An Unexpected Pleasure (The Mad Morelands #4)(110)
“Megan…” Theo stopped and turned to face her, taking both her hands in his. The light of the full moon slanted across his face, washing it with pale light.
“Yes?” Megan’s heart sped up at the serious look on Theo’s face, and suddenly her stomach tightened. She was not at all sure that she wanted to hear what he was going to say. Surely he could not send her away, not after what had happened tonight!
“Wait,” she said quickly, holding up a hand to forestall his words. “I want to tell you something first. I love you.”
“I love you, too. That is why—”
“No, let me finish. Loving you is enough for me. I understand you have responsibilities and…I can accept that. I am not saying I like it, but I can—I want to be with you in whatever way I can. I don’t care about your title or my reputation or any of that. All I care about is you.”
“Are you finished now?” he asked patiently, a smile lurking at the corners of his mouth.
She nodded.
“Good.” He bent to kiss her lips quickly. “I am glad you don’t care about my title, because, frankly, I don’t, either. But I do care about your reputation. And mine. Most of all, I care about you and our life together. Megan, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He paused, then went on, “Will you marry me?”
Megan could not stop the smile that burst across her face. “Oh, Theo!” Her throat was suddenly choked with tears. “I love you, too. More than anything. I can’t tell you how much it means that you want to marry me.”
She reached up and curved her hand lovingly against his cheek. “But you will be a duke. You can’t marry a commoner. An American one, at that.”
“Believe me, you are anything but common,” Theo retorted. “And what difference does it make that you’re American? You act as if I’m royalty or some such thing. I’m not. I’m merely me.”
“But your family—you owe it to them to make a good marriage.”
“It will be a good marriage. I promise you that.”
“You know what I mean!” Megan exclaimed in exasperation. “The sort of marriage a duke should make. Your parents—”
“My parents love you. They could not be happier.”
Megan looked at him in surprise. “You mean—you told them?”
“Of course. I talked to Mother yesterday. She gave me this ring.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold ring with a magnificent ruby set in its center.
“It belonged to my father’s mother. She left it to my mother when she died—not because she liked my mother, you understand. Grandmother was something of a harridan and believed that my father had married very much beneath him. That is one reason my mother stuck the ring away in a box and never wore it. But it is tradition that this ring passes from duchess to duchess. And, as you will be the next duchess, she agreed that it would be the perfect engagement ring for you.”
Theo extended the ring to Megan. She saw that his fingers trembled slightly with nerves, and all her insides went as soft as melted wax at the thought.
“Oh, Theo!” Tears glimmered in her eyes, and she raised her fingers to her lips, unable to say more.
“Please take it, Megan. Tell me you will marry me. If the title bothers you that much, I will give it up, make Reed take it. There must be a way I can do that.”
“Oh, Theo!” Megan cried again, the tears spilling out now and rolling down her cheeks, and she launched herself at him, her arms encircling his neck. “Yes! Yes! Of course I will marry you!”
He let out a gusty sigh of relief. “Thank God! You were beginning to worry me.” He hugged her to him tightly, nuzzling into her hair before he pulled back and took her hand, slipping the ring upon it. “I thought you might insist I move to New York and go to work or something.”
Megan let out a watery chuckle. “I don’t care where we live or what you do. I will go wherever you go—China or Africa or the North Pole. All I care about is being with you.”
“Then we are agreed,” he said, adding with a grin, “for once.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Megan warned.
“I won’t,” he promised, bending close and looking into her eyes. “But I plan to get used to loving you.”
With that, he pulled her close, and their lips met in a long, slow kiss.
*
If you’ve fallen for the delightful Moreland family, you won’t want to miss an early look at the latest volume in the Mad Morelands series, His Sinful Touch, coming soon from New York Times bestselling author Candace Camp and HQN Books!
PROLOGUE
HER EYES DRIFTED OPEN. It was shadowy and dark, the only light a small kerosene lamp on a chest across the room. But even in the dim light, she knew this wasn’t home. Her eyes closed again, the lids heavy. She wanted to sleep again, but she knew she couldn’t. Foggy and befuddled as she was, there was a sharp, insistent fear that prodded her to wake up.
She had to leave.
It was an effort to pull herself from the suction of sleep, but she had to. Something was terribly wrong. Vague, wavering images flittered through her brain—a dark carriage, a strange parlor, some man she didn’t know talking, talking, his voice droning on. There was another man beside her, more familiar but still wrong somehow.