Chapter 9
When he finally let her up for air, Olivia sagged against the carriage, her heart hammering, her mind utterly dazed.
“What has become of you, Miss Darington? Allowing yourself to be accosted by a man at Scandal Lane of all places?”
Olivia tried to match his serious expression, but she was just so terribly pleased to be with him.
“You’ve led me astray, Lord Fincham. Not content with ruining my childhood, it seems you’re bent on ruining my reputation, too.”
“Oh, I have many, many more ways of ruining that, love. Far more enjoyable than a mere kiss.”
In an instant, he looked positively wicked, and Olivia’s heart took off in response.
“Walk with me?” he asked softly.
She looked upwards, watching as snowflakes began to fall heavily from the sky.
“Alexander,” she hissed, “it’s snowing. We cannot go marching about Hyde Park.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” he asked.
He moved away from her and opened the door of his carriage. This one emblazoned with the Fincham crest.
To her surprise, he pulled out a giant, heavy blanket and threw it over her shoulders then reached back inside and grabbed a basket.
Olivia couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’ve thought of everything,” she said.
He turned and took a lantern from his smiling coachman then turned hold out his hand to her.
“What on earth are we doing?” she asked as she took his hand.
“You’ll see. Have some patience,” he scolded.
He was enjoying himself immensely, so it seemed.
So she would, too. If anyone saw her holding hands with Alexander Stratford at Scandal Lane, there’d be no recovering from the furore. And Olivia found that she simply didn’t care.
Alexander felt like a child on Christmas morn as he led Olivia through the darkened park.
It was freezing and the snow was already blanketing everything around them.
Perhaps this hadn’t been such a good idea. He didn’t want her falling ill.
Alexander glanced down at his companion and was pleased to see an excited little smile on her lips. She didn’t look cold or miserable
She looked happy, even if it was freezing.
He drew them to a stop at the Serpentine and wondered if she recognised the spot.
Watching closely, he saw her eyes widened infinitesimally. “Ah,” she said, a smile playing around her lips. “Back to the scene of my crime? Tell me, are you planning on drowning me?”
Alex laughed in response.
“No, sweetheart, though no doubt you deserve the payback. I’m planning something much better.”
Olivia tried desperately to keep her wits about her, but it was no use.
She’d been worried that Alexander had taken leave of his senses altogether when he’d started walking them through a snowstorm. She could only assume they were at this particular spot for a reason. She hoped a wonderful reason.
She turned to look at Alexander and saw that he was watching her with a look of such tenderness that her heart almost flew from her chest.
Without giving it a second thought she reached up and threw her arms around his neck, nearly toppling him.
He chuckled in surprise before dropping the basket he held and lifting her clean off her feet and devouring her lips in a soul searing kiss.
When she finally needed to come up for air, he broke the contact, settled her on her feet and retrieved the basket before grasping her hand and pulling her the final few steps to the bench.
She sat atop the blanket trailing from her shoulders, making sure that she left room for him on it.
They were pressed so tightly together there was no room between them, and she wouldn’t want there to be.
He whipped out a flask and two pewter mugs.
“Ugh, is that more brandy?” she asked.
His smile was heart-stopping.
“Cider,” he answered. “For you.”
He poured the liquid from the flask into one of the mugs and she wrapped her hands around it, grateful for the heat, and inhaled the spiced apple scent.
Another flask contained brandy for him, and they sat in companionable silence for a while.
When her cup was empty, Alex whipped it from her hand, dropping it and his own back into the basket, along with the flasks.
Then, before she could speak, he reached out and pulled her onto his lap. Olivia wrapped one hand around his neck, the other, she placed on his solid chest. “Thank you,” she whispered softly. “Nobody has ever done something like this for me, and I shall never forget it.”
For a moment, he didn’t move, just stared into her eyes, then slowly, he moved her hand from his chest to place a soft kiss on the palm.
Even through her thick, winter glove she felt its impact.
“Olivia,” he said, his tone gravelly and low. “If you would let me, I would spend my whole life doing things like this for you.”
Olivia felt her jaw drop at his words.
He couldn’t possible mean what she thought, could he?
“Y-you would?” she squeaked, hardly daring to believe it.
“I would,” he confirmed with a self-deprecating smile that she found more endearing than any of the charm he’d bestowed on her previously.
“I love you, Olivia. I loved you from that first moment in your father’s garden, three years ago.
Back then, I tried to convince myself you meant nothing.
That I hated you as I always had. That I had too much pride to care for a woman who set fire to my curtains and threw me into rivers,” he grinned swiftly before he was all seriousness once again.
“But pride is a poor substitute for the woman I love, and I won’t let it get in my way again. ”
Olivia’s heart soared at his words.
Dear lord, could he really mean it? Could she really be this lucky?
“This isn’t a trick, is it?” she whispered, almost afraid to believe him.
He laughed softly.
“Of course it’s not a trick! I adore you, sweetheart. I never thought it possible to feel as much love as I do for you.”
“Alex,” she sniffled, her eyes filling with tears that she made no effort to stop. “I love you, too. So very much. I’m so glad I didn’t drown you in the river.”
His laugh was short-lived as his eyes lit in triumph before he pulled her face to his for a heart-stopping kiss.
She could have this every day, Olivia realised. Every day, forever.
“Marry me,” he finally whispered, his forehead pressed against her own. ”I know how much you like to fight me but if you will concede on this, I promise to let you win every fight from now until we die.”
Olivia laughed through her tears.
She thought her heart would burst from sheer happiness.
“Let me win, indeed,” she scoffed but couldn’t keep the smile from her face. ”I will win whether you allow it or not, Alexander Stratford.”
“Is that a yes?” he demanded, his hands moving ever so slowly to the strings of her cloak.
“That is a most definite yes,” she gasped as he removed the garment and began to nibble wickedly on her neck.
“Finally,” he growled as his mouth moved lower still. ”We agree on something.”