“You were made for me, love, but I hadn’t planned on reaching this part so soon.” His heartbeat thumped in his throat as she took him slow and deep. “Wait!” He’d hoped to propose before sating their desires. “I need to say something.” All the things he’d omitted to say that night.
“Say what?” Her lips parted as she sat on his lap, taking him to the hilt. “Is something wrong?”
Everything was perfect.
“No. There’s nothing wrong.” He gazed into her eyes, eyes as striking as the emeralds in the ring he’d bought her. “I never told you how incredible you were the night you charged into this box. As incredible as you are now.”
She blinked because she struggled with compliments. “I so desperately wanted to hate you, but then you kissed me and sent my world spinning.”
He cupped her nape and brushed his lips over hers, recalling the instant spark that had rocked his world, too. “Something magical happens when our mouths meet.”
“Something magical happens when you enter the room. I cannot explain it, but every cell in my body thrums with excitement.”
He studied her, drinking in the gorgeous sight. “Marry me. Let me take care of you. Let me love you for all eternity.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I belong to you, Theo. I felt it the first time you accompanied Delphine to her fitting. I called her back a week early, hoping to see you again.”
“Aramis offered to escort her, but I paid to take his place.”
Her eyes brightened. “You did?”
“I might have made my intentions clear, but Delphine spoke of your blossoming friendship, and I couldn’t take that away from her.”
“Your love for your sister only enhanced your appeal.” To show how attracted she was to him, she came up on her knees and sank slowly back down. “I love you. I feel like I’ve always loved you.”
He reached into his pocket and gave her the velvet ring box. “I hope you like it. It should fit. I measured your finger with string while you were sleeping.”
She chuckled. “What else do you do while I’m sleeping?”
“Watch you.” And count himself amongst the luckiest of men.
She opened the box, joy evident in her eyes. “Theo, it’s beautiful. It’s exactly what I would have picked for myself.”
“You’re beautiful.” He drew the ring from the box and placed it on her finger. “You’re the love of my life, Eleanor.”
She examined the ring before pouring everything of herself into a kiss that curled his toes and had his cock swelling inside her.
As always, their passion overwhelmed them, and they took their lovemaking to the floor.
“We’ll revisit this position later, when we’re less encumbered.” He held her hands above her head, interlacing their fingers, and drove deep. “Though you’re wearing my ring, you’ve still not said you’ll marry me.”
A mix of a giggle and a pleasurable moan escaped her. “I love you. Of course I’ll marry you. How can I not? You’ve aroused me to the point of madness, and there’s not a plum pie in sight.”
Fortune’s Den
Aldgate Street
Four weeks later
“Did I not say you’d be married by the autumn?” Aramis grinned and thrust his outstretched hand at Theo. “You owe me a hundred pounds, but consider it a wedding gift.” He glanced at Eleanor, busy talking to Delphine and Miss Lovelace in the drawing room—when she wasn’t looking Theo’s way. “Your bride looks at you like you’re a hog on a roasting spit, and she’s waiting to devour you whole.”
Theo laughed. He couldn’t stop staring at her, either.
The last month had been glorious. They’d been married for two hours, yet it was the happiest two hours of his life. As they’d not spent a night apart since his proposal at the theatre, he would lay odds Eleanor was already with child.
Delphine noticed them looking and joined them. “Remind me not to leave town for the next three months. I believe my husband placed a bet on Aaron being married before Twelfth Night.”
Aaron had retired to his study to talk privately with Lucius Daventry and so they did not need to speak in whispers.
“I fear your husband must put his hand in his pocket,” Christian said. “We all knew of Theo’s attraction to Eleanor. With Aaron, it’s much more complicated.”
“I’m not so sure.” Delphine checked over her shoulder, then stepped closer. “Miss Lovelace called him a prized ape last week and could have sworn she saw him smile. Have you ever known Aaron smile at a woman?”
“I’ve never known him smile at anyone,” Theo said.
Aramis offered another snippet of gossip. “Sigmund said Aaron has been training in the basement every night for the last month. There’s to be a fight soon. Brutes coming from as far afield as Manchester.”
“He’s hoping they’ll thrash Miss Lovelace from his mind.” Theo feared his brother was on a downward spiral. His fists had got them out of a predicament when they were children. Perhaps Aaron prayed the same would be true now.
“He’s doing it to make her hate him,” Delphine offered. “Wait until he hears of her new plan.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Miss Lovelace is to open the club to gentlemen every Thursday. He’ll be furious.”
Theo was glad he would miss the family meeting tomorrow. “She’ll never manage a club full of men. Not on her own.”
Delphine raised her hands, signalling the next words to leave her mouth would be shocking. “She’s opening the club to men and women and has planned a host of themed evenings.”
“The lady is courting trouble,” Aramis said. “She’ll attract nothing but scoundrels out to rid her wallflowers of more than their pin money.”
