“Then…then why take the position with Grantham?”
“Because I thought it a way to raise myself. Never to your level, of course, I knew it could never be to your level. But something closer to it. So I had something better to offer. And so that I wouldn’t be a member of your staff since that is…tricky when it comes to also being your lover.”
She reached up to cover her lips. “Dash.”
“Could you love me, Gia?” he asked, and now he moved again, coming around the table to her side, drawing her away from the table, closer to the fire, holding both her hands in his. “Don’t protect me anymore, just tell me the truth of what could be in your heart.”
“I love you already,” she admitted, and her heart almost soared as she let that truth free at last. “I have loved you for years and years and years. And I will love you until I draw my dying breath.”
He said nothing else, but pulled her closer. His arms came around her and she didn’t deny him, but leaned in as he kissed her, this time with the love they felt out in the open. It was the most glorious kiss of her lifetime, soft at first, then asking for more, taking more, merging them in some way that was more than physical.
And yet as much joy as that gave her, it didn’t wash away the hesitations that had kept her from reaching for this connection in the first place.
“What if loving each other isn’t enough?” she asked. “The barriers are still there. I don’t want to be seen as grabbing for power by involving myself in yet another part of it.”
“Grantham already said what I know to be true. No one in the world could ever compare you to Alistair. Will people be suspect of what Grantham intends to build? Probably at first, but it will have nothing to do with you. But as they see their impact on their own futures grow, as he does what he has promised and makes this not a nation ruled by one but one ruled by all, they will not question him. And that is up to him to create, helped by all of us.”
She bent her head. He wasn’t wrong. “I suppose I could make it clear I was not involved in government by creating a charitable society. Expand on the one we saw in Bellsport. Dedicate my life to helping, not ruling.”
“I agree,” he said. “And if that still feels not enough, then we could marry.”
She blinked up at him. “Marry?”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “If you love me as I love you, if we are talking about a future together, I could not be fully happy unless you were my wife. Please tell me you would want the same.”
“God, I have never felt free enough to even consider that option,” she said. “A marriage that I chose, to a man I adore. Something that isn’t for political gain or purpose, but only because we wish to live the rest of our lives together. Oh, Dash, I would very much like that.”
“So you are saying yes?”
“If you are asking me.”
He laughed. “Marry me. Please marry me. Be my partner and my friend and my very passionate lover for the rest of my life. Warm my life and give it purpose, as you have been doing for over ten years. Love me. And know that I will love you with all the ferocity in myself.”
“I already do know that,” she whispered. “And yes, yes I would marry you.”
He dropped his mouth back to hers and kissed her once again. Her fears, though not entirely erased, were eased by his certainty. Her future, which had seemed so foggy, now felt clear. And for the first time in her life, Giabella knew that she was choosing a path that would be her joy until the end of her days.
And that felt like a very happily ever after, indeed.
EPILOGUE
Three months later
Giabella looked over the swirling ballroom from the balcony above it and breathed in a sigh of pleasure. Grantham was welcoming dignitaries from all over the world for his first fete as prime minister, and it couldn’t have gone better. She watched him dance with Ophelia and saw the joy on his face. The certainty that made him all the better as a leader and man and, if she had understood the whispering that was getting louder each day, very soon a father.
Her gaze slipped to Remi and Priscilla. They were standing along the wall together, him bracing an arm beside her head, her looking up at him with adoration and love. He had taken up a strong position working beside Marabelle the last six months, the siblings becoming a voice for the people and their needs. He had purpose and love and happiness unlike anything she’d seen in his life before.
She found Sasha next. She and Thomas were standing with Count Friskar. Sasha leaned forward, talking to the man as Thomas beamed at her. She had become so much more joyful and at ease with herself as countess. Where she had once not known her place in the world, now it was clear.
Ilaria was last, laughingly balancing a plate of finger food on her pregnant belly as Jonah shook his head in playful judgment. Jonah had recently run for a position in the House of Commons in England and won. He was surrendering his title as Count in Athawick during this trip, and he seemed pleased with it.
Giabella felt arms come around her from behind and glanced back to smile as Dash cradled her against him. “Looking in on the children, I see,” he said, kissing her neck and lighting her up the way he always could.
“Just thinking that when we all piled onto the ship with thoughts of arranging a political marriage for Ilaria in England, I never could have imagined how much would change for my children. For our country.” She turned into Dash’s arms and lifted herself up to kiss his lips. “For me.”
“And for me,” he said.
She nodded. Dash had taken his role as minister of the interior after the election and was often lauded for his understanding of Athawick’s needs. He also took time to help her with her charitable society when he could. She had adopted the cause of orphans in Athawick and found it the most satisfying work she’d ever done. And despite all her fears, no one had ever said anything about her having undue influence on either her son or her husband.
“To think I almost let all this go,” she said with a shiver. “How much I would have lost.”
“But you didn’t,” he said, cupping her chin. “You didn’t lose. Neither did they. Somehow we did the impossible. We all won.” He kissed her again and parted with a groan. “As much as I would like to do that all night long, perhaps we should go back to the party.”
She threaded her fingers through his. “Lead the way, my love.”
He turned back, one brow arched. “No, not lead. Where we go, we go together, and we always shall.”
“Always,” she agreed as they came to the stairs that would take them back to their lives, their family and their happiness that seemed to have no bounds.
ENJOY A VERY SPECIAL SNEAK PEEK OF JESS’S 100TH BOOK!
100 NIGHTS WITH THE DUKE
* * *
He moved toward the tea set on the sideboard and was about to pour himself a cup when the door opened once more. But this time it wasn’t a servant. At last, Sophia, herself, stepped inside.
Edward sucked in a breath. God’s teeth but she was beautiful, with thick, black hair, high cheekbones and impossibly bright blue eyes. There had likely never been a man who had stood in her presence who hadn’t been enchanted by her beauty.