Page 92 of A Remarkable Rogue

As he turned to face her, he crossed his arms over his chest as casually as if they were discussing the weather. “I was hoping to have an answer by then.”

He already had her answer. But she couldn’t bring herself to say it again because this time, she knew, her answer would be final.

As if sensing the turmoil churning inside her, he slowly knelt in front of her chair. “The reason you won’t accept my proposal isn’t because you don’t love me or want to be with me. Anyone could see that with just a glance at you.”

She couldn’t deny it. If she did, he’d see right through her lie.

“It’s more than that.” His hazel eyes were solemn as he studied her in the golden glow of the firelight. “You’re frightened of marriage, aren’t you?”

“No,” she answered. That was the God’s truth. She wasn’t frightened of it—“I’m terrified.”

The flicker of dark amusement registering on his face made her chest pang. “So am I,” he admitted. “But I’m even more terrified of living without you.”

He reached for her knee just as he’d done in the carriage when he’d proposed the first time. But this time she slipped her hand over his to keep him from pulling away.

His eyes softened. “You’re afraid you’re going to be trapped as a wife again, like you were with the baron.”

“I wasn’t a wife,” she somehow managed to force out despite her quivering lips that wanted to sob. “I was a matrimonial prisoner.”

He laced his fingers through hers. “I would have saved you even then if I’d have known.”

“I know,” she breathed out, unable to speak any louder.

He dropped his gaze to her hand in his as if he were afraid to look at her when he admitted, “I loved Sarah, and I will always love her. But now it’s you, Sydney, who is my future.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the backs of her fingers. “All I want is you. So I will sign whatever documents you want giving you complete control over all your property and money—over what little of mine there is as well.” He arched a brow. “But you should be warned that it’s mainly just my horse and a pair of old boots.”

A short laugh broke through her gathering tears, and she pressed her free hand against her mouth.

His eyes met hers as he promised, “I will gladly give everything I possess to be with you.”

Her fingers tightened in his as her chest filled with his strength and resolve. He was so warm and strong, so kind and…well,notgentle in every sense. And she loved him for it.

“I want a marriage of equals with you, Baroness, which is going to be difficult,” he conceded with a sigh, “since you already outrank me in position, kindness, and goodness.” He leaned over and placed a kiss to the back of her hand as it lay entwined with his on her knee. “I can’t promise that our life together will be perfect, that there won’t be problems and arguments.” When he lifted his head to gaze up at her, he covered her hand with both of his. “What Icanpromise is that I will never intentionally hurt you, and I will never be cruel to you in any way.”

Her throat knotted, and she didn’t dare say anything for fear she’d surrender right then and beg him to marry her. But a tear slipped down her cheek.

He solemnly reached up and brushed it away with his thumb. “I can’t offer you position or property. I can’t give you anything but my love and protection.” He shrugged. “And a nightshirt.”

She laughed despite the tears. Only Nate could make her feel like laughing and crying at the same time. Dear God, how much she loved him! At that moment, she was both so incredibly happy and so very afraid that she shook. A new future was opening for her, if she only had the courage to seize it.

“If there is one thing that our pasts have taught us it’s that life is precious and love is sacred, and I don’t want to waste a moment of either.”

Neither did she.

Emotion overwhelmed her. She sat forward to cup his face between her hands and kissed him. She drank him in like a woman dying of thirst. He was hers, now and forever, and she planned on never letting go.

“Yes,” she whispered and buried her face against his neck. Her heart knew there was no other answer she wanted to give. “Yes, I will marry you.”

“Well, it’s about time.”

Gaping, she pulled back and swatted at his shoulder. “Why, you arrogant, impossible—”

In one smooth movement, he stood and lifted her into his arms as he rose to his feet, then sat down in her chair and brought her onto his lap. He kissed her with love and happiness. His hand slid down her arm to rest possessively at the small of her back, and heat radiated out from his palm and through her like a warm summer rain.

She knew then that she’d made the right decision. Her future was bound to this man, and so was her heart. For always.

But in his kiss, she tasted something else… She pulled back to search his face. “What’s wrong?”

He paused before answering quietly, “I told you who my father was, that I’m the illegitimate son of the late Earl of St James.”