Morag took something out of the pocket on the front of her apron and handed it to him. He stared at the ring box, his mind whirling. He hadn’t believed Elodie about the ring. He had always thought she’d sold it and used the money to launch her career. He’d been so blind and prejudiced against her... Had he ever truly listened to her? Understood her? Believed in her?
He had kept her at arm’s length, determined not to let her see how much he needed her, how much he loved her. How much it frightened and terrified him to love her, to openly admit it, to own it and say it out loud. He had always blamed Elodie for leaving him—but he had left first. In fact, he hadn’t been there emotionally in the first place. Not totally, not unreservedly.
He looked back at his housekeeper. ‘Why didn’t you tell me she’d left it seven years ago?’
‘I tried to, but you came back roaring drunk the night after she jilted you and you refused to have her name even mentioned in your presence. You told me to remove everything of hers from the house, just as you did this time.’
Lincoln could recall most of that conversation—most, but not all. Which wasn’t something that made him particularly proud. ‘Why didn’t you tell me when I was in a better state of mind?’
‘I thought about it that night, and the next day while you were sleeping off your hangover. I thought if I told you she’d left it behind you might go and find her, talk her into coming back to you.’ Morag gulped back a broken sound. ‘I didn’t think she loved you, so I didn’t tell you. But I was wrong. She did—she does. I think she always will.’
Lincoln’s heart leapt right up to his throat. Could it be possible Elodie truly loved him? That it wasn’t too late to undo the damage of his past mistakes and miscommunications? She had more to forgive of him than he ever had for her. Dared he hope she would find it in her heart to take him back?
‘Does she know you have the ring?’
‘She found it when she was looking for my insulin kit. She could’ve told you she’d found it that night, but she didn’t. I think because she didn’t want you to be hurt by my betrayal of your trust. And then, once I realised she knew, I begged her not to tell you. I shouldn’t have asked her to do that for me. I’m worried it’s contributed to your breakup.’
A rush of love and respect coursed through him for his beautiful Elodie. But she was no longer his—not unless he went to her and told her how he felt. How he had always felt.
‘I need to see her. I was going anyway, so it has nothing to do with the ring.’ He pocketed the ring and placed a hand on Morag’s shoulder. ‘You’re not to blame for this. I am. I should’ve told her seven years ago what I felt for her.’
Morag’s face lit up like a chandelier. ‘You mean you love her?’
Lincoln smiled. ‘You bet I do.’
***
Elodie was working late in her studio, doing some last touches on the collection of clothes she’d made for Nina. She had got Nina’s measurements during a phone conversation with her, after she’d explained her reasons for leaving Lincoln. It had been a tough conversation to have—especially knowing of Nina’s physical fragility—but Elodie had no longer been able to pretend. It was time to be honest about all things—most of all her feelings about the only man she had ever loved.
She was spreading out the last item of the collection on her work table when she caught sight of movement on the security camera covering the front door of the studio. She put the dress down and went closer to the security screen, her heart bouncing up and down in her chest like a yo-yo.
Lincoln was standing outside the studio, looking for a doorbell that didn’t yet exist. His brow was furrowed and he kept reaching up to tug at his tie, as if it were choking him. He glanced up to the second floor, where she was working, but she wasn’t near the window so he couldn’t see her.
Elodie stepped away from the security camera and went over to the window. She unlocked it and opened it, bracing herself for an icy blast of the wintry night air. ‘Lincoln?’
He looked up with relief flooding his features. ‘I need to talk to you. Can I come up?’
His voice sounded rough around the edges, even from this height, and she could see the lines of strain and stress around his mouth.
‘Sure. I’ll unlock the front door.’
Elodie closed the window and went back over to the security panel, buzzed open the street door of the studio. The sound of Lincoln’s firm tread coming up to her floor sent her heart thumping.
Was he here to pull the plug on her label? In spite of threatening to withdraw his support the night she’d left, he hadn’t done any such thing. She hadn’t been game to read too much into it, but she was grateful for the extra time to get her business up and running without having to seek another sponsor.
She was standing by her work table when he came in, looking windswept and tired and drained but as gorgeous to her as ever.
‘I suppose you’re here about the money?’ She kept her voice calm and controlled. No mixing emotions and business, right? That was her motto, taken straight from his hard-nosed businessman’s playbook.
Lincoln came over to her and took her hands in his. ‘I have never said this to anyone before, so hear me out. I love you. I’ve missed you so much—not just this last month but for the past seven years. I’ve filled my life with work and activity, but the one thing that was missing was you. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to realise what was there all the time. My love for you.’
Elodie stared at him in shock, her heart beating so hard and fast it was making her dizzy. ‘You’re not just saying it? You really love me?’
‘I’m not just saying it. I’m feeling it in every part of my body. I ache for you. I feel incomplete without you in my life. Nothing fills the emptiness you left behind. You’re my centre, my anchor, my one true love, and I beg you to come back to me and be my wife. And one day even the mother of my children, if that’s what you want.’
Elodie stared at him for a moment, struck dumb by his emotional openness. He had never shown her his heart, never opened it fully to her the way he was doing now. He had always kept a bit of himself back, and it had made it hard for her to believe he would ever toss away his armour and let her in.
She threw her arms around his neck and squealed for joy. ‘Oh, Lincoln, darling, of course I will. I love you so much. I’ve been so sad about leaving you, but I convinced myself you could never allow yourself to love me. But hearing you say it...it’s just so wonderful. There are no words to describe how I feel right now, knowing you love me.’