Page 38 of A Kiss Gone Wylde
Benny paused in the midst of tidying her skirt. “Did you mean it?”
* * *
There was no point in pretending he didn’t know precisely what she was asking him. And it had absolutely nothing to do with her clothing. “I do love you. I simply had to stop thinking of all the reasons why it should be impossible and accept that it… well, that it just was. Time is irrelevant when compared to the sheer volume of what you have done to and in my life.”
“That hardly sounds like a compliment!”
“It is. Meeting you was the catalyst. Having you in my life has been transformative. Before you,” he reached out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, “I was existing. Managing estates, managing my mother’s ridiculous spending habits, and playing at finding out who was truly responsible for Anne’s situation… And I think all along that I was almost glad. Not that she died, but that I hadn’t married her.”
“But you loved her!”
“No. I loved the idea of her. She fit the mold of what I should have wanted in a wife. But she wasn’t the wife I needed. That distinction is yours and yours alone.”
“Oh… that was much better than just hearing that you like me,” she said on a breathy and dreamy little sigh that prompted all sorts of carnal thoughts in him.
Payne traced a finger over her lower lip. “Do you love me more than just a little then?”
“I love you a truly extraordinary amount. Do you know the moment I was absolutely certain that no one would ever love you as much as I do?”
“No, what moment was that?”
She smiled. “When I found out you made your mother move to another house. Really. She’s very much the dragon to your St. George.”
Payne laughed then. He laughed until his sides ached and then he pulled Benny down onto the floor with him and made love to her a second time for the day. They had a lonely night to make up for, after all.
The End
