Vistaria Has Fallen (The Vistaria Affair/Vistaria Has Fallen #1)(72)

“That wasn’t what I was thinking at all.”

“Then...?”

He glanced at her and she recognized discomfort in his expression.

“What?” she asked, a spurt of fear touching her.

“La dama fuerte,” he murmured. “I never asked you if you wanted this. If you wanted me.”

“Oh,” she said inadequately.

“You will never have a normal life with me. I can’t offer you a damn thing. Not even a nation to reside in. It’s just me. And I’m...” He took a breath, let it out. “I’m afraid it won’t be enough. I’ve done nothing but push you away, I know that. I’ve put you through, well, a war. Only I want you to say yes. I want you to stay with me. Always.”

She considered this for a moment.

“The lady stays silent,” Nick murmured to himself. She could hear the note of worry in his voice.

She sighed. “You’d better teach me Spanish, Nick. It seems to be the one thing I can’t teach myself out of a book.”

He plucked her from the deck, put her on his lap and wrapped his arms around her. Before she could gasp her surprise, he kissed her, and this time it was not a brief one. When he let her draw a full breath again, she said, “The wheel!”

“I am watching it,” he assured her, his voice low, deep, the way she remembered it from the first time they had met.

“Always, Nick?” she asked, not quite able to believe he wanted her to stay with him forever.

“Until the end, whenever that may be.” He cleared his throat. “Duardo said it best. Even if the end is to be tomorrow and we only have this day in which I can call you mine, I’ll take that. I will grab it with both hands and be proud and very grateful that you stayed.”