All but staggering on her feet, Charlaine was relieved that his arms still held her locked in his embrace. “I assume that was a yes?”
Again, Nathanial laughed. “Yes,” he said, grinning. “I’ll marry you.”
Joy danced through Charlaine’s heart, and she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Nathanial returned her embrace, pulling her against him and lifting her feet off the floor. Then he spun her in a circle as they laughed together.
It was a moment heartbreakingly beautiful, and it reminded Charlaine of the moment their journey had begun, that night at the masquerade when he had not known who she was. A lot had happened since then, but they had finally come full circle. Then, Charlaine had not known that she would lose her heart to him, but a part of her had even then whispered to her that he was a man she could not allow to escape from her life.
“If only we had remained true to our promise,” she told him when he finally set her down. “We could have been married weeks ago.”
A slight frown appeared on his forehead. “Truly?”
Charlaine kissed him. “Truly.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Flower Girls
A part of Nathanial insisted that he was dreaming. That all that was happening only lived in his mind. That Charlaine had not truly just asked him to marry her. Was he hallucinating? Had Lord Ashhaven fought back and landed a punch Nathanial could not recall? Was he currently lying on the floor, bleeding from a major head injury?
In an odd way, that would have made more sense than the thought that Charlaine loved him. That she wanted to marry him. That she was in his arms right here, right now.
She loved him! Not merely as a friend, but…she loved him! The thought kept circling in his mind and each time it came around, Nathanial had trouble grasping it. She loved him!
He stilled. Had he told her that he, too, loved her beyond hope? He had not, had he?
His gaze moved over her lovely face as she lay in his arms, his heart overwhelmed by the thought that she was his, that he was hers, that she wanted him to be. His hand reached out, the tips of his fingers brushing over her skin, along her forehead and down her temple before circling around her ear and moving into her hair. “I love you,” he whispered and, this time, he did not feel the need to drop his gaze. His eyes lingered on hers, open and honest and trusting. She would not hurt him. “I have for a while, but I didn’t dare say it, even think it.”
Charlaine smiled up at him in that way of hers that always warmed his heart. “I, too, was hesitant at first, but Peter and Amancia taught me that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.” Her thumb brushed gently over his cheek. “I always knew that to be true, but still I feared to lose you. I feared to speak the truth. I suppose it’s only human to be afraid. It often stands in our way, but it also helps us see the truth, does it not? After all, if we’re afraid to lose someone, then we know that that person is very dear to us.” Again, she pushed herself up onto her toes and placed a gentle kiss upon his lips. “I do love you. Never doubt that.”
Nathanial nodded, grateful that they could both be strong and weak, complementing one another in the most fortunate way. “Thank you for testing me,” he told her then, now seeing everything that had happened through different eyes. “I suppose I owe Lord Ashhaven an apology.”
Charlaine chuckled. “Quite frankly, it was his idea. He told me he was annoyed with the way we continued to dance around one another—as he called it—so he decided to solve the problem for us.”
Nathanial scoffed. “He could’ve said something.” Instead of forcing them through such an emotional turmoil.
“Would you have believed him?” Charlaine asked, a devilish glimmer in her dark eyes.
Nathanial could not deny that she had a point. “Still, I cannot bring myself to regret that I punched him in the face. I might have been wrong, but I don’t regret it.”
“You might have been wrong?” Again, her brows rose in that daring way of hers.
Without thought, his hands tightened on her. “You’re mine,” was all Nathanial said before his lips claimed hers once again.
Still, somehow it was not enough. Not nearly enough. His blood hummed in his veins, a deep need for her settling into his bones as though his body could no longer survive without her by his side.
Perhaps not even a lifetime would do.
But it was a start.
Gasping for breath, Charlaine looked up at him. “I wish we could simply lock the door.” She glanced over his shoulder at the item in question.
Nathanial chuckled, pleased by every word that proved her longing for him matched his own for her. “That eager?”
“You have no idea.” A deep sigh left her lips as she snuggled closer. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for weeks.”
Nathanial almost groaned at the thought. “As have I.” If only he had known! If only they had not wasted all this time! “I kept reliving the moment at the lake, wishing…wanting…” His gaze drifted to her lips, longing to continue what they had begun. His head lowered and—
“I need to talk to Pierce!” All but jerking out of his arms, Charlaine strode toward the door.
“What?” Thunderstruck, Nathanial stared after her.
Stopping with her hand on the handle, she smiled back at him. “About a special license.” Her hand jerked the door open. “I’m not waiting a day longer than I have to to marry you.” Then she rushed down the corridor toward Pierce’s study.
A deep smile snuck onto Nathanial’s face as he stood there, his feet rooted to the spot as his heart danced in his chest. Never would he have thought such happiness was possible.
Only this morning, doubt and fear had dominated his life. And now…
“See?” A little voice peeped up a moment before Daphne’s head came lurking around the door frame. “I told you that you were her prince.”
Taken aback, Nathanial laughed. “That you did.”
“Did she kiss you?” Susan inquired, her head appearing on the opposite side of the frame.
Nathanial felt his cheeks flush red. “She did,” he confessed nonetheless. Then he frowned. “How long have you been outside the door?”
While Susan’s gaze dropped to the ground, Daphne simply grinned at him. “Can we be flower girls?” she asked, getting right back to the most important things in life. “After all, we helped, didn’t we? If we hadn’t,” she squeezed her eyes shut in concentration, “meddled—as Papa calls it—Charlaine might have kissed a different frog.”
Nathanial chuckled, wondering if his skin had turned green. “You meddled?” he asked as Daphne’s words sank in. “How did you—?” He stopped, then shook his head. “You know what? I don’t even want to know.” Smiling at the girls, he stepped toward them. “Of course, you can be flower girls. We’d be honored.”
Cheering loudly, Daphne and Susan danced up and down the corridor, alternately hugging each other and twirling in artful circles.
Nathanial watched them with a deep smile on his face and utter contentedness in his heart.
Indeed, he had been a frog, bitter and jaded, a glower upon his face, his eyes only seeing betrayal and disappointment around every corner.