What a Vulgar Viscount Needs (Romancing the Rake 5)

“It is,” a deep voice responded. “And I have not seen my fiancée the entire day.”

Dropping the quill into the ink, she turned back to look at Ash. “You’re here,” she gushed, raising her arms to him.

“I’m here,” he said. “I’ve been here all day.” He slipped his arms about her, taking a seat next to her on the bench. “But you’ve been gone for most of it.”

She looked down at the ivory keys. “I can be like this sometimes. A song gets in my head and I have to work until it’s all out.”

“It’s all right,” he answered, grazing a kiss on her temple. “It’s been lovely to watch. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She looked into the deep blue of his eyes. “Really? I didn’t frighten you away?”

“Never,” he said, taking her hands in his. “And I’ve gotten some valuable lessons on how to care for you while you work.”

She gave him a beaming smile. “Do you want to hear it? It’ll be days of fine-tuning, but the structure is complete.”

He gave a quick nod. “I’d be honored.”

She perched her fingers over the keys. She didn’t need the sheet music she’d penned; the song was in her head. As the first notes echoed through the room, she closed her eyes and began to play. The music poured from her body. A love song. One filled with the highs, the joys, but also the uncertainty, the difficulty of baring one’s very soul to another person and the worry of rejection that went along with such a risk.

The soft ending lilted from her fingers, still not down on the paper, and she ended, opening up her eyes and grabbing her quill, furiously scribbling notes as it all came together.

Ash didn’t say a word as she finally dropped the quill into the ink with a deep exhale of satisfaction.

“Cordelia,” he said, his words strangling in his throat. “That was…” He swallowed. “I’ve no words to describe how much that song touched my heart.”

She looked at him then. “It’s about us.” She squeezed his fingers, realizing her own were stained with ink. “A moonlight serenade.”

He took her fingers and raised them to his lips. Then, dropping them down, reached with one hand into his pocket and pulled out a ring. A single round diamond sparkled in the candlelight.

She gasped. “This was my mother’s.”

He gave a stiff nod. “Someday, very soon, we’ll get you another.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want another. This is perfect.” He slipped the stone onto her finger.

“Cordelia Moorish.” His voice rose, filling the room. “I’d like to ask in front of your family. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

“Yes,” she answered, tears clogging her throat. “A hundred times, yes.”

Cheering erupted from behind them and she turned to see her entire family standing in the doorway. They were joined by their soon-to-be husbands, Charlie, and Balstead. Her eyebrows lifted to see Balstead next to Charlie once again, but she was soon distracted by her own appearance. She’d not even gone to her room to comb out her hair.

She looked down at her rumpled dress. “Oh dear.”

Ash leaned forward. “You’ve never looked more beautiful.”

* * *

Ash meant those words. More than any others in his entire life. Well, except for maybe when he’d told her loved her.

He itched to share the rest with her. The plans he and her father had made together today. But he waited, wanting her to be in just the right frame of mind.

“You are jesting,” she said as she smiled at their joined hands. Then she leaned forward. “Do I look as though I spent the night in the garden?”

He suppressed a laugh. Her dress was a bit wrinkled, her hair hung down her back in waves, and her hands had ink stains, but her cheeks were flushed pink with her joy and her eyes sparkled in the candlelight. “I wish to see you like this every day of my life.”

She winked at him. “Thank you. I need to stretch my back. What say you, we step out onto a balcony?”

He gave a quick jerk of his chin and then waved her family in, leading her through one of the doors and out into the night.