"Are you alright?" Marcus asked taking her hands in his. They felt soft and warm despite the rain and blustery breeze. "I see you've been using the balm," he added when she only offered a smile.
"Yes," she replied. "Selene is rather adept at making tonics and potions."
Justin and Lenard walked on ahead. Though his coat was damp, Marcus shrugged out of it and draped it over Anna's shoulders.
/> "Thank you." This time, Anna's smile reached her eyes, and she threaded her arm through his. "Selene is in love with you. That's what all of this has been about."
"In love with me?" Marcus gasped. "Surely not."
Anna hugged his arm. "She thought I would take you away, that she would lose you."
The woman had worked for him for three years, never giving him as much as a second glance. "She never said anything, never gave me the impression she cared."
"Women often keep their feelings hidden. But if one looks closely you will see it in their eyes, in the soft timbre they use when speaking to the object of their affection."
He glanced at her and their gazes locked. He saw it then: love, warmth, and tenderness. The depth of emotion in her eyes touched him.
"But I do not believe Selene truly loves you," she added.
Marcus snorted. "And why is that?"
"When you love someone with all your heart and soul, you do not do things to hurt them." She clung onto him as a sudden gust of wind almost knocked them off their feet. "Heavens, I shall be glad to be indoors."
"Tell me." He stopped and turned to face her. "What do you do when you love someone so deeply?"
She smiled. "You show compassion and understanding, even though you've spent long terrifying hours wondering if you'll live to see the sun rise. You put aside your negative feelings, safe in the knowledge you have something beautiful blossoming in your heart."
Was she telling him she loved him?
Marcus felt his throat constrict. The pain of regret, of never saying the words he knew filled his chest was too much to bear. It suddenly occurred to him that he was scared. Good Lord! He was scared of losing her. He was scared of loving anyone. He was scared of being a constant disappointment.
Fear was his enemy — the only thing standing in the way of true happiness.
As his boots sank into the moist sand, as the wind howled around their ears and the rain pelted their faces, he made the sudden decision to offer her his heart.
"I never meant to betray you," he said pulling her into an embrace. "I don't give a damn about Miss Beaufort or Dane or some silly cottage in Marlow. I wrote the letter because I care about you. For no other reason than that."
Anna looked up at him and put her hand on his cheek. "I know. A few hours in a tomb full of corpses has taught me to appreciate what truly matters."
"Then I am forgiven?"
She nodded. "You're forgiven."
"If it helps, I shall write a letter of apology to Miss Beaufort. I would not want her to think ill of you when you do not deserve her disdain."
"It is of no consequence. She loves Lord Danesfield, and if he's still looking for her after all this time, then he obviously loves her, too. I am confident all will be well."
They were silent for a moment, and he brushed the straggling tendrils from her face.
"And what of us, Anna?" He sounded nothing like himself: the vulnerability in his voice was foreign to him.
She shrugged and offered a coy smile. "I don't know what you mean."
"Are you deliberately trying to make this difficult for me? Is this to be my punishment? To live with the torturous agony that comes with the anticipation of rejection."
Perhaps sensing his fear, knowing he had never been so unguarded with his feelings, she took the first courageous step. "Know this. You are the only man I have ever loved, the only man I would lay down my life for. I will take you any way I can have you, regardless of what you propose."
Marcus swallowed down the hard lump in his throat as he realised his life was worthless without her. "If that is how you feel, I propose we marry. I propose we live together in the monastery and farm the land."