How far they’d come since their parents had first forced them into this match. She now spoke so easily of their future children when once she could not even speak of their current status as husband and wife without obvious misgivings.

They’d reached the top of the stairs. Julia eyed him with a side-glance. “Will you at least tell mewhereyour surprise is?”

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