Kingfisher Morning

He looked blank. 'What? But you know I love you…I've said so in twenty different ways already.'

Her heart thudding, she murmured, 'Say it again, just once. I'm a simple-minded soul. I like the old-fashioned words said the old-fashioned way. Just…I love you…'

He said the words, in a deep, shaken voice, and she repeated them after him, then flung her arms around his neck.

'Oh, Ross, I do love you so,' she underlined.

For a while there was a silence so thick and dark it was like a starless midnight, then Ross lifted his mouth reluctantly from hers and said abstractedly, 'I must eat my supper. I'm starving.'

'Well, really, Ross!' giggled Emma. 'How very unromantic of you!'

'I haven't eaten since teatime,' he said. 'I couldn't touch food while I was worried about my father.' He looked at her with anxiety. 'Will you be able to face living at Queen's Daumaury? I know how much you love the simple life.'

She gave a little sigh. 'Must we go there at once? Your father may recover completely. We could stay here then.'

'Eventually we must live there, though,' he said. 'It's a very beautiful house, and I'm rather fond of it. Amanda knows that and she played on my feelings for what they were worth. Her own devotion to the house is skin-deep.'

'I thought it very beautiful,' Emma admitted. 'But rather cold.'

'You would bring it back to life,' he said. 'Queen's Daumaury has lacked a soul ever since my mother died. It needs you. My father needs you, too. Now that he's reconciled to Judith's marriage, the house will always have children in it…first hers, then ours…'

'Hold on,' she said, blushing. 'We aren't even married yet!'

'We will be soon,' he said. 'I'm not a patient man. I want you too much to wait for you. I've waited long enough already. I never hoped to find a girl like you—one who genuinely did not care about my money, one who loved me for myself. That was why I tried to stop you finding out who I was. I think I knew I loved you from that first meeting. I was afraid to see your face if you knew about my father. I was afraid things would change between us. But that was only in the beginning. I hadn't known you very long before I became sure that my money would not attract you, in the least. It might put you off, but you would never chase me because of it.'

'It's a big responsibility,' she said gravely. 'I'm afraid I do rather wish you didn't have it. I haven't been brought up to that sort of life. I may not be suitable to act as a hostess at Queen's Daumaury. I'm no Amanda, you know.'

'Oh, I know that, my funny darling,' Ross said, laughing. 'That's what I love you for…your honesty, your directness, your integrity.'

'Oh, and I thought it was for my lovely face,' she said, pretending to be hurt.

He pinched her cheek. 'Don't be pert! There are other things about you…'

Emma lifted her face for his kiss, clinging passionately. 'Mmmm, that's nice,' she whispered. 'Tell me more…'

'We've got all our lives to talk,' he said. 'Just now I only want to kiss you.'