Chapter 11
Nothing had gone as Titus hoped, yet here he was. Alone with Tessa. “Now that our boy is safe, we need to talk.”
“Our boy?” her eyes went wide.
“I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? I told you we would talk in the morning, and now it is well past noon.”
“Please don’t feel obliged by what you said to the Somervilles,” she muttered.
“Somervilles? You forget Abigail and Prudence Danvers. They convinced everyone at Normanton House we’re betrothed.”
He meant to sound teasing, but it didn’t help. She shook her head. “Gossip dies down. You mustn’t be coerced.” She didn’t appear convinced.
“Before they came in, while we were on the sofa, with your sweet hands on me, did I seem ‘coerced?’” he asked.
She blushed scarlet, and he had to raise her chin to meet his eyes. “You gave yourself to lovemaking sweetly, to my great joy. It was all I could have hoped. Surely you must believe my intentions were honorable.”
“Rob’s were. At least he married me when he couldn’t bed me any other way. But he tired soon enough. He left me in Lisbon the first time, before I learned to follow the troops. He came to resent being tied to me. I won’t be some man’s burden again.”
How could Fleming not know what a treasure he had? Titus’s heart ached for her. He reached for her but she pulled back.
“Please, Titus. You are kindness itself. Please don’t do that to me.” Tears pooled in the blue eyes he loved.
“Tessa, I’m not Robert Fleming. I’m the man who loves you heart and soul. I had decided to pursue you properly before last night. I know you trust me. I can feel it. Don’t punish me for what that man did.”
Her eyes stared back, wide and searching. When he took both her hands she didn’t resist.
“You are a precious treasure, Tessa Fleming. You deserve a husband who values you above all things. Let me be that man. Will you marry me?” When she hesitated, he rushed on. “Tell me you think you might come to love me as I love you. Please. Let me care for Robby as my own. Be my wife.”
Her tears flowed then, and her words were soft but he heard them loud and clear. “I already love you.”
He gathered her close and bent to kiss her but stopped inches away. “You didn’t answer me. Will you?”
“Marry you? Oh yes, I—”
It was all he needed to hear. He kissed her with all the hope he had been clinging to, all the love that filled him, all the passion that overflowed and came echoing back in her response.
When they came up for air at last, he cradled her against him. “We should probably try to catch up with Robby,” he said.
“You sound reluctant.” She laughed.
“To let you go. Yes. But better we do before I forget my training as a gentleman and rush my fences.”
They started to the front, hand in hand, but he paused at her kitchen door. “Tessa, would you entrust your miniature to me?” he asked.
Tessa didn’t voice the puzzlement he could see in her face, but she unlocked the kitchen door, retrieved the little painting and brought it to him.
When he unwrapped it, her precious face shone clearly back at him. “You’ve cleaned it!” he said.
“As well as I can,” she replied. He loved the pride in her voice. Is there a note of defiance, too?
Titus wrapped it up and put it in his inner pocket over his heart. “I will treasure it always, as it should be; I will treasure the miniature and you both, as you deserve to be.”
Tessa sank against his chest and he held her close. “I love you, Titus,” she murmured. Her love and trust were all he needed. Holding her close, he thought of that manor house in Lincolnshire. It didn’t seem empty anymore.
THE END