Read A Scandalous Proposal Online
Authors: Julia Justiss
A Scandalous Proposal (28 page)
“No more ridiculous than the two of us loving each other and remaining apart. Oh, Evan, we truly worked at cross-purposes once, both of us keeping silent when we should have spoken out. Let us commit no more sins of omission! I love you and I shall not go away unless you convince me you no longer care at all for me.”
“Ah, Emily.” Now that he'd turned to her, she could see the yearning in his gaze. For the first time in this interview she felt a renewal of the euphoria that had gripped her when Andrea first conveyed the news of their engagement's end.
No, he was not indifferent.
“You may think you do the right thing coming here, Emily, and it's so like youâbold, brave and beautiful woman that you are. Which is precisely why you deserve better than a crippledâ”
She put a finger to his lips, effectively stopping his sentence.
“Tell me you don't want this,” she murmured, finally beginning to enjoy herself. She slid her arms around his neck, brought her face close to his. “Tell me you want me to go away.”
He closed his eyes. “I want you toâ”
She kissed him. For perhaps half a second he resisted. Then his good arm came up to pull her roughly against him. He kissed her with the desperate intensity of a man finding faith again after believing all hope was lost.
She returned the favor. After some marvelously breathless moments that set her heart pounding and excited promising reactions all over her body, she made herself pull back slightly.
“A gentleman,” she whispered, kissing his ear, “would make meâ” she kissed his chin “âan honest womanâ” she ran her tongue down to the base of his throat “âat long last.”
“Are you,” he groaned, “trying to seduce me?”
“Am I succeeding?”
“Not until after we see the vicar. That isâ” he tipped up her chin, his one-eyed gaze searching hers intently “âif you're sure this is what you really want?”
“Do you love me Evan?”
“I've always loved you.”
“Say the words. Say them with my name.”
He smiled, a world of tenderness in his gaze. “I love you, Auriana Emilie, my heart, my life.”
“Then this is what I really want,” she replied, and proceeded to demonstrate that conviction beyond possibility of doubt.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4007-4
A SCANDALOUS PROPOSAL
Copyright © 2000 by Janet Justiss
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