Page 154 of A Devious Secret

“It seemed like a bold move on his part.”

With a shake of her head, Gemma said, “No, I do not want to make amends with my father.”

“That is your choice.”

Gemma felt her resolve slipping and she asked, “Do you think I should, even after all the terrible things he said last night?”

“I don’t know the right answer to that,” he said. “Quite frankly, I don’t know if there is even a right answer.”

Gemma wrapped her arms around her waist. “I don’t know if I can trust him enough to let him in.”

Stephen took a step closer to her. “You will know what the right thing to do is.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because you are brilliant, my dear.”

Gemma dropped her arms to her sides. “I daresay that I have managed to fool you into believing that.”

“You did no such thing,” Stephen said. “You are the most extraordinary person that I know.”

Gemma’s lips twitched. “You must not know very many people then,” she joked.

Stephen reached for her hand and held her gaze for a long moment. Then when he finally spoke, his words were soft, intimate, even. “I love you, Gemma. You must know that.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “I was hoping, but I dared not believe you loved me.”

“I can’t lose you,” Stephen breathed. “Because if I ever did, I’d have lost my smile, my laugh, my everything.”

Gemma lifted their intwined hands to her heart. “I love you, too,” she admitted. “I never thought I would be fortunate enough to fall in love twice.”

“Please put me out of my misery and agree to be my wife,” Stephen said. “You have occupied my thoughts unceasingly since the moment we first met.”

“I have been burdened, as well.”

Stephen smiled down upon her. “Then let us marry and we will never have to be apart.”

Gemma felt tears forming in her eyes as she said, “I will marry you, today, tomorrow or any day after that.”

“I am relieved to hear you say that because you are the first person I want to see when I wake up in the morning and the only person I want to kiss goodnight,” Stephen said, his voice hoarse. “My heart was made to love you.”

Gemma felt a tear rolling down her cheek, but she felt no need to wipe it away. These were happy tears.

Stephen cupped her face gently in his hands, holding it in place. Her breathing hitched as he leaned in to press his lips against hers. The softness of his lips caressed hers as he explored her mouth, never deepening the kiss. It was as if he were trying to memorize every detail and the tenderness of it all made her heart ache, wishing it would never end.

He broke the kiss and leaned back slightly, his warm breath mingling with hers. “That was far better than I could have ever imagined.”

“I wouldn’t mind another kiss,” she said brazenly.

He chuckled. “I will kiss you every minute, every hour, every day, if you will let me,” he declared. “I will never tire of kissing you.”

“Promises, promises,” Gemma whispered as she kissed him on the lips.

After a long moment, Stephen broke the kiss and asked, “Should we tell our families the good news?”

“I am sure they deduced what is going on since I have little doubt that they are watching us from the window.”

“Most likely, but I fear that your cousins will challenge me to a duel if we continue on as we have been,” Stephen said, making no attempt to create more distance.

“That is a fair assumption.”

“And I have seen Hawthorne shoot now.”

“He is quite the marksman,” Gemma agreed.

“But…” Stephen’s voice trailed off, “it would be a shame to not kiss at least one more time before we go inside.”

Gemma smiled. “I wholeheartedly agree.”

As their lips met, Gemma knew that everything was just the way it should be. All her choices, her heartbreaks, her regrets, had led her to Stephen. And she would never take that for granted. She couldn’t. She was all too aware of how precious love was.