A Terrible Misunderstanding (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 6)

Clara smiled gently at him, not least because the thoughtful way he spoke warned her that he was thinking carefully about what to say, how to say it, and wouldn’t speak unless it was the truth. She knew this was the real Niall, not the man who stormed into buildings and rescued stranded hostages. His somewhat shy demeanour was endearing. It was clear that he wasn’t familiar with affairs of the heart, either talking about his real feelings or doing something about the way he felt. He wasn’t being a coward. He was just unfamiliar with it and so shoved it to one side to focus on the things he was good at: his work with the Star Elite.

“In fact, now that I come to think about it, was your father trying to tell us that we should take a chance on being together?” Niall squinted at her and began to smile.

“He was being meddlesome.” Clara nodded and smiled back.

Niall dug around in his pocket and dropped two pieces of paper onto the table next to them. He coughed and shifted in his seat when he saw her frown at them.

“What are they?” she asked.

“Tickets to the ball. Now, I don’t dance, I have to warn you now. Not even wild horses could drag me into taking part in a country dance, but I would be honoured if you would allow me to escort you, so long as you don’t allow anybody else to mark your card.” Niall lifted his brows and waited.

To his consternation, Clara began to giggle.

“What?” he demanded when she didn’t seem inclined to answer him.

“You sound so stuffy and pompous,” Clara chided. “Since we have met, you have dragged me down the street, kissed me in the garden, carried me into the house in front of my friends, rescued me with your colleagues, kissed me again in the woods in front of your colleagues, and scolded me every time we have met. Now, you decide to be formal. Don’t you think it is too late for that? Hasn’t the fact that I haven’t been outraged by our somewhat casual attitude to the stringent dictates of society told you anything about who I really am? Did my father bow just now? Did he bow when he met you earlier? He doesn’t unless he is in London, and with his equally stuffy friends. It isn’t needed here, not with me. Especially not with me. I don’t want you to be on edge around me, worried, or concerned. I want you to be you, the man I fell in love with.”

Niall blinked at her. “You have? When? How? You have?”

Clara blinked herself because she couldn’t believe she had actually told him.

“Well, I think so. I have certainly been miserable since you have been away. You certainly have the ability to make me want to smack you upside your head while at the same time struggle not to kiss you. You are irritating, strong-willed, and a little overwhelming, but I think I can cope with that, so long as you don’t expect me to sit at home and live like a ghost while you are away.”

“You love me? Are you sure?”

Clara sighed and rolled her eyes. He looked so stunned that all she could do was dig deep for her patience and love him even more.

“Do you think I allow just any man to kiss me? Do you think I would allow any man to sweep me off my feet, and in front of my friends no less? Do you think my father doesn’t realise how I feel about you, and that be why he has felt compelled to warn us both not to take life for granted?”

“He knows?”

“Yes, you goose,” Clara replied. “He knows. What he doesn’t know is whether you are prepared to make a few sacrifices so we can at least find out if we are likely to have a future together. Neither do I for that matter.”

Niall stared at her for a moment before he moved to kneel before her. He caught her hands with his and contemplated what to say.

“I have tried to forget you, this village, and the people in it, but can’t. You have so very quickly become a part of my life that I don’t know what happened. I have been miserable, as your father knows because my friends have told him. They haven’t been moaning behind my back. It is just that they have a tendency to discuss what to do about men like me.”

“Men like you?”

“Men who are distracted by the women in their lives. Like your father said, it can get us killed if we cannot concentrate.”

“I have bothered you?”

“God, you might say that. I have snapped at my friends, almost been in a fight, been surly, grumpy, whatever you want to call it, and unable to forget you. While I am not at all sure what changes I am going to need to make for us to be together, I am happy to make them not least because I know that I cannot go back to who I was the day I arrived here. That man has gone now. He has been replaced by someone who now wants to face a different future. I am a man who wants a home to go to when his work with the Star Elite is over. I want you in my life, Clara. If this absolute obsession I have for you is love, then so be it. If this need to be with you, to know if you are safe, warm, protected, is love then I am happy to indulge in it. If you are happy to accept me knowing the risks involved, then the least I can do is make sure that I do everything possible to get home to you just as swiftly as I can. I want a future with you, Clara. Nobody else. Will you?”

“Will I what?” Clara’s heart thundered as she waited.

“Go with me to the ball. I have flat feet, don’t dance, and have no idea what I am doing because I have always been outside looking in. But I want to be able to take you because I want everyone to know we are together at last,” Niall whispered. “I love you.”

“You do?”

Niall nodded. “Marry me?”

He couldn’t believe he was actually saying the words but once they were out, Niall knew deep in his heart that it was right that he should say them. He didn’t have any regrets and didn’t have any doubt that he would do everything possible to bring about a happy marriage.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am sure. Your father is a very wise man, you know. Life isn’t to be taken for granted. I want to make the most of it with you, as my wife. So? Will you?”