‘Where do you want to stay?’ Carlotta’s voice was soft. Her heart was alive with hope.
‘I have to stay here, with you,’ he informed her bluntly.
‘So, you get to be the one to babysit me,’ she whispered, feeling more disheartened than ever.
‘Not at all. I am staying purely so we can discuss what we are going to do about us,’ Phillip replied firmly. ‘I have to confess that my life hasn’t given me much time or opportunity to think about marriage. I have been too busy fighting criminals for the Star Elite, but that doesn’t mean I can’t start to think about a future doing something different.’
‘When you were in that safe house with your friends I saw how worried they were about you. I realised that they are more than just your colleagues. You are friends; people who can turn to each other for help if you need it,’ Carlotta whispered.
‘That is true. We rely on each other to stay alive,’ Phillip said. ‘Like this morning.’
Phillip told her what had happened down in the harbour.
‘You were lucky you didn’t drown,’ she whispered in horror.
‘While what happened is regrettable, it has taught me not to waste any more time. I have to go after what I want,’ Phillip murmured. ‘What I want is you.’
‘Me?’ she whispered.
‘Definitely.’ To prove it, Phillip settled his lips over hers and kissed her the way he had wanted to kiss her from the first moment he had met her. He made no attempt to control the passion that roared to life or hide his need for her. Thankfully, Carlotta didn’t object. Instead, she returned his embrace with equal fervour and, to his delight was reluctant to let him go when he lifted his head. He bumped noses with her and smiled into her eyes.
‘You are going to stay?’ Carlotta whispered, making no attempt to hide the fact that she adored him.
‘We are going to stay,’ he corrected. ‘This morning, I realised that chances like the one you have presented me with don’t come around more than once. If I don’t take the chance to be with you, I know I am going to regret it for the rest of my life.’
‘I have brought you nothing but trouble,’ she countered.
When she turned to look at him, Carlotta became aware that over the last few minutes Phillip had draped one heavy leg over her hips, effectively pinning her to the bed. He had also slid around her waist and settled himself so closely against her side that she could feel every breath he took. It felt wantonly reckless yet hedonistically tempting. Over the last few moments a deep-rooted suspicion about where this conversation was going to take them began to flourish, especially when she watched his loving gaze slide down to her lips.
‘Stay with me,’ he whispered, his voice laden with need. ‘I want the chance of a future with you. I want to marry you and have children with you. I want the chance to be able to call you my wife, Carlotta. I need you to be happy; to make us both happy. Without you in my life I am going to be a mere shadow of a man; of what I could be if you aren’t with me. I want to be able to return home and find you here waiting for me. I want to be able to turn this house into a home with you. I have no previous experience of the kind of feelings I am experiencing right now. I have fought in wars, battled gangs, been shot at by armed thugs, and nearly drowned in a harbour, but nothing has stymied me as much as being able to put a name to the emotion that damned near floored me in the kitchen the second I set eyes on you
. You walked into my life and turned it onto its head. I have dragged you through Hell, halfway across this damned county, and right into the centre of one of my investigations. You should hate me right now.’
‘I could never hate you,’ Carlotta murmured tearfully with a heart full of love. ‘You have become an integral part of my life and it isn’t because of your work with the Star Elite. I had thought it was but when I saw you with Horace, I knew that what attracts me to you is the man you are. You are nothing like Horace. I wasn’t lying when I told him that you were a man. You are stronger, calmer, kinder, and fight, but for the right causes. My father caused problems for others because he was mean. Seeing the differences between you two assured me that no matter what problems the Star Elite throws at you, you would never allow it to make you nasty and bitter like my father is. It is because you have the friendship of the other men in the Star Elite, and the ability to see life at its worst. It has made you appreciate what you have and who you are, and where your place is in the world. It has made you decide what you want out of life, and for that I am grateful. I want to marry for love alone. I want you to be happy. I want to be the one to make you happy.’
‘The place I had in the world is no longer right for me. I want a different world. There comes a time in every man’s life when something must change. I want life to bring new challenges and purpose. I wouldn’t be half as happy as I could be with you if I just left here and returned to London. I would spend the rest of my life regretting not taking the chance of happiness with you, I am sure of it. I know we haven’t spent much time together, but we have the rest of our lives to find out what we want to know.’
‘Are we being reckless even contemplating something more definite while we know so little about each other?’ she asked quietly.
‘I think that is why Oliver wants us to stay here. We need time to be certain that we are marrying for all the right reasons. While we wait for Henry to hand the deeds over, and your father to return your money, we can stay here and spend as much time together as we need. I want to marry for love alone as well. I want us to get married for because we love each other.’
‘M-marriage,’ she stammered, more than a little stunned.
Phillip grinned. ‘Now you look how I would have looked a week ago,’ he teased.
‘Are you suggesting that at some point we get m-married?’ Carlotta repeated, struggling to believe God would be that kind. ‘I can see no alternative, can you? I can’t walk away, and neither can you. What we have here is too precious to forget. We both have the chance to start afresh. Will you? Will you take a chance on love and spend the rest of your life with me?’
‘Are you?’ Carlotta daren’t even ask the question. Even her heart seemed to be held in suspense while she watched him nod. She blinked at him in stunned disbelief.
‘Asking you to marry me? I love you, Carlotta. More than I ever believed I was capable of loving anything or anybody,’ Phillip murmured. ‘We have the rest of our lives to find out what we need to know, to work at a life together. Just say that you will spend the rest of your life with me.’
‘I would love to,’ she whispered tearfully. ‘I love you so much I cannot bear the thought of living life without you.’
‘Together forever?’ he asked with a heart for a love and hope in his eyes.
‘Together forever,’ she promised.
And they sealed their promise of a brand-new start, a whole new future full of love and happiness with a very thorough kiss.