Page 156 of Doxy for the Ton
“You need to look into your heart to find the answer.”
Mimi continued. “Orphans, natural children, young girls unexpectedly thrust into a world with no resources other than their wits. This school will be the means by which they can stride out into the world and find employment, so that they might never know what it means to be alone, and unloved.” Her voice had grown hoarse, and she clasped her hands together. “Alone—as I have been…”
Alexander leaped to his feet.
“No!” he cried.
A ripple traveled through the crowd as they turned to see who’d interrupted her speech. Mimi lifted her gaze and froze.
Wide brown eyes stared at him, and she clasped her hands together as Alexander strode along the aisle.
“A-Alexander…”
“You stand not alone, Mimi,” he said.
She glanced toward Lady Radham as if in panic—as if she sought to flee.
But he would never let her take flight again.
He extended his hand toward her.
“My love for you says that you are not alone, Mimi,” he said. “You need never be alone again.”
Then he lowered himself onto one knee. Whispers and intakes of breath ran through the hall but were quickly silenced while he remained still, his gaze fixed on the woman he could not live without.
“Alexander…” She shook her head then glanced to one side. “Wh-what’s happening? Lady Radham, did you plan this?”
Lady Radham shook her head. “I planned nothing, my dear. I merely invited the duke so that he might witness your success.”
“He’s aduke?” someone said, followed by an outbreak of whispering as the onlookers jostled against each other to get a better view.
Take a good look, all of you, while I offer myself to the woman I love.
Mimi stepped off the platform and approached him, her eyes glistening with moisture.
He shuffled forward and grasped her hands. “Mimi, my love, please,” he said. “I’m in torment, and have suffered since the day we parted. I beg you to ease my pain and consent to become my wife.”
The crowd seemed to emit a collective sigh, followed by shushing as they—and he—awaited her response.
“You have shown that you can change the world, Mimi my love,” he said.
“I cannot change it for everyone.”
“Then change it for those fortunate enough to know you,” he said. “Change it for the man who loves you—the man who was, at first, too much of a fool, too bound to the niceties of Society, to look beyond his nose and into his heart.”
He drew her hands to his lips, relishing the soft scent of her—the aroma of rose that he’d kept with him in the lonely nights when he had cried out for her in his dreams.
“Change the world forme,” he whispered.
A flicker of desire flared in her eyes, as if her soul called to him. Then her expression shuttered.
“Will you answer one question?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Truthfully?”
“Of course,” he said. “My heart—and my soul—are yours, laid bare.”
