She gave him playful punch in the shoulder. “I am not stubborn.”
“It is your choice. Marry me. I promise you that I will see that we have a good life together.”
“This is foolish,” she said, though did not want to believe that. She wanted to listen to her body that tingled all over, her heart that beat wildly, and her stomach that fluttered with delight.
“Then we will be foolish together.” He kissed her quick. “If I linger kissing you, then we will end up in that bed together, and I will make you my wife this night.”
Did she dare let him?
“Again, the choice is yours, but know I would be proud to call you, wife.”
It was so tempting to simply fall into his arms and surrender to love, though her once foolish actions had her not only hesitating, but recalling aloud something similar to what Torr had once said to her in regards to Owen. “If you truly love me, you will wait and speak with my brother and arrange a proper marriage.”
He smiled. “My own words return to haunt me.”
She placed a gentle hand to his cheek. “They are wise words, and as much as I want—and I do want—to have you make me your wife this night, I also want it to be right between us. I want to know for sure that you love me.”
“As I said, Princess, your choice, but know this—you are mine and always will be.” His hand went to the back of her head and eased it forward as he brought his lips to meet hers.
If his words had not convinced her, his kiss did. And it did not take long before she had to force herself to break away and gently shove at his chest, needing distance from him.
Her teeth nibbled at her lower lip to try and stop the deliciously spine-tingling throb he had left upon her lips. She closed her eyes against it and the sinful, but oh so lovely, sensations that ran through her. If she was not careful, she would find herself dragging him to the bed and—she shook her head. She had made the mistake of thinking herself in love with Owen. And now here she was thinking herself in love again. She could not be foolish again. This time she must be sure.
She grabbed her dress off her lap and pressed it tightly against her chest, and stood. “I need to put my dress on.”
Torr did not say anything. He did not have to. Passion smoldered in his eyes, and he quickly turned his back to her. “You will save that dress, for one night I will rip it off you again.”
She not only shivered, she grew wet at the thought. And God forgive her, she looked forward to that time.
Wintra hurried out of her shift and into her dress that was not completely finished being repaired, but would have to do. She had managed to stitch closed part of the rip from top to mid-thigh. Her shift would cover the rest.
“You can turn now,” she said when she finished.
Torr turned slowly, his blue eyes heavily burdened. “I want you to remember one thing. No matter what happens I love you and nothing will change that.”
“How do you know for sure that you love me?”
He laughed. “Only you would ask for proof.”
“We barely know each other. How could love have hit us so fast?” She did not truly want to question it, yet she could not help but question it. Could she truly believe that love could strike as fast as lightening? It seemed so unlikely, and yet here she was in love, or so she believed, and did she dare believe?
Lord, she was confused, but wasn’t that what love did—confuse?
“I have no answer for you. I cannot explain it. I do not understand it myself, and I do not want to. I simply want to enjoy it, revel in it, and know—not how or why—it is real.”
He accepted how he felt without reservation. Wasn’t that love? Shouldn’t she accept how she felt and not question it or him, but rather enjoy the love she had found, or rather the love that had found her?
“I want to believe that, I truly do, but I seriously misjudged Owen, so how then can I be sure that I am not misjudging—”
He interrupted her, stepping closer, and his arm went around her waist as he said, “I am not Owen promising you sweet nothings. I am a man who, to his great surprise, has fallen in love with you.”
He loved her, but was stunned over the revelation, which had her asking, “Why surprised?”
“I was on a mission for your brother, not on a mission to find love,” he said, shaking his head as if in disbelief.
“So you are as baffled about this as I am?”