“That was such a stupid comment to make!” Keely shouted at him, dismayed to feel the burn of tears in her eyes. She would not let him know marriage was her greatest wish, her longest-held desire. A man, a wedding ring, a promise to love her forever—how dare he make light of something so profound, so important?
“The one about us getting married?” Dare asked, turning to face her. She hadn’t seen him for weeks, but dressed in a navy Henley and faded jeans, he looked big and tough and scrumptious. Man, she’d missed him.
“Why is it a stupid idea?” Dare asked, sounding far too calm.
“Because you don’t love me. You don’t really want to spend the rest of your life with me!”
Dare didn’t move but a small smile touched his lips. “How do you know that, Keely? Or is that just another of your stupid assumptions, along with the idea I’ll walk when you become too much?”
“I am too much, Dare!” Keely sat down abruptly on the edge of his sleek, boxy settee, annoyed and frustrated by the tears sliding down her face. “I’m bossy and demanding and opinionated and willful and—”
Keely felt his big hands on her knees, inhaled his cologne, his Dare-ness. He didn’t say anything so she lifted her face to look at him. Love, and a touch of amusement, blazed from his eyes.
“Why do you think I can’t stop thinking about you, Keels? I love your strong personality, I love your feistiness, I love that you will jump into the ring to do what’s right. I’ve seen you at your best, and at your worst, and I love everything about you.”
Keely bit her bottom lip, terrified. “Dare, I’m—”
“No, enough.” Dare shook his head. “I’m not a pushover, Keels, and I know exactly what I’m getting with you. I want you, all of you. I’m strong enough to tell you when to slow down and more than capable of stepping into the ring with you. I’m not scared of you, Keely. When are you going to accept that?”
“If you leave, as they all did, I don’t know if I could go on, Dare. You mean much more than all of them put together.” Keely forced out the words over the sound of her thundering heart.
“I’m more the type who digs his heels in when times get tough. Walking away is not my style. And dammit, I’m done with you pushing us apart.” Dare cupped her face in his hands. “Love me, darling, let me love you and let’s be happy. Because living without you sucks.”
Keely briefly thought about standing up and walking away but it was more of a fleeting impression than a decision. What if she sat where she was, what if she stayed? What if she took one more chance?
Dare smiled at her, obviously sensing how close she was to capitulation. “Okay, let’s do this...repeat after me. I love you, Dare.”
Keely’s lips twitched. “I love you, Dare.”
“Thank God. Okay, now this...marry me in the ballroom at Mounton House next Saturday, Dare.”
“Marry me... What?” Keely’s mouth dropped open. “What? We can’t—”
“Why not? Everything is arranged. I love you, you love me, we both know we are delaying the inevitable. And this way, you might finally believe I’m in it for the long haul.”
Keely couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I... Jeez... Dare?”
“We’ll postpone the wedding talk because I can see your head is about to explode. But what we aren’t delaying is you in my bed, naked.” Dare stood up, slid his hand under her butt and thighs and scooped her against his chest.
Keely, feeling safe and secure and protected, linked her arms around his neck and kissed his shoulder through the material of his shirt. As he carried her toward his bedroom, she spoke again. “Dare?”
“Mmm?”
“I love you.” There was such peace in those three words. And she intended to overuse them for the next sixty years. At least.
Dare placed a tender kiss into her hair. “I love you, too, sweetheart. So damn much.”
He did, he really did. What was she waiting for?
“Dare, will you marry me next Saturday? For better or for worse? Stay with me through fights and fumbles and sickness and health and all that stuff?”
Dare’s grip on her tightened and Keely felt the tension leave his body and pure happiness invade hers. “I thought you’d never ask, my darling. And hell yes.”
Keely grinned and tasted his love for her on his lips.
Two days ago, he’d been in Hong Kong, watching as Ben made Piper his wife. It had been a poignant ceremony, happy and sad, and Finn, along with everyone else, had a tear in his eye as Ben held his wife in his arms to dance her around the room. They’d cut the cake, made speeches, Finn had even managed to make a toast to the happy couple without his voice breaking.
It was a happy day but underneath it all, he was conscious of Beah standing as far away as she could from him, looking remote and so beautiful it made his heart ache.