Page 195 of The Scandal You Started
Rayna tightened her hand around his, the way her heart tightened.
There was no way that would happen. There would never come a point where she’d want nothing to do with him. Rayna couldn’t explain why she was so sure of it, considering how she still wasn’t a hundred percent sure love could be trusted. But after everything they’d been through, everything Dominic had done for her, so long as he never broke her trust, she was never ever,everletting go of him.
“I would like to clarify,” Sheun added, “and make sure you understand, Lord Norland, that by agreeing to stay, you are giving up your past identity. And this time it’s not just for a few months. It’s for forever.”
“I assure you I understand, Dr Olabi.”
“He’ll still be Lord Norland,” Rayna interjected. “Because we intend to travel back to the past yearly.” She pushed the red manila folder in front of her across the table towards Sheun. “I have everything detailed here on how we would like to proceed. From Dominic’s identity to his work and our journeys to the past.”
Rayna could feel a flare of emotion flood out of Dominic as his fingers pressed into the back of her hand. The same pride and determination that had followed his surprise when she’d shown him the folder in the car and asked him if he was happy with the plan she’d crafted for their life, work, and home in the time he’d been gone.
“He’ll still be Dominic Thorne,” she explained as Sheun read through the page inside. “Part-time horse breeder and part-time project agent, hired after his work was highly praisedas a contracted curator. He’ll work with me when necessary. Otherwise, he’ll take care of the stable horses, and we’ll be paid as two separate employees, the way Winnie and Declan Griffin are.
“Saying that, I’ll take on one less project per year so that Dominic and I can spend a few months with his family in the past, allowing him to still be marquess, and so that Dr Johnson can continue monitoring his Rupture.” She paused, watching Sheun’s eyes skim over the page as Lang leaned closer to peek at it too. “That also means you’ll have to let Dr Johnson continue my mum’s research, because we currently still don’t know enough to make sure we go about managing Dominic’s Rupture properly.”
Lang bristled. “That wouldn’t be wise, Miss Faez, after what—”
“It shouldn’t be a problem, so long as it’s on a theoretical level,” the older brunette woman said, glancing curtly along the table towards Lang.
“I agree,” Sheun said. “We know much more after Lord Norland’s experience too, and it’d be good to study it properly. But it’s something we’ll have to discuss further, Dr Johnson.”
“I would like those discussions to happen at the earliest possible date,” Victor said.
Sheun nodded once. “I’ll tell my PA to book something in.” She proceeded to continue reading the document in the silence of the room until she stopped again. “The farmhouse?”
“Yes,” Rayna confirmed. “Either we could purchase it off the project, or you could make us the new caretakers, allowing Winnie and Declan Griffin to retire, but we would like to make the farmhouse our home.”
Because what better place was there to turn into their forever home than the one in which it had all started?
Dominic
A weight lifted off Dominic’s shoulders as he, Rayna, and Victor stood up from the table once discussions of their future were mostly finalised.
His steps were lighter as they left the POTeM lab meeting room. His pulse danced with excitement and anticipation as Victor closed the door behind them. And his heart swelled to the point of bursting when, in the corridor, Rayna turned to him and audibly exhaled, a bright, beautiful smile spreading across her lips.
Relief, love, and elation compelled him towards her. She opened her arms with a fluttery laugh and locked them around his neck as he lifted her off the floor.
“It’s done,” she whispered into his hair as he buried his face in her neck.
“It is done,” he echoed with a croak.
It was over. There was no more fighting the impossible.
They’d done it. They’d struggled, but they’d succeeded.
They’d found a way to be together in the present and past, forever, and there was no longer anyone trying to take it awayfrom them. No one to tell them they couldn’t have a home, a life, a future, a family together. They could have it all—wouldhave it all.
Because they were no longer being weighed down by the burden of what history had dictated.
They were free.They were together.
She loved him. And he loved her. She was his everything. His happiness, his home, his freedom, his heart and breath and soul. He’d spend the rest of his life making sure she never once regretted trusting him with her heart, and he’d start it the proper way.
With the one thing he’d been dying to ask her since the moment he’d realised he loved her.
Dominic set Rayna on her feet before lowering himself onto one knee before her. He clasped her hands, lifting his gaze from his signet ring around her neck to her wide, charcoal eyes.
“I love you,” he rasped, bearing his heart in his voice. “So much, Rayna. Beyond anything words will ever be able to convey. You have always had my heart, but I would like you to have my whole life too. All of it. From here on until forever. So will you do me the honour of becoming my beloved wife and allow me to be your husband?”
