She held herself very still, until the heat of the fire made her close her eyes.
She might have dozed just a little, because they opened again only reluctantly, and only after the clock chimed the quarter hour.
She stirred and stretched and then went still.
Standing before her was Hugh Cassidy.
Her hand flew to her throat. Her heart had immediately flown there.
For about three heartbeats, they regarded each other.
And then:
“I love you,” he said.
“Oh.”Her breath rushed out of her.
Not a bludgeon. A catapult. She was instantly soaring like a gyrfalcon.
“I didn’t want to leave you in suspense as to the purpose of my visit.” He sounded so serious. He wasn’t smiling. “May I sit beside you? Those three words about took all my strength.”
She nodded slowly.
She was trembling.
But she’d spent all of her strength on that one word.Oh.She didn’t need to speak ever again. It seemed unnecessary, anyway. He was here, and he loved her. What more would she ever need?
Gingerly, he lowered himself to the settee next to her.
“Lillias.” He took a breath. And then another. “Sweetheart...”
He turned to her.
He blurred as the cool, cleansing tears filled her eyes. She knocked them away so she could drink him in. He blurred again.
“Letting you leave this morning was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” His voice was hoarse. “I just . . . didn’t want you to go into your new life with regrets or heartaches. I could not have lived with myself if you left thinking you may have broken my heart. And I . . . I could not be sure that you loved me. I thought . . .” He cleared his throat.“It would be the height of selfishness. I thought it would just . . . I thought it would just prolong your misery.”
He paused to draw in a long shuddering breath.
Gently, she reached out, and laid her hand on his.
He looked up at her slowly then. And his face lit like the dawn.
She was awed at this extraordinary power she’d learned she possessed. She could bring comfort and strength to this man by just being herself. Just by loving him. He threaded his fingers through hers.
“I thought love was meant to be an easy, peaceful thing, Lillias. But it’s like life itself. It’s maddening. And beautiful. And changeable and funny and passionate. It’s... like a Hudson River Valley sunset. Underneath all that fire and glory the sky is ever constant. It’s like you. For me, itisyou. Do I make sense?”
She nodded. Her heart was pounding so her ears were ringing. Joyously as church bells.
“I realized... that I, in my way, have actually been courting you from the moment I laid eyes on you. And I thought... we get few enough opportunities in our lives to love or be loved at all. And no matter what, she ought to know she has my love, wherever life takes her. And so here I am.”
She didn’t mean to make him wait. But it was a moment before the words could emerge, because they had to travel from the depths of her heart, and her heart felt as vast and deep as the sea now.
“I love you, too.” Her voice was trembling.
Her words had made him softly brilliant. He looked like he contained the very sun. “So I gathered.”
She gave a little laugh and a sniff.