She opened her mouth and closed it. He had her there.
“And besides, you feel sorry for me as well,” he added.
“What?”
“Of course you do,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I lost my parents, you lost yours. We’re both pitiable to a degree.”
She frowned again, looking flustered.
Flustered he could do. He was hardly calm and collected himself. He supposed being in love made flustered a common state.
“But are your feelings for me based in pity?” he asked.
She stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before shaking her head.
“Then why is it so hard for you to believe that mine aren’t either?”
She took a deep breath, she opened her mouth, but to his surprise—and he suspected to her surprise as well—she started to cry.
Sniffling, she bit her lip, and his anger and frustration faded fast in the face of her tears. “Oh, Pru,” he groaned as he closed the distance between them and tugged her into his arms. When she burrowed into him, her face nestling against his chest and her arms wrapping around his waist...he felt himself crash. His heart was no longer his and he knew it.
He’d been falling in love with her for who knew how long, but in this moment he hit rock bottom. She owned him, heart and soul. He couldn’t stay angry with her because she was a part of him, whether she knew it or not.
When she pulled back to look at him she was still sniffling but her tears were easing and she swiped away the last of them with impatience. “How can you love me? My own friends can barely tolerate me and…” She pulled back to look down at herself and he could see the self-loathing, the critical judgement that came from years of emotional abuse. “You cannot love me.”
His heart threatened to break in two with those words but he lifted a hand to tilt her chin up so she was forced to meet his gaze. “No, Pru, you cannot love you. Not yet, at least. But I hope in time you will come to see yourself the way that I see you.”
Tears welled in her eyes again and her lower lip trembled.
“I see a woman who is strong and brave, clever and genuine, and who has so much love to give.”
She flinched a bit, and he knew without her saying that she was fighting the words, that while she might want to believe him, she didn’t.
“I know that you do not see it yet,” he continued. “I know that you are struggling. But luckily for you, I can love you enough for both of us.”
She gasped, her eyes widening.
“For now, at least,” he amended. “But I hope that with enough time I can help you to see how amazing you truly are.” He reached up a hand to stroke a stray lock back from her temple. “You’ve been told for so long that you must be perfect to be loved, but that is so far from the truth,” he said, his voice gruff and low. “It is your imperfections that make you who you are. None of us are perfect. We’re human.” He forced a small smile as he wiped another tear away. “Whether you admit it or not, you are human.”
She let out a sound that was part laugh and part exasperated huff.
He loved that sound.
His voice turned teasing as hope burned within him. He hated to see her tears but he was getting through to her and he knew it. “You are human,” he repeated, leaning down until his nose brushed against hers. “And you’re in love with me.”
Her breath caught. He could feel her tense in his arms, their lips a breath apart.
“Admit it,” he said, his command a gruff whisper.
She licked her lips and he held her tighter. When she nodded his heart threatened to burst out of his chest. “Yes, I love you.”
He claimed her lips with a bruising kiss that she returned with just as much passion, just as much fervor.
Of course she did, because his Pru might act like the uptight sanctimonious snob but she was filled with more love than she even knew. His lips moved over hers as she leaned into his embrace.
She was his, and he was almost certain that she knew it.
The ‘almost’ was enough to give him pause and he grudgingly pulled back so he could look down into her sweet, dazed eyes. “Will you marry me, Prudence?”
She blinked a few times, her lips parting on a gasp.
“Before you answer, I need you to know that I meant it when I said that I may not be a marquess. That I hope I am not. I know that the promise of a title—”
She clapped a hand over his mouth with a huff that was so very Pru. “You cannot truly believe I would marry you for a title.”
He grinned behind her hand. He hadn’t. Not for a second. But it was still nice to hear. He removed her hand gently. “But you will marry me.”
Her lips curved up at the corners and his heart leapt in response. “Are you certain this is what you want?”
He grinned as he held her so tight she was pressed against him from head to toe. “You are everything I want.”
She bit her lip, her eyes dancing with a happiness that he hoped he’d see every day for the rest of their lives. “Then yes,” she said with a happy sigh. “I would love to marry you.”
As he kissed her they heard an explosion of noise from the foyer. Cheers and hoots and whistles surrounded them and Prudence pulled back with a laugh. “And I suppose it’s time that you meet my friends.”
He dropped his arms to reach for her hands. There was still so much he wanted to say, so many kisses he ached to give. But now he knew that he had the rest of his life.
“Something
