Chapter 28 #3
“Good. It is just as I expected. Tomorrow I shall journey into Williamsburg and visit the magistrate myself, where I will explain everything and then have documents drawn up to deed Briarwood over to you. James had hoped that someday you might have this plantation, knowing you would make it prosper, and so you shall. Then I plan to visit the parish church and see that the proper wedding banns are posted and the wedding license obtained. If Camille wanted you, Susanna, to carry on in her stead as the mistress of Briarwood, I can do no less than to honor her dying wish. She was right. No one deserves it more than you.”
Completely stunned, Susanna looked at Adam, who appeared as astounded as she was.
“Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I must retire,” Lady Redmayne said, appearing suddenly very weary, although a faint smile curved her lips.
“I imagine it’s going to be a very hectic few weeks, planning the wedding and all the parties that must go with it, and seeing a bit of this colony of which James was so proud.
I must admit, I never expected to find Virginia so agreeable, despite the unwelcome downpour that greeted Mary and me as soon as we came off the ship.
Quite civilized, too. Well, good night.”
As the baroness began to walk to the door, Susanna quickly left Adam’s side to catch up with her, saying, “I’ll show you to your room, my lady.” She was surprised when Lady Redmayne waved her back to the bed.
“There’s no need to accompany me, Susanna, I can find my own way down the hall,” she insisted.
“Go care for your handsome betrothed and look to yourself, for that matter. From what I’ve heard from Ertha, whom I took the liberty of reassuring I might add, and that charming young Corliss, you two have had quite an interesting past few days.
Lovers’ quarrels, spills from balconies, sword fights…
” She shook her gray head. “You should both be abed, resting!”
“All—all right, your ladyship,” Susanna murmured, offering another curtsy.
“That’s another thing, my dear,” Lady Redmayne added kindly as she opened the door. “From now on, please call me Aunt Melicent, and the same goes for you, Adam. Remember, I said we’re family now. That means no more curtsying, too. Sleep well.”
Then the baroness was gone, leaving them alone, yet Susanna stood rooted to the floor.
She could hardly believe everything that had just happened…
their good fortune was simply unheard of.
Yet it had happened! She didn’t have to pinch herself to know that it was true.
She and Adam could stay at Briarwood! It was going to be their home!
“Come here, my love,” she heard Adam say behind her, his beloved voice only heightening her incredible joy. She spun to find him staring at her hungrily, his eyes warm and glittering in the candlelight. “There’s something I want to ask you.”
She rushed toward him but stopped just out of his arm’s reach, for his expression had suddenly become most serious, taking her by surprise. “What is it, Adam? Is something wrong?”
“Only if I don’t hear the right answer from your lips. Come closer so I can touch you.”
She did, his hand sliding around her waist, then he gently pulled her down to sit facing him on the bed. “Answer to what, Adam?”
Reaching up to tenderly cradle her face with one hand, he stared deeply into her eyes. “Will you marry me, Susanna Jane Guthrie?”
As her heart swelled with infinite love for this man, her first impulse was to shout out “Yes!” and hear it ring all around them. But instead she could not resist murmuring playfully, wanting to draw out this rapturous moment, “Only on two conditions.”
He smiled roguishly and adopted her teasing tone. “Name them.”
“I cannot simply be a lady of leisure, Adam. Needlework and playing the pianoforte aren’t enough for me. I want to work for my keep. Make myself useful.”
“Done.”
“As easily as that?” His very nearness was sending tremors of excitement racing through her.
“How can I refuse you anything, my love?” He caressed her silken cheek with his thumb, rejoicing in his heart that this beautiful, enchanting woman had come into his life. “And your second condition?”
She smiled wantonly, leaning forward to brush the lightest yet most seductive kiss upon his lips. “I want a proper courting before we wed, Adam…the kind any woman would dream about.”
“I’ll show you the stuff of which a woman’s dreams are made,” he said huskily, pulling her on top of him so that she straddled him.
Ignoring the twinge of pain his movement had cost him and thinking that to have her astride him so appealingly was well worth any discomfort, he traced her full, inviting lips with his fingertips.
Then slowly, he drew her face toward him until their mouths were almost touching.
“But first, Susanna Jane, you must give me your answer.”
“Yes, Adam Thornton, I will marry you,” she whispered, pressing her soft lips to his. In that brilliant shining moment, he had never felt more loved, or more whole.
Thank you for reading Dangerous Masquerade: The Complete Collection.
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