Page 65 of The Moonstone Marquess
“It is your feelings I worry about. It is still too soon. What happens when you tire of me?”
The question went unanswered as Chloe came upstairs with Imogen and Ella. “The girls need to get dressed.”
Cormac sighed. “And I need to wait downstairs. Hurry up, ducklings. Your uncle is hungry.”
He heard the patter of little feet as they scampered into their bedchamber. Chloe bustled in after them.
He paused a moment at Phoebe’s door. “Can you not say it to me?”
She wanted to tell him that she loved him. He knew it anyway. But saying the words aloud seemed so final. She wasn’t worried about her feelings. As much as she’d tried not to fall in love with him, it was an utterly lost cause.
She loved him fiercely.
He’d called her a lioness, and this was how she loved him, with the pride and ferocity of a lion.
But she’d known him less than a week. Would he love her into next week? And the next?
He gave her a wry smile. “Funny how the words trip so easily off my tongue, but they seem stuck on yours. I see you still have doubts about me.”
She hated to hurt him. “Cormac, wait.”
He turned back and cast her a heartbroken smile as tears welled in her eyes.
“Love,” he said gently, “you’re crying. Don’t cry over me. I know you care for me. Don’t cry and don’t start splashing water on your face again. I’ll give you all the time you need to be certain of me.”
She threw her arms around him. “Thank you for understanding.”
He plunged his hand in her hair, his fingers soft as they slid through her curls. “Do I have a choice?”
“You could decide I am not worth the wait.”
He kissed the top of her head. “You are silk and cream. I’ll wait for you forever and beyond, if this is what it takes.”
He released her and went downstairs.
She stared after him, trying to hold herself together as she absorbed his lovely words. Forever. He’d wait for her forever.
He’d made no bones about his desire to marry her, and was even willing to bring Cain home in order to get the license.
He’d bared his heart to her.
Told her he loved her.
And yet she’d held him off.
Worse, she’d pushed him away even though she did love him—and had felt this way from the day they met. Falling in love at first sight was a terrible thing. Falling in love deeper each time she saw him was mortifying. It was all happening too quickly, especially with a man like him, a rakehell with a most disreputable past.
Her body was in aching torment over him.
Her heart cried out for him.
So, what was she trying to prove? He knew how she felt, for this frightening desire she had for him could not be hidden.
He was wonderful.
She adored him.
Shelovedhim.
