“What is all this?” Emily nodded towards the pile of folders he’d brought with him.
“Problem solving,” he grinned, but he was wound tighter than a coil. He reached for her hands and gripped them beneath his. “I love you. You understand this? You do not question it?”
Her cheeks flushed and she nodded. Her stomach flipped with pleasure.
“Here.” He slid the top folder to her. “This is for you.”
Emily flicked it open and scanned the top page. Her frown deepened as she scanned it again. “What is this?”
He kept his expression carefully neutral. “Is it not obvious?”
Emily winced. “I can see what it is. I just don’t understand why.” Her eyes dropped to the page again. It was a letter from a bank. An account had been opened in her name, and a ridiculous amount had been settled into it.
“Emily, a part of me wants to do this very differently.”
“Do what?”
He sighed, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small velvet box. He opened it and placed it between them on the table top. Her eyes flicked to it and then away again instantly. “I want to marry you. Not because of the baby, but because I love you completely, and I am not the kind of man to do anything half heartedly.” Emily’s face had drained of colour. She was completely shocked. “I thought about taking you on a romantic vacation and proposing on a starlit picnic. But I know you tend to worry, and that you will not agree to marry me until I can show you that everything is organised to make it possible.”
Emily, if it was possible, felt her love for him increase ten fold.
“So, this money is for you. It is yours to do with what you would like. As my wife, you will be my partner in every way. But I still want you to feel you have the financial freedom to make whatever decision you
choose.” His voice cracked with the strength of his emotion. His desperation to ensure her wellbeing was driving him. “I need to know that you will be taken care of.”
“Even if I don’t marry you?” She intoned curiously, watching his expression for every nuance.
“Yes.” He squeezed her hand, ignoring the cold throb of his heart. “I love you.” As thought that explained everything.
She grinned and shook her head. “What about …”
“Andrew.” He nodded. “I’ve thought about that, too.”
Emily’s laugh was unsteady. “Why am I not surprised?”
Sabato reached for another folder. He opened it and passed a brochure to her. “What is this?”
“It’s a home I’ve bought.”
Emily looked at the brochure, a frown pulling at her mouth. “It’s in Kent.”
“Yes.” He put his hands over hers. “I’m moving to an apartment around the corner from you. Here in London. Again, if it were just you and me, I’d want to be with you immediately. But for Andrew’s sake, I think we should not rush.”
Emily expelled a long breath of relief. She nodded. “I feel the same way. I want all of this. I want you. But I can’t let Andrew feel excluded. I need him to be comfortable with all the changes.”
“Yes.” He reached up and cupped her cheek. “Let us allow him time to accept me, and to gradually adjust to his new living situation.”
Relief cracked over her. She was on the cusp of everything she wanted and it was within her reach in a way that would not damage her beloved brother. Happiness brimmed at her soul.
“You know,” Emily murmured, eyeing off the enormous diamond ring between them. “For a man who seduced me within hours of meeting me, this was an incredibly formal conversation.”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m just lulling you into a false sense of security.” He lifted the ring from the box and slipped it on to her finger. “The first time I met you, I told you that I always got what I wanted. I am a determined man, and I have determined that we will marry.”
She thought back to that first night, when he’d met her outside the service entry to his hotel. “And so we will,” she murmured, repeating his own words at that time with an enormous smile on his face.
His relief was large enough to fill the apartment. His voice rang with triumph and he was already standing. “If it’s okay with you, Emily, I would like to make love to my fiancé now.”
She nodded wordlessly, her heart soaring with love for the man she knew she would spend the rest of her life with.