A Stolen Season (21 page)
“Eric, I meant what I said. I am sorry for what I’ve put you through all these months. I want you to know I’m staying and I damn well will marry you, so you’d better have meant what you asked me inside.”
Eric held her close. “You know I did. God, I’ve missed you.” He was silent for a moment. “I have to confess, Sarah, it hasn’t been a good time.” He cleared his throat. “You’ve obviously heard what happened to my mother and Patricia.”
“I know everything that has happened in your life to date, Eric. There is nothing you have done that I do not know about. And even knowing all this does not make me love you less.”
“I felt the biggest bastard after you left. I went through with the marriage because I had no other choice. I wanted to break it off but Patricia would not hear of it. The whole situation was a mess. I never touched her.”
Sarah kissed him, reassuring him as best she could.
“She deserved better than me, a man who not only didn’t love her, but pined for another. My mother confessed her hatred toward you prior to that day and the rage I felt knowing you were their constant nemesis maddened me beyond belief. I couldn’t forgive them.”
He ran his hand through his hair. “Hell, I couldn’t forgive myself, for that matter. I demanded they leave. I practically tossed them out the door. And of course you know what happened later that day.”
Sarah kept silent, waiting for him to finish, knowing he needed to.
“I’ve spent the last months living in a hellish manner, and I’m not proud of it. I didn’t believe your story and I lost you, and killed my mother and wife. I don’t deserve to be happy.”
Sarah refused to let him speak in such a way. “You do, Eric, don’t ever say that. Why would you believe in time travel? The whole notion is quite absurd.” She smiled. “And as for your mother and Patricia, you weren’t to know what would happen, just like the rest of us. It was an accident. You told me yourself the roads in that part of Kent could be perilous. I will not allow you to blame yourself, not now or ever.
“We have all acted irrationally out of fear, anger, love, and hate. We have all been fools, but we can’t allow it to impinge on our future together. Let sleeping dogs lie, my darling. Please do it for me, I don’t care how you’ve lived since I left. I know you love me as I love you and as of today, we will begin anew. Agreed?” Smiling she hugged him and kissed his cheek.
“I don’t deserve to have you, Sarah. I cannot wait to marry you. I love you.”
Sarah bombarded him with small kisses over his face, desire heating her blood as his laugh rumbled within his tightly muscled chest.
“Yes you do, my lord. And I love you. So,” Sarah said, pausing to undo his top shirt button, “let me prove it to you.”
Eric growled, agreeing wholeheartedly as his hands ventured down her waist. “You already have.”
Tamara Gill’s love of history started from an early age, but her reading of historical romances only began when home on maternity leave with her second son. Her writing career started as a hobby but soon turned into an obsession that is still going strong. Member of Romance Writers of Australia, Romance Writers of America, South Australian Romance Authors and The Beau Monde keep her occupied and focused on her craft and the changing trends of readers. Tamara lives in the beautiful Barossa Valley in South Australia and enjoys hearing from readers and writers alike.
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