“I don’t think you have much choice,” she said with a bit of a laugh, to which he sighed and placed his hands on his hips.
“Very well,” he acquiesced. “It will be a loan.”
“Very well, but in reality, it’s to Lady Alexander, not to me,” she said, then smiled at him wickedly. “And perhaps I could be talked into staying for a night or so.”
“If you insist,” he said with a mock sigh this time, and she laughed at him, then sobered as she studied him.
She thought of all she knew of him, then of all of the warnings with which she had been provided. Never did she think that David Redmond would be a man to give up all that he had loved, for not only a woman, but for her specifically. She knew many would tell her she was a fool, that she should never trust him, but she knew, deep within her heart, that he would never betray her. He had done so much for her, and even when she hadn’t believed in him, he had held onto his love for her and had literally searched London until he had found her. She would never have imagined there was a man in the world who would do such a thing for her, but there was — and she had found him.
He held her tight against him, as though if he let her go he might lose her again, but then a voice came from the berths below.
“Can anyone help? My daughter needs someone to see to her — she is coughing something violent!”
David sighed and looked at her with a shrug, and Sarah, unable to ever let anyone by without her help, gave him one quick kiss before rushing below to see what she could do to offer her assistance.
CHAPTER30
“My wife and I would like a room for the night, please, sir,” David said to the man behind the counter, who provided the two of them with the room key as he sent them up to the second floor.
“It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” he asked Sarah with a wink once the man was out of sight, and she smiled at him.
“So it does.”
He stopped suddenly, turning toward her. It was difficult for David to focus when all he wanted to do was lean down and kiss those plush pink lips that were calling to him. He shifted his gaze to the freckles scattered over her nose and cheeks, but that didn’t help, as then his desire changed to wanting to trail his lips over each of them, as though he could connect them with his touch, but then he shook himself out of his reverie. There was something important he first had to say to her.
“I never asked you.”
“Asked me what?”
“To marry me,” he said incredulously, immediately frustrated with himself, for he was doing this all wrong.
“To marry you?” she asked, her eyebrows raised. “I had thought that was implied.”
“Well, yes, but my—” He lifted a hand to his forehead, feeling like a daft idiot. “I cannot believe you nearly let me get away with it.”
“I assumed you would remember eventually,” she said with a laugh, but then he took her hand and led her up the stairs determinately. The moment the door was shut behind them, he turned back toward her, his face now very serious as he took her hands in his.
“Sarah,” he said intently. “My Sarah. Would you do me the honor of being my wife? They say it is for better or for worse, and I must admit that chances are it’s going to get very much the worse over the next little bit, once we meet with my father. I may have no money, no way of supporting you, but I shall find a way, I promise you of that. You only have to trust me. With all of that being said, will you still marry me?”
“Of course,” she said, raising her cool hands to cup his cheeks. “You know I will.”
“I suppose you’d like to wait until your friends are there,” he grumbled, and she laughed.
“Yes, I would,” she replied. “Just as you should wait for your family.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“Whatever happens with them, David, we should start this the right way, by inviting them to be with us as we celebrate our happiness. Maybe then they will see that that’s what truly matters.”
“Perhaps,” he said, though she could tell he didn’t believe her in the least.
“Your family… I realize they may not always be what you would wish them to be,” she said softly. “But they are still your family. Though I have come to realize lately that family is what you make of it — sometimes they are by blood, sometimes they are of your own choosing.”
She looked up at him now, her eyes wide. “My goodness, I just remembered the letters I sent. By the time I am home, my friends will think that I am halfway across the ocean.”
“Then what a pleasant surprise it will be for them to find that you are still on English soil,” he said with a wink. “Or you could write them again before we leave. If you would ever like to return to America to visit, Sarah, I would be glad to go with you. It would be interesting, I think, to see how people live over there.”
She raised her eyebrows at him, and he could tell she wanted to laugh at the thought of him in America.