Regency Christmas Wishes(126)

“I would say that you certainly did compromise me. How loud you snore! What do you intend to do about it?”

“What, my snoring?”

She laughed and leaned toward him. He put his hand around her neck, drew her closer, and kissed her forehead.

“I suppose I must make you an offer now, eh?” he asked, the grin not gone from his face.

“I would like that,” she told him. “We’ll be an odd couple, don’t you think?”

“Most certainly. I’m positive there will be doors that will never open to either of us,” he replied, without the blink of an eye. “People of my sort will wonder if I have taken leave of my senses to marry Cleopatra herself, and those evangelizing, missionary friends of your parents will assume that you have taken pity on a man desperate for redemption.” He kissed her again, his lips lingering this time. “Oh, my goodness. Cecilia, I will be bringing home scum, riffraff, and strays.”

“Of course. I’m going to insist that you close your chambers at the Inn and move me into a house on a quiet street where the neighbors are kind and don’t mind children,” she said, reaching for him this time and rubbing her cheek against his. She felt the tears on his face.

“Miss Deprave is going to be awfully upset when you give your notice,” he warned.

She giggled. “Your brother and sister-in-law will probably have a fit when you tell them this afternoon.”

He laughed and pulled her onto his lap. “There you are wrong. They’ll be so relieved to find a lady in my life that they won’t even squeak!”

She tightened her arm around his neck as the fears returned momentarily. “I hope they are not disappointed.”

“No one will be disappointed about this except Miss Deprave. Trust me, Cecilia.”

“Trust a barrister?” she teased, putting her hands on both sides of his face and kissing him.

“Yes, indeed.” His expression was serious then. “Trust me. I trusted you when I told you about Jimmy that second night.” He took her hand. “I looked at your lovely face, and some intuition told me I could say something finally.” He shook his head.

She knew she did not know him well yet, but she could tell he wanted to say something more. “What is it?” she prodded him. “I hardly think, at this point, that there is anything you might be embarrassed to tell me.”

He looked at the closed door, then pulled her onto his lap. She sighed and felt completely at home there.

“Before I left London, I made a wish on a star. Is that beyond absurd?”

Resting there with her head against his chest and listening to the regular beating of his heart, she considered the matter. “Teachers are interested in results, dear sir, not absurdities. Did it come true?”

“Oh, my, in spades.”

She went to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head and she found his lips instead. “Then I would say your wish came true,” she murmured, once she could speak again.

He smiled. “I’m a skeptic still, but I like it.”

“I like it, too,” she admitted.

“D’ye think you’ll still like it thirty or forty years from now?” he asked.

“Only if you’re with me.” She kissed him again. “Promise?”

“Promise.”