Lady Emma's Dilemma (9781101573662) (27 page)

“I am so sorry,” she said, and her voice broke for a moment in remembered pain.

“Do not be,” his arms slipped around her waist and he pulled her close. “I cannot regret the past anymore. We will never know how things could have been. I may have stayed a callow youth and you could have grown to hate me worse than you did when we met again.”

Emma laughed a little at his dark humor. “I did not hate you, not really. I just never expected to feel what I did when we met again. It was as if you had the power to hurt me all over again, and I was frightened.”

She felt the muscles in his arms flex, as she gazed up at him with her hands on his broad chest.

“Frightened? I would never have guessed it. I do not believe the girl I knew before would have kicked Monteford
for his insult, dealt with his mistress with grace and good humor, nor ridden through the rain to warn me about his attempt to bribe my jockey. You have grown into the most amazing woman, Emmaline Wenlock Fallbrook.”

She lowered her eyes from his. “I could not stand by and see you lose unfairly.”

She realized her senses were being carried away by his nearness and the seductive emotion in his deep tone. She felt as if she was moving closer to the cliff's edge, and the tiny rational part of her mind asked again,
Can I trust him?

She felt his warm breath on her temple as he continued. “I know that I spoke much too soon when I asked you to marry me at the Litchfield ball. I now understand because of the circumstance of your past that you are not ready to contemplate marriage—all I ask is that you not run away again.”

Tears filled her eyes at the raw emotion in his voice. She suddenly knew with a clarity that seared her heart that instead of asking if she could trust him—she should be asking if she could she trust herself.

As the answer came, the last vestiges of regret and fear disappeared like vapor. The sweetness of this moment could not have been more perfect if it had happened when she was eighteen.

Finally, because of the love swelling in her heart, she felt completely, almost miraculously, free from the bleak pain of her past.

A tremulous smile came to her lips and she slipped her arms around his neck. “I'll never run away again.”

An instant later, his lips were on hers in a half-fierce, half-tender kiss that took her breath away. She kissed him back with all the love and desire she had been keeping locked in her heart. The kiss deepened, and she pressed her body into his until her senses spun. His hands moved up and down her back and he said against her lips, “I love you, Emma.”

Just as she was about to respond, the music whirling
around them stopped and the trilling notes of a fanfare filled the moonlit air.

“Oh!” Emma said, her eyes wide with passion and surprised delight. “The duke must be ready to present the cup.” She did not want him to miss his moment of victory.

Jack smiled and kissed her again until the fanfare rose to a resounding crescendo. Finally, he pulled back, took her hand and raised it to his lips. “I suppose we had better go in before they send a search party.”

With a laugh Emma walked to the French doors with him, her heart too full of joy for her to speak.

Just before they stepped back into the ballroom, Jack stopped and turned to her, the desire in his eyes causing a shiver to travel down her spine.

“I know this must seem sudden to you, my dearest Emmaline, but it is not to me. My soul has whispered your name every night since I watched you walk away from me on that dark road. As much as I told myself the opposite, everything I have done since then—restoring Kingsmount, my investments, my farms, building the racing stable—has all been for you.”

With heavy tears filling her eyes, Emma smiled up at him. “I love you, Jack. I always have.”

For a moment he stood very still, and then pulled her back into his arms in a fierce embrace. “Marry me, Emma.”

Burying her face in his neck, she said, “Yes.”

Standing within the circle of his strong arms, she felt her heart step of the cliff, and discovered it had wings.