‘Use mine.’
In two steps he was beside her, handing her a freshly laundered linen handkerchief. Their fingers touched and a brief pulse went through her. He gave her hand a little squeeze before letting go.
‘The last thing in the world I want you to do is to cry, Daisy.’ An uncertain frown crossed his face. ‘I have no wish for you to be unhappy. You are far too thin. Have you been eating properly?’
‘I am not unhappy.’ Daisy dabbed her eyes.
‘Are you certain you are quite the thing? Are you sickening?’
Daisy took the handkerchief from her eyes. Her heart sank. He thought she was in a delicate condition. He was here to make sure that he didn’t make the same mistake twice. ‘No, no, I am very well. Very happy to be home. You must not worry about me.’
‘I always worry about you. I will always worry.’ He looked at her with a solemn face. Daisy wanted to reach out her hand and smooth the creases away. She wondered that she had ever thought his face arrogant.
‘Come along, Kammie, let’s see if we can’t find a saucer of milk for your cat,’ Felicity said, leading Kammie and the cat out of the room. ‘I believe your aunt wants to be alone.’
The mantelpiece clock ticked loudly. Daisy held out the handkerchief. ‘I have recovered. You may go, Adam.’
Adam swore. ‘I once listened to your speech, now listen to mine. Please.’
‘Your speech?’
He knelt down on one knee. His eyes burnt into hers as if he were trying to see into her soul. ‘Please, Miss Milton, would you do me the honour, the very great honour, of becoming my wife?’
Daisy stared at him in surprise. Of everything she had expected him to say, he said the words she most wanted to hear. And he was asking! ‘Are you certain about this?’
Adam grasped both her hands in his large one. ‘I have spent the time away from you rearranging my life so I can be here in this backwater with you. I have leased the hall from Chesterholm.’
‘From Jonathon Ponsby-Smythe?’
‘He practically gave it to me once I told him of my plight. He agreed that I should have my chance at happiness with you. He wishes he had had a second chance with his governess.’
‘Did you tell him about Louisa?’
He shook his head. ‘I thought you should make that decision. He thinks she died.’
Daisy stared at him. He was allowing her to make the decision. ‘I will have to write to Louisa first.’ She stared at his highly polished boots. ‘Where is Webster? You can’t be rattling around that hall on your own.’
‘Polly and Webster are both here. It would appear that Polly is quite the nurse. And Webster is content to forgo the lights of London for Polly’s ministrations.’
‘Webster and Polly? That is impossible. Or rather improbable.’
‘Hush.’ He laid a finger across her lips. ‘For a change, listen with your whole being. The first thing I have to say to you is this. This is why we should marry.’
His fingers tilted her chin upwards and he gently kissed her lips. The kiss was filled with a sweet loving intensity. Then he stepped away.
Daisy looked up into his eyes with wonder. The ache in her heart had ceased.
‘I love you, Daisy Milton.’ He cupped her head in his hands. ‘I want to marry you. Not because society says that we must, or because you think it will mean your sister can keep Kammie, or whatever excuse you want to say. I want to marry you because I am selfish. I want you in my life and at my side. I need you and I desire you in my life. My life before I met you was an empty shell and when you left, I found the loneliness impossible to bear. That is the only reason. It is the right reason to marry.’
‘You need me.’ Daisy stared at him. Adam never needed anyone. He had changed his life for her. ‘After everything I said to you when we parted. I left you, rather than fight. That was wrong.’
‘I always said that I wanted a woman with an independent mind.’ There was a new humble note in Adam’s voice as he continued. ‘What I need to know is can you come to care for me? If you think you can never care for me, I will bow out of your lives. I will provide for Kammie, of course. That is my duty, but you need to understand what I felt for Kamala pales into insignificance compared to what I feel for you. But if you think there is the smallest place in your heart for me, I want to marry you. My heart is steadfast.’
Daisy pulled his head down.
‘Yes,’ she said against his lips. ‘For I too love you unto death. I found the sonnet, Adam, and what you describe was not your love for me, but mine for you.’
Adam brushed her lips and then reached into his coat pocket. ‘Then it is well that I procured a special licence.’
‘A special licence?’
‘You have no idea the difficulties you have caused me, Daisy. First you lumber me with the Blandishes, preventing me from going after you. Then Webster and the move. All of these responsibilities. I am not about to let you slip away again and therefore it is a special licence. There will be no long engagement.’
‘I didn’t mean to,’ Daisy sought to explain. ‘I had to give Mrs Blandish a reason to send her footmen with me. I wanted to save your life.’
Adam’s forefinger touched the corner of her mouth. His eyes danced with mischief. ‘It was the one thing that gave me hope. You would not have made promises to Mrs Blandish that you could not keep. You are not that sort of person, Daisy Milton.’
‘Why did you need a special licence? I would have been willing to wait.’
Daisy touched his cheek. He had obtained a special licence. He turned his face into her palm and kissed it.
‘Because I was determined this time not to give you the luxury of changing your mind. We will be properly wedded and bedded before nightfall.’
‘Adam—’
‘I was merely existing before I met you.’ Adam tightened his arms about her as if even now he was afraid she would go. ‘I had allowed my anger and guilt at what happened in India to dominate my life. In my own way, I was as dead as everyone else from the hill station. You brought me back to life. You challenged me and I fell in love with you. I tried to show it, but now I will say it.’ He stopped and looked down at her. ‘What I felt for Kamala was a combination of infatuation and guilt. A beautiful woman in jeopardy who I failed to save. You were different. You refused all offers of protection and wanted to stand alone. You made me want to be a better man. I want to be your partner, not your master. My heart belongs to you and to you alone.’
‘And you have made me a better woman. My heart has been inclined towards you ever since you freed my boot from the bramble.’
‘You were very late in falling, my love. I knew you were the woman for me when you took such pleasure in defying me and screaming. Shall we marry today? The vicar has agreed. It is time we went home.’
‘A home with you.’ Daisy rested her head on his broad chest and listened to the steady thump of his heart. ‘That is all I want in the world.’
‘Those are the truest words you have spoken, Daisy Milton.’
‘Daisy Ravensworth, if you please.’
‘I very much do please, my very proper viscountess.’
ISBN-13: 9781460349786
Compromising Miss Milton
Copyright © 2010 by Michelle Styles
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to ac
tual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
Compromising Miss Milton Page 24