His Contract Bride (Banks Brothers Brides 1)(45)

       
           



       

"Is that why you wouldn't allow me to have it changed?"

"Of course it is," he said. "It wasn't to embarrass you or remind you of  your impulsiveness. I liked it because you did it as a means to put me  in my place, and I love that about you."

"I love you, too," she said, her voice uneven.

He released a breath he didn't even know he was holding and pulled his head back so he could see her face. "You do?"

"Of course I do, Edward. I never stopped."

"But you stopped saying it," he pointed out.

Her face flushed crimson. "A person doesn't have to say it, to feel it. You should know that."

Edward blinked at her. "And how did you reach that conclusion?"

She didn't say anything, she just pointed to the oak end table on the other side of the settee.

He cringed. "What the devil does a stuffed rabbit have to do with anything?"

"Everything." She wound her arms around his neck and pulled his head  down to hers so their foreheads touched. "When my father and I were in  here alone, he mentioned the stuffed rabbit. That's when I knew you  loved me."

"Really?" he drawled. "And did the rabbit tell you this?"

"Actually, he did. When I saw him, everything from our trip came back to  my mind. The way you'd come up with the idea to take me in the first  place based on some offhand remark I made at Covent Garden. The way  you'd never once lost your temper or snapped at me when there were  several opportunities to. Without saying an unkind word, you caught us  fish to eat instead of rabbit then rubbed salve on my blisters."

She swallowed uncomfortably and licked her lips. "I know that given my  past, I cannot be termed an expert, but what I do know is that nobody  has ever treated me that way before; and if what John says about the  definition of the word love based on the book of First Corinthians is  true, then I declare, you, Edward Banks, love me."

Edward laughed at her reasoning. "Well, you're right. I do love you,  Regina." He dropped a kiss on her lips. "I will admit though, I am a  little disappointed that the rabbit told you instead of me."

"It's better that way."

She could not be serious. "And how is that?"

"Well, if John hadn't hung those ugly paintings, you'd have shown me  that silly rabbit before I came in here with my father. Then, instead of  being caught off guard when my father mentioned it, I would have just  dismissed it and blurted something out to appease him. But since I  didn't know, I was stunned, and it was while I stared at that rabbit  that I realized that even though my father doesn't love me, you do. And  Edward, that's all that matters to me."

Edward squeezed her in a tight hug and kissed her soft lips. "For the  sake of my stomach and sparing myself a meal of gruel, I must confess  that the rabbit is not why I brought you in here earlier, Regina."

"It's not?"

"No," he said. "In fact, I didn't know the rabbit had been left in here  until you mentioned it. Do not get any ideas now, Regina. Bartholomew  the Bunny is staying put from now until I die to remind you how much I  love you every time you walk into this room. But-" he walked over to the  cherry secretary and picked up a wooden box then carried it back to  her- "this is what I wanted to show you."

"Oh Edward," she exclaimed, taking the box from his hands. She ran her  fingers over the curvy line that divided the green grass from the blue  water, then touched the white painted rocks and the brown of a tree  trunk, before turning her attention to the boat where a man with a  paddle was sitting on one side facing a woman who held a picnic hamper.  "It's beautiful."

"Watch the boat, now." He reached underneath and slowly tugged the wire,  making the boat slowly glide from one end of the creek to the other as  the paddle in the man's hand slowly moved back and forth.

"You made this for me?"

"I had to remember Gallant somehow," he teased, pointing to where he'd  painted "Gallant" on the side. He gave her a kiss. "My father was right,  you know. We do have the best sort of marriage."

"And how is that?" she asked, her eyebrows puckering.

Edward dropped a kiss on the furrow in her brow. "I didn't have to  suffer balls and breakfasts to win the affections of my debutante. I got  to use far superior ways to win her over."

"Yes, you had to endure tennis, flipped boats, and sleeping in the grass."

"Mmmhmmm," he said against her hair. "Those would have never happened  during a normal courtship. And, if you'll come upstairs with me, I'll  demonstrate something else that we wouldn't be able to do had this been a  normal courtship."                       
       
           



       





Epilogue





May 1814

Watson Estate



"Look at them. Both so in love," Regina whispered in her husband's ear as he swayed her to the music.

Edward craned his neck to see, a smile tugging on the corner of his  mouth. Even after more than thirty years, she loved to see him smile  that way. "Only he doesn't know it yet."

"You didn't know it at our wedding, either," Regina reminded him as her  eyes went back to where their oldest son Alex was dancing with his  bride.

Edward's hands tightened their hold on her waist. "That's different. I didn't think I was marrying for love."

"And neither does Alex."

"No, he thought he was marrying today to escape some betrothal agreement his fool of a father signed for him."

Regina pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "You're not a fool. A bit misguided at times, but that's what I'm for."

"And where were you that night?"

"At home in bed. Waiting for your return."

Edward chuckled. "I didn't think I'd get foxed so fast," he said with a  slight shake of his head. "I only accepted Joseph's offer of a drink to  drown out his wife's screams." He grimaced. "Five drinks later, I signed  my son's life away to a hoyden."

"That's not the way I remember it," Regina said, trying not to laugh.  "You told me that you and Joseph were so excited his daughter and our  son shared a birthday that the two of you started thinking it must be a  sign and you'd had a successful match that way-"

"Hold your tongue," he said with a scowl. "Oh, all right, between the  coincidence that his daughter was born on the same day as our son-only  eight years later- and all the alcohol we both consumed, we thought it'd  be a brilliant idea for them to marry." He shuddered. "Who'd have known  she'd become a shrew?"

"Had you met her mother?"

Edward sighed. "Yes. But I'd also met her father. He seemed to be doing a  fine job with their son. How was I supposed to know he'd allow his wife  to spoil their daughter?"

"Do you really think that's why he let you amend the agreement? Because  it was becoming apparent his daughter would be a shrew, that is?"

The two exchanged a look, neither daring to say aloud what they'd both  thought for more than twenty years. But the facts were all there. Lady  Sinclair had brown hair and grey eyes. Lord Sinclair had black hair with  blue eyes. Their daughter, Lady Olivia Sinclair, was the only member of  either of their sides of the family who had red hair and green eyes.

"It doesn't matter now," Edward said with a faint cough. "Alex married  the one he was meant to. Just like John did." He looked over in time to  see John spin his wife wildly into one of her dancing daughters. "And as  much as I didn't realize it at the time, so did I."

Regina looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Do you really mean that?"

He pulled her close. "Have you been to the townhouse in London recently  and seen all the stuffed critters covering every surface available?"

Her heart swelled as the memories of adding a new souvenir from each of  their adventures together flooded her mind. As Edward had promised,  they'd filled their marriage with many adventures together. And all she  had to do to remember each was look around their unusually decorated  townhouse.

The music played on, and Edward tightened his hold on her, pulling her  so close their hearts beat in time together as he continued to sway her  to the music as if it was one long song in the background.

"Do you know what I love most about you?" he asked in her ear.

"What's that?" she murmured against his chest.

One of his broad hands rubbed a small circle on her back. "That no  matter what I might have done or said over the years, you never stopped  loving me."

"That I do, Edward. I have always loved you, and I always will."





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