Page 55 of The Banished Bride
With a roguish grin, he took the stack of foolscap that was sitting on the corner of his desk and tossed it into the fire. “Case dismissed.”
Deciding he may as well consign his pride to the flames too, he dropped to one knee. “I never thought I would be brought to this by any female. But you’ve done it. Not through manipulation, or seduction but by your compassion, your courage, your warmth and laughter. Dearest Aurora, my life will be eternally black as the deepest midnight hour if you are not there to be my shining light. Will you be my wife? This time in more than a mere sham of a marriage.”
She dropped to her knees beside him. “We have both been humbled by our pride in thinking we were content in facing the world alone. Oh, Alex, I want more than anything to be your wife?—”
He cut off the rest of her words with a thorough kiss. “You do?” he asked some minutes later.
“I do.” She gave a mischievous smile. “But this time around, now that I have said the fateful words, I trust the shock of it won’t cause you to cast up your accounts in the nearest vase.”
He laughed, then spent a goodly amount of time proving that her presence was eliciting a far different physical reaction from him than a queasy stomach.
‘You know,” he murmured as he nibbled at the lobe of her ear. “There is something to be said for proposing to one’s wife. I don’t have to suffer through the delay of having the banns read, the interminable round of engagement parties or the fuss of an elaborate ceremony. I can, in good conscience, carry you upstairs to our bedroom this instant. Which is exactly what I intend to do.”
“Mmmm. You truly wish to have and to hold me?”
His eyes were sparkling as he swept her up into his arms. “Til death do us part.”
Aurora leaned her head against his chest. “Well, amen to that, Alex Fenimore.”
