His grunt of laughter contained no amusement. “I want to seduce you, but not because I’m a rake.”
“Then why, Giles?” The question, raw after her earlier tears, vibrated with feeling. “We’re here alone. Last night you kissed me as if you were desperate for me. Yet today, you’re acting like we’re strangers. Tell me what you want. You’ve never said, and while a girl can guess, she’d rather have it spelled out.”
At last, the dam inside him broke. He heaved to his feet and glared down at her. Impassioned words tumbled from his lips, although they sounded more like an accusation than a vow of eternal fealty. “Goddamn it, Serena. I’m in love with you.”
She didn’t respond as though he’d delivered good news, blast it. Looking uncertain, she rose from the bench and stood in front of him as he loomed over her. “You didn’t tell me.”
He growled low in his throat. “Why would I tell you? You only had eyes for bloody Paul.”
“Not…not this Christmas,” she said faintly, her breath escaping in uneven huffs. She took a tottering step toward him and extended her hands in a pleading gesture. “Do you want to tell me again? And this time, please try not to sound as if you’re challenging me to pistols at ten paces.”
Giles inhaled to clear his head, and this time, his mind kicked into motion and cut a path through the tangle of confusion, self-mistrust, and turmoil. Almost too late.
He squared his shoulders and raised his chin. In his chest, the hope which had shriveled into a dry husk unfurled anew. Clearing his throat, he forced the irrevocable words past his lips. He managed to regulate his voice to something less than a roar.
“I love you, Serena. I’ve always loved you. You fill all my dreams.”
Her eyes widened with amazement, and something that looked like exultation. After another pause, she swallowed, as if speaking posed a problem for her, too. “Giles, do you know why I said no to Paul’s proposal?”
“He doesn’t love you.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
She paused, and Giles feared he must explode with suspense. He was almost sure that she loved him, although balancing on the brink of hearing her admit it was excruciating.
She bit her lip again, then spoke in a rush. “But the real reason I said no is because I realized I’m in love with another man.”
His eyes narrowed on her, as hope punched him so hard in the gut, it stole his breath. “That other man had better be me.”
She stepped forward and twined her arms around his neck. Her tremulous smile sat oddly with her tearstained cheeks. “Who else could it be but you?”
With shaking hands, he caught her slender waist. How he ached to kiss her. But first, he needed to hear the words. “It’s your turn to say it, Serena.”
She rose on her toes and kissed his lips. “I love you, Giles.”
Dazzled he stared down at her, while his heart gave a mighty thud of relief and gratitude. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. As elation flooded through him, he released a long exhalation that he felt he’d been holding back for ten years.
She loved him. Serena loved him. Impossible, unwinnable, irresistible, gorgeous Serena Talbot declared herself his. He could hardly believe it. Yet when he stared into her shining silvery eyes and saw his wonder mirrored there, he did believe it. Serena loved him, and the life he’d always wanted was his for the taking.
Unfamiliar happiness made it as difficult to speak as despair ever had. He swallowed to shift the choking ball of poignant emotion jamming his throat. “Well, it’s about time,” he said huskily.
His answer made her giggle, until his ferocious kiss distracted her. He sensed her surprise at the quick shift to passion, before her hands clenched on his shoulders and she met him with open-mouthed ardor.
All coherent thought vanished in a blaze
of joy and heat. And love.
Finally, love.
By the time Giles came back to the world, he was sitting on the bench with Serena on his lap and her face hidden in the curve of his shoulder. When he felt a warm dampness against his neck, he pulled away to see her face. She was rosy with happiness—apart from the tears glistening in her eyes.
“What’s this? You’re the most contrary creature. I thought you’d be glad.”
His gentle teasing roused a radiant, if waterlogged smile. She laid one hand against his cheek. “What a fool I am. It took me so long to see the truth.”
He tilted his head to kiss her palm. “There is one thing you can do to make it up to me.”
“Love you forever?”