“Of course. They came from the hand of a dear friend, you see.”
“Oh!”
“While reading the letters, I finally understood. Yes, you were perhaps wrong to not correct my erroneous assumptions early in our correspondence. But without that small omission, I would never have come to know you as I have. Sometimes a mistake can transform into something beautiful. And I would be a great fool to lose the company of my best friend.”
Belle gave him a wobbly, watery smile. “I do not deserve such grace, my lord.”
“I fear I would strongly disagree. Though you should probably call me Colin. I know I intend to only call you Belle from this point on.”
Her voice caught on a gasp.
Oh! Did he mean what she thought he did?
“I have quite thoroughly compromised you. Look at us.” He spread his free arm wide. “Here we are, sailing above London, entirely unchaperoned.”
“Perhaps it is I who have compromised you . . . Colin.” The last came out on a whisper. Saying his given name felt almost like a benediction. A holy hallelujah. “I lured you into the sky—”
“No, I did the luring in this case.”
“True. Though I did come quite willingly.”
“Shall I consider it a summons then, Belle?”
“Please. But given that nearly all of London can see us, how have you compromised me? Aren’t we now being chaperoned by thousands?”
He made a grand show of looking over the edge of basket, scanning the ground below, smiling rather wickedly as the basket rocked, causing Belle to cling to his arm in terror.
“I suppose you are correct, my love.”
Love?! Had he truly just said that?
He stood upright, that wicked grin still in place. “Well, I shall just have to ensure I do the deed properly.”
Hope burned ragged and bright.
Before Belle could blink, he raised their joined, gloved hands. “But this will not do at all.” Staring at her, he slowly pulled off his own gloves. First one. Then the other. Stuffing them into his pocket.
Then he moved on to her gloves. Gently unbuttoning the single button at her wrist. Tugging on each finger. Sliding the soft leather off her palm. Planting a scalding kiss on the back of her hand before moving on.
He repeated the actions with her second hand.
Belle’s mouth had gone quite dry by the time he finished. The balloon, the city before them, everything faded.
It was only Colin’s eyes that held her. The sound of his breathing. The feel of his warm hands against hers.
“Much better,” he whispered as her second glove disappeared into his coat pocket. He threaded the fingers of his right hand through hers. His thumb moving in lazy circles across her palm.
His other hand moved to cup her cheek, lifting her gaze to his. She had heard the cliché of a lover gazing with his heart in his eyes . . .
But she had never really understood what it meant until that moment.
She could see her whole world in his.
“Belle . . . my dearest, most beloved friend.” He stroked her cheek. “I should never have let you leave Stratton Hall without me. I was just so stunned, so surprised. But it did not take long for me to realize I wanted LTF in my life permanently. I am determined to be quite persistent, if I must.”
“Colin . . .”
His thumb brushed across her lips. “You darling, beautiful girl. Everything good in my life began the day you entered it.”
He bent down. Or she raised up.
Belle could not recall afterward.
But, somehow, they met in the middle.
His lips . . . warm and soft and giving. Yielding under her own.
It only took a second for his hands to move around her waist, pulling her closer to him. For her part, Belle wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers into his hair.
Finally! How could this finally be happening?
“Oh, Colin . . .” She pulled back with a hiccupping gasp. “I have loved you for so very, very long.”
He cupped her cheek again.
“Belle, my darling, beautiful Belle.”
They kissed and kissed and kissed. Until Belle’s knees had quite melted. And surely the entire city of London had spied them.
Colin held her tight to him. Forehead to forehead.
“You asked me first. But, Belle, I intend to ask you last.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Marry me, my love. Say you will be mine?”
Later, Belle had no memory of actually saying yes.
All she remembered was kissing him over and over, tasting tears of happiness as they flew through the sky.
Click on the covers to visit Nichole’s Amazon author page:
An Amazon bestselling author, Nichole Van is an artist who feels life is too short to only have one obsession. In former lives, she has been a contemporary dancer, pianist, art historian, choreographer, culinary artist and English professor.
Most notably, however, Nichole is an acclaimed photographer, winning over thirty international accolades for her work, including Portrait of the Year from WPPI in 2007. (Think Oscars for wedding and portrait photographers.) Her unique photography style has been featured in many magazines, including Rangefinder and Professional Photographer. She is also the creative mind behind the popular website Flourish Emporium which provides resources for photographers.
All that said, Nichole has always been a writer at heart. With an MA in English, she taught technical writing at Brigham Young University for ten years and has written more technical manuals than she can quickly count. She decided in late 2013 to start writing fiction and has since become an Amazon bestselling author.
Nichole currently lives in Utah with her husband and three crazy children. Though continuing in her career as a photographer, Nichole is also now writing romance novels on the side. She is known as NicholeVan all over the web: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Visit http://www.NicholeVan.com to sign up for her author newsletter and be notified of new book releases. Additionally, you can see her photographic work at http://photography.nicholeV.com and http://www.nicholeV.com
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Spring in Hyde Park. We hope you loved the sweet romance novellas! Each collection in the Timeless Regency Collection contains three novellas.
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Six short romance novellas in each anthology
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