Page 126 of Summerhaven
“Thank you, Caldwell,” Damon said politely, but as soon as he’d quit the room, Damon turned to me and groaned.
“Oh stop.” I nudged his ribs with my elbow. “You have known about this for weeks.”
“And I have tried to forget it for just as many. You know I have no wish to have my portrait painted. So many hours of sitting and someone staring at you.”
“Alas, the day is upon us, and you must act graciously or he will paint you to look grim and gruesome.”
Damon made a grotesque facial expression, scrunching his nose and contorting his mouth. He leaned close, nuzzling into my cheek.
“That is enough.” I laughed and playfully pushed him away. “Now help me stand.”
He rose with a sigh, then helped me stand. “I actually have an idea,” he said, tucking my hand into his arm as we walked toward the portrait gallery. “What if instead of me getting my portrait painted,wegetourportrait painted?”
I looked up at him in question.
“Summerhaven isourhome, after all, and I do not think I could smile without you by my side.”
“You are a gentleman through and through, Damon Jennings, and it was kind of you to ask.”
“Why do I feel like you are about to refuse me?”
“Because I am.” I laid a hand on my stomach. “I do not think I should like to be remembered looking as large as an elephant.”
Damon stopped us right in the middle of the entry hall and turned me to face him. “You are beautiful, my love, and I should very much like to remember you this way.”
“Well, I do not, so either you will have to sit for your portrait alone, or Mr. Tobine will have to use his imagination and paint me a girlish figure.”
“Does this mean you will sit with me?”
“On one condition,” I said. “No, two.”
“Go on.”
I held up one finger. “First, you do not name our first son Zeus.”
He laughed. “And two?”
“You smile in our portrait.”
“I do so swear it,” he said, pulling me tighter into his embrace. “Although, for our agreement to be legally binding, we must seal it with a kiss.”
“Is that how business is done in the House of Lords?”
A smile tugged at his mouth. “Only in the house of Summerhaven, my love, and only with you.”
“Well, then.” I rose to my tiptoes. “Perhaps you’d best kiss me.”
“Perhaps I shall.”
