Maid for the Billionaire(52)

How long was she willing to let fear rule her life? He'd said that he loved her and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life proving it to her. What more did she want? No relationship came with a guarantee.

He loved her enough to let her go. Now the pressure was on her. Did she love him enough to stay?

Yes rang through her heart, through her mind, and straight out her mouth.

She hopped off the bench and flew across the room. With all of the enthusiasm of a woman who'd just realized that her man not only loved her back but was dumb enough to listen to her when she told him to leave her, she swung the door open.

And practically crashed into Dominic who was standing just outside her room.

He quickly pocketed his cell phone.

She said hurriedly, "I don't want to go to Boston and I don't want you to walk away from your life. I just want you to share it with me. I love you, Dominic."

He swept her up into his arms and kissed her hungrily. Their hands explored each other with the fervor of lovers reunited. He broke the kiss off and buried his face in her neck. She felt him smile against her skin. "So, should I call Scott back and tell him that he's going to have to find another way to win back my business? He was amazingly willing to help me spirit you away to some safe house if I wasn't able to convince you to stay before we landed."

Abby pulled back and put an indignant hand on one hip. "You were going to kidnap me again?"

He gathered her up, settling her flush against him and joked, "Is it again if I never actually let you go?"

It was difficult to stay angry with Dominic when he held her so close. Abby felt that familiar responding quiver of anticipation deep in her stomach. Still, he had to know that things were not always going to go his way. "This is not funny. What happened to proving that you love me by letting me go?"

A sheepish smile flit across his face, disappearing almost as quickly as it had formed. "I never agreed to that. All I said was that I would fly you to Boston. Letting you go was never an option."

Abby smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand. "I came out here because I thought you loved me enough to never see me again."

He took her hands in his and said, "I don't love you that much." She gasped in shock, but his explanation quickly warmed her heart. "I love you more than that. Ask me to give up my company, move to Boston and become a nine to five man and I'll do that for you. I love you that much. But don't ask me to just walk away. I can't walk away. I need you."

With a cry of happiness, Abby launched herself into his arms. Tears of happiness were flowing down her cheeks. "I don't know what I would have done if you had listened to me and ended it."

He held her at arm's length for a moment and said, "And you'll never find out, because I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. Marry me, Abby."

Most women would have shouted yes, but Dominic hadn't chosen any of them. He'd chosen Abby; a woman who considered raising his blood pressure an enticing form of foreplay. "Will you?" she asked ambiguously.

Her answer threw him for a moment. His head cocked to one side. "Will I what?"

With a voice as prim as a librarian's, Abby said, "A proposal is generally worded as a question and not a command." In response to his blank stare, she supplied the entire phrase. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes, I will. Thank you for asking. I can't wait to tell our future children that you are the one who proposed." Dominic laughed and didn't even attempt to hide his glee at having outmaneuvered her.

"I did not just propose!" Abby said trying to keep the laughter out of her own voice. She swatted at his shoulder, but he only laughed more. "Take it back."

He sidled closer to her, pulling her back into his arms. "Take back my yes?"

No matter that it sounded irrational, Abby said, "Yes. You are not telling our children that I proposed to you on the flight back to Boston after you kidnapped me."

Dominic encircled her face with his hands and kissed her lightly, chuckling against her lips. "Does it really matter who asked as long as the result is the same?"

Absolutely. Her rebuttal was a simple narrowing of her eyes. She hoped her man was intelligent enough to correctly interpret it.

He stopped laughing and cupped her shoulders gently. "Abigail Dartley will you marry me?"

This time she decided to forego any teasing and threw herself back into his arms, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Between kisses, he asked, "Do you still want to see my island?"

"Now?" Abby asked breathlessly. "Can we do that?"

Lips slightly pursed with the irony of it, Dominic said, "Yes, all it would take is for me to inform the captain that I'd like to change course—again."