He absently played with her fingers in a way that was thrillingly intimate. ‘You came into my life and you woke me up, Milly of the not-red hair, and my life is nothing without you in it.’
‘And I love you,’ Milly said with wrenching earnestness. ‘I never loved Robbie, but you knew that, didn’t you? When I think of what my life could have been if I hadn’t found out the truth...’ She shivered. ‘I didn’t want to fall in love with you either,’ she admitted. ‘I know you think I’m a hopeless romantic...’
‘You are and I thank God for that.’
‘But I still knew that you weren’t a good bet and I was still fighting my own silly demons; still thought that you were just, well, that you’d never look at someone like me. Even though...’ she dimpled at him ‘...you cured me of that.’
‘Would you have felt that if I had continued being a harmless ski instructor?’
‘You’re never harmless and why, out of interest, didn’t you tell me your true identity from the start?’
‘It was liberating. You had landed there, like someone from a different planet, no airs, no graces and no knowledge of just how wealthy I was. You fascinated me from the very first moment I met you. And now, here we are. You are the love of my life, Milly, and I can’t imagine life without you in it.’
‘Okay.’
Lucas laughed. ‘Is that all you have to say? When you’re usually a woman of so many words?’
Milly grinned. ‘I’m full of surprises.’
‘And I want to be the one to find them all out, every day, for the rest of my life. Will you marry me? I’m asking that on behalf of both me and my mother...’
Milly laughed and rose, moving to sit on his lap so that she could feel his arms around her, holding her close, never letting her go.
‘In that case, since you’ve brought your mother into the equation, what can a girl do but accept?’