He frowned with bewilderment and the beginnings of hurt. This wasn’t the response he’d expected.
"That’s not something I’ve ever heard anyone say about me," he said dryly, even as uncertainty stirred inside him like a snake in a woodpile. Uncertainty was an unfamiliar companion, and he could already tell he didn’t like it.
A shaky smile curved her soft lips. "Well, you should have. The awful thing is if I had no principles, I’d leap to accept your offer and rush you off to the altar this very minute."
"Feel free," he said, meaning it.
She released one of his hands to wipe her overflowing eyes. "You know, I’m not sure a fallen woman can afford principles."
"What are you trying to say?"
Her throat moved as she swallowed. "You’re attempting to rescue me from the price of my folly."
"I’m not trying to rescue you, Selina," he said with some heat.
"Yes, you are. And I honor you for it." She broke away and backed toward the fire. "You’re an earl, Brock. I’m an impecunious widow of no particular distinction. Even before I lost my reputation and we set off what promises to be an almighty scandal, you could look much higher than an obscure doctor’s daughter for a bride."
The gallant, great-hearted fool. She was trying to shield him from the consequences of misguided chivalry. When they both knew her only hope for restoring her good name and keeping her son was to wed the man who had ruined her.
"I could look no higher than you, Selina."
Her smile threatened to shatter his heart, it was so utterly without hope. "I’ll treasure hearing you say that, Brock. But I’ll manage."
He stepped forward and seized her hands again. "Don’t you want more from life than just managing?"
Wide eyes studied his face. "I don’t want another marriage without love."
"Is that what ours would be?"
She looked confused. "Well, you know that I love you. I haven’t tried to hide it, and you’re so experienced with women, you can’t have missed it."
She’d given him so much joy over this last week, yet of all the gifts she’d granted him, this was the greatest. "I’d hoped."
She looked startled. "Did you?"
"Of course, my darling." His heart raced with excitement. For a few minutes there, he’d feared that she meant to reject him. He never wanted to feel like that again. "You see, it’s always so much better if, when a fellow loves a woman as much as I love you, the woman in question loves him back."
Brock watched her expression change. Such happiness illuminated her features that he was dazzled. But the elation only lasted a moment before doubt darkened her eyes once more. "You’re not just saying this because we’re in the most awful fix?"
"My darling, let me convince you." He swept her into his arms for a passionate kiss. He’d expected her to hesitate, but she melted into his embrace as though she ached for their sublime connection just as much as he did.
Over these last glorious days, they’d kissed so often. Now he shared his soul with her, as his lips explored hers – gently, because she’d been hurt.
When he returned to the real world, he was in the chair in front of the fire and Selina was draped across his lap with her hands linked behind his neck.
"Do you believe I love you?" he asked, not needing the answer anymore, because every star in the heavens had come down to shine in her eyes.
"Yes, Brock," she said. He had a sudden poignant memory of overhearing her in the Derwents’ library. How far they’d come since that night.
He gave her a quick kiss. "And you love me?"
"Oh, yes, so much." A frown drew her fine brows together. "But you still don’t have to marry me."
He caught her unbruised cheek in one hand, tilting her face until she met his gaze. "Yes, I do. Do you think I’d allow a dangerous woman like you to wander around unclaimed? I need to take you into my keeping. It’s my civic duty."
She gave a husky laugh. "They should give you a medal."
He nodded and spoke in a solemn voice. "They should indeed." He paused. "Anyway, I’ve wanted to marry you for a long time. It’s not just because our misdeeds have been exposed."