Her smile faltered. “What is it?”
“You must give up these senseless grudges. You must promise me—absolutely—that you will cease to seek revenge on every person you believe to have wronged your family when you were a child.”
“But I have good cause,” she said with that stubborn look in her eye.
“I do not care if you do. It is dangerous, and I will not have it. How could I leave to do my duty in France, knowing you are home in England provoking men to violence at every turn?”
More than that, he could never hope to make her happy until she gave up this obsession of hers.
She pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes at him, as if judging whether there was any room to negotiate.
“I’ll not move an inch on this, Linnet.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I will not be the man who has to tell his children their mother is in the Tower for murder—or worse, that her body was found floating in the Thames.”
She looked off to the side, tapping her foot. This was hard for her, and he knew it. He waited her out.
Finally, she blew out her breath and said, “All right. I agree.”
“I will have your solemn promise on it.”
She looked as if she would rather eat worms, but he was not budging. In sooth, he would have liked to ask her to write the promise in blood. But he was a reasonable man.
She sniffed and tilted her chin up with all the dignity of a queen being asked to relinquish her crown.
“I shall pray fervently that God punishes those who wronged my grandfather and left my brother and me to starve,” she said, her voice edged with bitterness. “I shall pray that they suffer in this life and burn in hell for all eternity in the next.”
“And?”
She took a deep breath and let it out. “I swear I shall cease to pursue the godforsaken demons myself.”
There, she had said it. He had won. He took her hands and lifted them to his lips.
“I have something to give you.” Jamie lifted the medal of Saint George, the dragon slayer, from around his neck and slipped the silver chain over her head.
“But King Henry gave that to you,” Linnet protested. “I cannot take it.”
“It is a saint for soldiers,” he said, smiling down at her. “But with the trouble you get into, I would feel better if you wore it.”
Linnet lifted the medal from where it rested between her breasts and touched it to her lips.
“Thank you,” she said, blinking back tears. “I shall never take it off.”
He cupped her cheek in his hand. “Now it would be nice if you told me you love me and want to be my wife.”
“I do love you.” She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. “I could not give you up again.”
Joy and a quiet sense of peace settled over him as he held her in his arms. She was his now.
Then she leaned back and looked up at him from under her lashes. “I have a confession to make.”
Damn. He didn’t want to hear this. He tensed, hoping her confession would not make him have to kill Edmund Beaufort.
“I like to listen to the tales of your victories.”
He laughed. “Now I believe you love me.”
“I love you with all my heart, Jamie Rayburn.”
Jamie held her to him and closed his eyes. Five years he had waited for this. At long last, Linnet was truly his.