“If you are,” he said over the crowd, “let us never wake. You are my lodestar, my shining light, my partner, Beatrice.” He brought her hand to his chest, his eyes searching her face. “And I hope and pray that it is not too late and that I have not lost you. Will you stay by my side?”
A tear slipped down her cheek, and she bit her lower lip before her mouth curved into an irrepressible smile. A cry of happiness burst past her lips. “Yes.”
“Can you love me, too, then?” he breathed, finally feeling as if the weight of all his sorrows was lifting.
“Oh, Will.” She laughed as she wiped a tear away. “Need you ask? I love you with my every breath, and I always will.”
And with that reply, his life changed forever. Gone was the fear, the distance, the control.
All of it replaced by his love.
Chapter Thirty
“Right, Queensbury rules. Nothing below the belt! Keep it clean,” Ben called from the center of the empty ballroom, which they had made up as a makeshift boxing ring.
Ben strode around, his boots thudding on the waxed wood floor, waving a white handkerchief as if to imply someone was going to have to surrender in a war.
If there was going to be a war, it would be a merry one. And if someone was going to have to admit defeat, it certainly wasn’t going to be Beatrice—of that she was certain.
Today, she felt undefeatable. And why shouldn’t she in her new set of clothes? She absolutely loved the feel of her fawn breeches and linen shirt. They easily hugged her frame, skimming her body like a caress, and she felt so free she wanted to skip and dance.
Who wanted to dance a waltz or a quadrille in a skirt? Not she! Goodness, she would be able to take the ballroom floor like a bounding mountain goat in this outfit. No wonder gentlemen led in dances; they had such freedom of movement. She could not wait to try boxing in it.
The Hessians? They were trickier. New, she hadn’t been able to get them on herself. Will had helped pull them on, which had resulted in fits of laughter and an embrace or two that had nearly made them late for their boxing appointment.
Will gazed at her with that look he had, one that ignited her blood and filled her with so much love she did not know how she could contain it all. It was tender, but it also…smoldered, sending a heat through her that tempted her to grab his hand and drag him back to the bed chamber.
Ben cleared his throat. “Now, now,” he said. “I don’t want to have to vacate the premises already. I have come here to see a match.”
The three of them had been spending a vast deal of time together since that day at Parliament. She adored Ben. He was such a good brother to her. She’d had so little family for so long, having only her cousin and uncle to keep her company, and now she had found a veritable army of brothers to make her feel at home.
It was wonderful. And Ben was always teasing her, which was the very best. She gave her brother-in-law a bow. “And we should hate to disappoint you.”
“Hear, hear,” declared Ben. “Well said.”
“I know it is novel, but I wish to spend time with my wife, and we were quite occupied—”
“Yes, thank you,” cut in Ben. “I’m delighted for your connubial bliss and all that, but I have an appointment in an hour at… Never mind where.”
“You’re going to get sent down from Oxford again, aren’t you?” Will groaned.
Ben grinned cheekily. “One can only hope.”
“Then we best get on with it,” Beatrice announced, knowing how Ben loved to tease his brother. “Are you ready to face me, husband?”
Will gave her a grin. “I’m quaking in my boots.”
“That doesn’t sound like you,” she pointed out, rolling up her cuffs to bare her forearms.
“I have turned a new leaf,” he replied, mirroring her, revealing those muscled arms she loved so well.
They had been boxing with each other now every day for several weeks, and she adored it. She loved the feel of his body against hers when they would collide, and he was such an excellent instructor that she felt quite capable.
If anyone ever accosted her in an alley, she was ready to pop the blighter right on the nose. Not that she was planning to go down any alleys anytime soon, but it was quite nice to feel accomplished and self-possessed in more than ways of just political bent.
And she’d never have to worry about drunken lords letting their hands wander during a dance ever again. She was considering the benefits of having Will instruct the ladies of the league in the art of boxing.
She knew he’d say yes. He’d come to realize just how impossible gentlemen could be when a lady attempted to declare herself equal to a man.