Chapter 18 #3
She tried to peer into his eyes, shadowed in darkness. “Not in memory?”
“Not in any fashion. I promise you. It is only us.” He slid a hand to the back of her neck. “If you believe I will do everything in my power to deserve you.”
“Deserve—” He caught her opened lips in a kiss.
“You are a rising architect. You have several admiring patrons and promising contracts in hand. You are building the most beautiful house in town. If they are not prepared to call you gentleman already, you will be signing your contracts Esquire soon.”
“I wish the admiration only if it eases a path for you, my love. The work itself is enough for me, if I have you.”
A sudden doubt bit in. “Will it hurt your reputation in town if I stay with the stage? Some may not approve if your wife is an actress.”
“I think if they come see you perform, they will change their minds. And if not, their opinion cannot touch us.” He smiled as he smoothed kisses along her jaw and below her ear. “You have enough powerful friends, I think public opinion will sway in your favor. Mine, too.”
Moonlight silvered part of his face, showing him half carved god, and still so much mystery. Cerys slid her hands over his cheeks and teased her fingertips into his hair. He rested his face against her palm in surrender.
“What will your family think of your marrying an actress?” she asked, suddenly shy at the thought of meeting the other women who had a secure place in his life.
“They will adore you as much as I do. I promise.” He twisted his mouth in a wry grin. “Daniele, the youngest, is just your age. There will be any number of jests that I have robbed a cradle for my bride.”
“Nonsense. The span of years between us is not so wide. Your wisdom will balance my impulsiveness. It is a perfect blend.”
“You believe that?” he murmured, and the thread of doubt in his voice tugged at her heart.
“Dante Manelli.” She clasped her hands on either side of his head and peered into his eyes as best she could.
His body was warm and solid against hers, a pillar of strength she could lean on, and the scent of Hungary water was the most delicious scent she’d ever known.
“I need you to be nothing more than what you are. Will you believe me?”
“Only if you will believe the same.” He slid an arm about her waist and urged her closer, so there was no space between their bodies at all. “There is nothing you need do to win or keep me. I am yours for always, and I will adore you always, simply for who you are.”
“Just me.”
“Only you. Always.”
She returned his kiss, falling into the spell of love, the magical world between them. Desire swirled and lifted her like a song.
“You will recall,” she said against his lips, “that I have a bedchamber all to myself…”
He gave a half laugh, half groan, and gathered her close, burying his face in her hair. “Do not tempt me. I fear what Penrydd and Sir Hewitt would do to me if I spoiled your innocence, but I fear their ladies even more.”
She planted kisses along his jaw, grazing his neckcloth, so properly tied. “As you should.”
“And your stepfather, Evans.” Dante swept his hands up and down her back, raising trails of delicious fire. “I sense he is not a man to cross. But of them all, I believe your mother would be the most formidable.”
Cerys smothered a laugh against his shoulder.
They could be forgiven a trespass or two, as a couple on the way to the altar, but she did not want this dream to be interrupted.
“Might we be married from St. Sefin’s? It will be a way to travel from Cheltenham, I know, but there are some of them I have not seen these two years.
They are my family, and they will want to wish us well. ”
“I am eager to see where you grew up. The place that raised my wild girl.”
“It is not at all conventional,” she warned him. “I—I don’t suppose your mother and sisters will come?”
“They will never forgive me if I do not bring them. They will love you as much as I do.”
She leaned against him, happy to be held, still full of wonder that she could call this man her own. When she raised her face to look at him, he touched the small line between her brows. “I will try to be a good wife,” she began, “but—”
He silenced her fears with another kiss, then raised his head to look into her eyes. “What must I do to persuade you at last that you, and you alone, are enough? I promise, you have won me already, my love. You won’t need to work to keep me. You’ll never be rid of me.”
She smiled, her heart lifting as her chest filled with light, with joy. “Never?”
“I am an architect, my love. I build in stone. I do not change my mind.”
She traced a finger with her lips. “And I am an actress. But I wonder if I was not playing when I told you to pretend we were courting. I wanted you from the first, glower and all.”
“I will have much less to scowl about, with you as my wife.”
“Or more.” She laughed and kissed him. “But I believe we will be happy.”
“I promise you that we will.” And he kissed her until the world disappeared.